Why The CW's Batwoman Looks So Familiar

In 2018's Elseworlds crossover event, the CW's ever-expanding Arrowverse added yet another beloved comic book character to its live-action roster: Kate Kane, better known as the vigilante Batwoman, brought to life by Australian model and actress Ruby Rose. As Earth-1's protector of Gotham City, Kane suited up alongside the likes of Green Arrow and the Flash. Later, in 2019, the CW officially green-lit a solo spin-off series with Rose in the titular role.

Rose, who identifies as genderfluid, is a major advocate for LGBTQ rights, making her an appropriate selection to play Kane, one of DC's few openly gay superheroes. Although the one-time MTV VJ only burst onto the scene a few years ago, she's already made quite a name for herself. If you're thinking she looks familiar, well, she's starred in projects ranging from music videos to blockbuster movie productions. Here are some of the films and television series where you might've seen Ruby Rose.

After it's streaming release in 2013, the Netflix sensation Orange Is the New Black became one of the most game-changing series in television history. The show — which is loosely based on Piper Kerman's telling memoir, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison — offers an all-too-believable glimpse of what life behind bars is really like for female inmates in a New York prison. In 2019, Time magazine dubbed it "the most important TV show of the decade," applauding it for its fearless commentary of the American justice system.

In addition to all of the critical acclaim and awards, Orange also provided Ruby Rose with her breakout role. Joining the show in its third season, Rose played inmate Stella Carlin, the tatted-from-head-to-toe love interest for Taylor Schilling's Piper Chapman. When speaking to Rolling Stone, the Aussie model admitted that Orange was the first show she ever binge-watched, and that working with such beautiful women was a real treat. "Every single woman on that show is so sexy — it's really kind of crazy. ... I have a crush on every single person on the show, much to my fiancée's amusement." Don't get yourself in trouble, Ruby!

On Syfy's space drama, Dark Matter, which is based on the Dark Horse Comics series of the same name, six people with no memories of their past lives awaken on a starship. The crew members try to piece together their various histories as they travel towards a dangerous mining colony on the brink of war. Although the series was cancelled in 2017, it ran for a solid three seasons, building a relatively well-received reputation from its core fan base. 

Ruby Rose landed a guest role as Wendy the Android in the show's first season. As Wendy, a sexy-yet-deadly entertainment model robot, Rose got to really play to her strengths as a character who comes across as both promiscuous and badass. In many ways, this was the Australian bombshell's first taste of becoming an action star, and it was something she really enjoyed. As she explained to Interview magazine, "I got to play with a toy gun and shoot people. ... It makes you want to be in an action film." With a couple action blockbusters currently under her belt, it's safe to say that playing Wendy the Android really left a mark on Rose's career path.

In the sixth and final installment of the Resident Evil movie franchise, 2016's Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, Milla Jovovich's Alice returns to Raccoon City for one final showdown with the nefarious Umbrella Corporation and their hordes of the undead. Fortunately, Alice isn't making the trek alone. This time, she's joined by Abigail, a weapons expert played by Ruby Rose. Sprinkle in the always-wonderful Ali Larter, and The Final Chapter makes for one highly entertaining display of zombie-slaying girl power.

At the film's premiere in Los Angeles, The Hollywood Reporter met up with Rose on the red carpet, where she was quick to praise her co-star for her long run of playing Alice. "To work with Milla was an honor," she explained. "I love the fact that Resident was sort of existing in a world that wasn't really current. We had a female protagonist, a strong woman, that was going around kicking butt and didn't have a guy. I grew up really being inspired by her." They say to never meet your idols, but if you do, kill zombies with them.

Although she's primarily known as a model and an actress, Ruby Rose has a plethora of artistic abilities, including directing. In 2016, Australian twin sisters Jessica and Lisa Origliasso, better known as The Veronicas, turned to Rose to direct and star in the music video for their hit track, "On Your Side." The touching video documents the rise and demise of a relationship between two women, portrayed by Rose and Jessica. Echoing the video, the pair actually started dating in real life around the time the video was shot, but they split in 2018.

