The actress, who was recently expelled from ‘The Mandalorian’, comes from a powerful clan that owns Eldorado Resorts and recently acquired Caesars Entertainment.
“I just started using my voice, which is now more free than ever, and I hope it inspires others to do the same. They cannot cancel us if we don’t allow it. That was how Gina Carano ended a statement in response to her high profile resignation from UTA and the Star Wars Series The Mandalorian while, at the same time, announces a new film project.
The MMA star who became an actor, 38, was criticized for a post on social media that compared being a Republican today to being a Jew during the Holocaust. The now deleted post follows other controversies on topics such as electoral fraud and wearing masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Carano’s response to the departure of the Disney and Lucasfilm family confirmed an alignment with Ben Shapiro and his conservative The Daily Wire in a new movie. Although the details are still under wraps – the title, the budget, the director, etc. – the unrest surrounding Carano led to a renewed interest in his training.
Carano, who has started in films like Deadpool, Scorched Earth, Extraction, Theft and Fast & Furious 6, was born in Texas and grew up in and around Las Vegas. Howard Stutz, executive editor of CDC game reports, account THR that the Carano family is “deeply rooted” in northern Nevada. Gina’s grandfather, Don Carano, founded Eldorado Resorts in the 1970s, as well as the McDonald Carano law firm in Nevada and the Ferrari Carano Vineyard & Winery in Healdsburg, California.
Her father, Glenn Carano, served as a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys for seven seasons before moving on to the family business. “[Don’s] sons took over Eldorado Resorts and turned it into an incredible gaming company, ”Stutz continues about the empire that expanded a lot in July 2020 (three years after Don Carano’s death) when Caesars Entertainment announced it had completed a merger between Caesars Entertainment Corporation and Eldorado, creating the largest casino and entertainment company in the United States, with 55 properties worldwide, including eight on the Las Vegas Strip.
According to his LinkedIn biography, Glenn Carano currently serves as senior vice president of operations in the eastern region, and many of Carano’s sons are in executive positions. By David Schwartz, gaming historian at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the Carano family “definitely succeeds. As the driving force behind Caesars Entertainment, they are the directors of one of the world’s largest casino operators.”
He adds that Ceasars Entertainment is a high-profile business in the industry that is “dominant in Las Vegas, with multiple resorts and owned by the World Series of Poker”.
As for the father-daughter relationship, Glenn Carano once accompanied his daughter to the 2012 Steven Soderbergh debut in Hollywood Haywire, an action movie that found her exchanging blows with a cast that included Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas and Ewan McGregor. After the big night, Glenn Carano told a Nevada TV station: “When they found out that I was Gina’s father, they said, ‘Wow, she’s the best.’ They loved working with her and loved how hard she worked. “
A version of this story first appeared in the February 17 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe.