Emily Bett Rickards knew very little about professional wrestling before signing on to play one of its most important female trailblazers, Mildred Burke, in the biopic Queen of the Ring. But after immersing herself in its history and transforming her body for the role, she came away from the project with a newfound appreciation for the sport.

The actor and writer/director tell the story of the first million dollar female athlete in history. Emily Bett Rickards and Ash Avildsen on Bringing Wrestling Pioneer Mildred Burke to Life in Queen of

Queen of the Ring is now officially in theaters and the story of Mildred Burke is finally mainstream. At the end of the day, that reality was the goal for direc

Emily Bett Rickards plays the title role in “Queen of the Ring,” based on the true story of Mildred Burke, the pioneering wrestler who began her “not fixed, scripted” fights when women were still banned from wrestling in every state. She became a world champion and the first woman athlete to earn $1 million.

In Ash Avildsen's new film Queen of The Ring, Emily Bett Rickards plays the role of Mildred Burke, a single mother who defied the odds in the 1930s to become the first million-dollar female athlete in the male-dominated world of professional wrestling.

"I can't sing and I can't dance," Mildred Burke tells her future manager, husband, business partner (and later ex-husband and rival) Billy Wolfe. "But I can tell a story and beat some ass." What a story,