Although the romance eventually turned sour, Ruby and Origliasso shared undeniable chemistry in the music video's steamy visuals. According to Rose, the lyrics of the song really resonated with her, perhaps explaining her directorial direction. As she explained to Out, "Some songs tell the first chapter of a story, others only tell the last, but here I was listening to a full narrative of someone's sincere experience with love." With nearly 60 million views to date, it's safe to say that fans really enjoyed Rose's vision.

Who says sidekicks aren't cool? What's Batman without Robin or Han Solo without Chewbacca? Add to the list sharpshooter Adele Wolff, Xander Cage's right-hand woman in 2017's xXx: Return of Xander Cage. As Adele, Ruby Rose provides much-needed cover to Vin Diesel's title character, sniping baddies and kicking butt throughout the movie. And as an added bonus, her green hair looks pretty darn slick.

It's no secret that stunt doubles and special effects are commonly utilized in action movies, but Rose wanted to lend some legitimacy to Adele. In an interview with Female First, the budding action star talked about one of the new skills she picked up while shooting xXx, saying, "I mean, we've been trained to use a sniper, which, I've used guns before in films, but never with the precision that you need and the focus that you need with the sniper, with your breathing and with the way that you change it depending on the wind and the distance. And that's a really cool skill to have. I don't think I'll ever use it again but it's a really cool skill to have."

John Wick was the surprise hit of 2014, launching a wildly successful action franchise out of a low-budget movie that many studios passed on. For the sequel, 2017's John Wick: Chapter 2, Keanu Reeves' titular hitman needed new thugs to fight after he knocked off nearly every baddie in the first one. Enter Ruby Rose, whose mute henchwoman, Ares, gets to go toe-to-toe with Reeves' action hero. Spoiler alert: It doesn't go well for her.

The John Wick series has changed modern action movies in many ways, but perhaps most evidently in the meticulously shot fight sequences and lack of stunt doubles. When speaking to JoBlo.com about the film, Rose explained why she actually enjoys doing her own stunts, saying, "I think it's more fun. ... I've always said, 'Why do an action film if you're not going to be doing the stunts?'" True, she admitted that she might "regret" doing all this action stuff when she's older and her body is aching, but she also claimed that taking all those blows is "kind of the best part about it."

In addition to acting and modeling, Ruby Rose is also a serious EDM DJ. So her musical background made her an "a ca-appropriate" casting choice in Pitch Perfect 3, where she played Calamity, the lead singer of Evermoist. As the nemesis to everyone's favorite musical goof troop, the Barden Bellas, Calamity and company are the film's main antagonists, although they're more catty than criminal.

It's easy to imagine that sharing screen time with the likes of Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow and Rebel Wilson would come with a fair amount of laughs, and apparently, it was at times pretty difficult for Rose to stay in her icy character. Speaking with Teen Vogue, Rose explained, "Our director Trish would always be like, 'Oh, you can't be that funny!' when I would try to ad lib. For my character to be really cold, she can't even care enough to make a comment. When Anna Kendrick is ad libbing with you, how can you not?" That's certainly a big ask for any performer to tackle.

If Jaws made audiences scared of the ocean, it's hard to fathom how freaked out everyone must've been after 2018's The Meg hit theaters, as it features a shark roughly three times the size of the monster in Steven Spielberg's classic. The film, based off of Steve Alten's novel of the same name, performed well at the worldwide box office, largely thanks to a gifted cast that included action legend Jason Statham, Rainn Wilson, Li Bingbing, and Ruby Rose. 

As Jaxx, a marine scientist working at the underwater research facility Mana One, Rose got to play one of the few crew members to survive the prehistoric shark's various aquatic rampages. However, the Aussie almost didn't make it out of filming alive, thanks to a near-fatal scare on the set of the first film. As she explained, "It was a scene in which I'm in the water and have to swim back to a boat. My clothing ... made it really difficult to swim." And that's when her shoes got majorly waterlogged and began dragging her down to the bottom of the tank where they were shooting the scene. "The next thing I know," she went on to say, "safety divers were grabbing me. I drank a lot of tank water, which I have a feeling is not particularly good for you." Yikes, indeed!