Rosario Dawson (born May 9,
1979) is an American
actress and singer, having
appeared in films such as Men in
Black II, Clerks II,
The Rundown, Sin City, Rent, Death
Proof, Eagle Eye and
Seven Pounds.
Early life
Dawson was
born in New York
City
, the daughter of Isabel, a plumber of Puerto Rican, Afro-Cuban and Dominican
descent, and Greg Dawson, a construction worker of Native American and
Irish descent. Isabel was 17
when Rosario was born, and 18 when she married.
When Isabel was 21,
she broke into an abandoned building on the Lower East Side
of Manhattan
where she and her husband installed plumbing and
electrical wiring, in order to turn the building into a squat in which Rosario would grow up.
Dawson cites this when explaining how she learned "if you wanted
something better, you had to do it yourself." Her parents are now
divorced.
Career
As a child, Rosario made a brief appearance on
Sesame Street. She was subsequently
"discovered" on her front porch step by photographer
Larry Clark and
Harmony Korine, where Harmony lauded her with
praise as being perfect for a part he had written in his screenplay
that would become the controversial 1995 film
Kids. She went on to star in varied roles;
ranging from
independent films, to
big budget
blockbusters
including
Rent,
He Got Game and
Men in Black II.
In 1999, Dawson teamed up with
Prince for the re-release of his 1980s hit
"
1999". The new remixed version featured
the actress in an introductory voice over, offering commentary on
the state of the world in the year before the new
millennium. The same year she appeared in
The Chemical Brothers' video
for the song "Out of Control" from the album
Surrender. She
is also featured on the track "She Lives In My Lap" from the second
disc of the
OutKast album
Speakerboxxx/The Love
Below, during which she speaks the intro and a brief
interlude towards the end.
Dawson starred as "Naturelle," the love interest of a convicted
drug dealer played by
Edward Norton,
in the 2002
Spike Lee film drama,
25th Hour. In the 2004
Oliver Stone film
Alexander she played the bride of
Alexander the Great, which
featured her in a fully nude/sex scene.
In the autumn of 2005,
Dawson appeared on stage as Julia in the Public Theater
's "Shakespeare in the Park" revival of Two Gentlemen of
Verona. In the film adaptation of the popular
musical
Rent in 2005, she
played the exotic dancer Mimi Marquez, replacing the original Mimi,
Daphne Rubin-Vega, who was
pregnant and unable to play the part. She also appeared in the
adaptation of the graphic novel
Sin
City, co-directed by
Robert
Rodriguez and
Frank Miller where
she played Gail, a prostitute-dominatrix. Also in that year she
appeared in a graphically violent scene in the
Rob Zombie film
The Devil's Rejects. Though the
scene was cut from the final film, it is available in the deleted
scenes on the
DVD release.
In 2006's
Clerks II, starring as
Becky, the crush-turned-wife of
Dante
Hicks, she mentioned in the making of documentary,
Back to
the Well, the
donkey show sequence
was what made her decide to take the role. In May of the same year,
Dawson, an avid
comic book fan,
co-created the comic book miniseries
Occult Crimes Taskforce. She
was at the 2007
Comic-Con to promote the
comic. She co-starred with former
Rent alum
Tracie Thoms in the
Quentin Tarantino throwback movie
Death Proof in 2007, part of
the Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double feature
Grind House. She teamed up with friend
Talia Lugacy, whom she met at the
Lee
Strasberg Academy, to produce and star in
Descent. On July 7, 2007, Dawson
presented at the
American leg of
Live Earth.
In 2008, Dawson starred with
Will Smith
in
Seven Pounds and in the
Steven Spielberg produced
Eagle Eye. Beginning in August,
Dawson starred in
Gemini
Division, an online-based TV series. In the computer
animated series
Afterworld she voiced the
character Officer Delondre Baines . On January 17, 2009, Dawson
hosted
Saturday Night Live.
Later in the year she voiced the character of
Artemis in the animated
Wonder Woman film.
For the
Kasabian album
West Ryder Pauper Lunatic
Asylum she is featured singing on the track "West Ryder
Silver Bullet".
Personal life
Dawson dated former
Sex and the
City star
Jason Lewis
for two years.
They lived together in Los Angeles
until they separated in November 2006.
She has
also been rumored to have dated Dawson's Creek
star Joshua
Jackson. In December 2008, Dawson confirmed on the
Tonight Show that she had been dating
an international DJ that she met at a French cafe.
Dawson is involved with the Lower East Side Girls Club and supports
other
charities such as
environmental group Global Cool, the
ONE
Campaign,
Oxfam,
Amnesty International,
Parents,
Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, Stay Close.org (a
poster and public service ad campaign for PFLAG where she is
featured with her uncle Frank Jump),
International Rescue
Committee, Voto Latino, and she participated in the
Vagina Monologues. She
attended both the Democratic National Convention as well as the
Republican National Convention in 2008.
In October 2008,
Dawson became a spokesman for TripAdvisor.com’s philanthropy program, More
Than Footprints, involving Conservation International,
Doctors Without Borders,
National
Geographic Society
, The Nature
Conservancy, and Save The
Children. Also in October 2008, she lent her voice to
the RESPECT! Campaign, a movement aimed at preventing domestic
violence. She recorded a voice message for the Giverespect.org Web
site stressing the importance of respect in helping stop domestic
violence.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
- *2006, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
(Rent) Nominated
- *2004, Rising Star Award Won
- * 2006, Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting
Role (Rent) Nominated
- *2006, Best Actress (Rent) Nominated
- *2006, Best Ensemble (Rent) Nominated
- *2006, Best Supporting Actress (Sin City)
Nominated
- *2003, Best Supporting Actress (25th Hour)
Nominated
- *2000, Best Actress (Light It Up) Nominated
- *2006, Best Song (Rent) "Seasons of Love"
Nominated
- *2009, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture (Seven
Pounds) Won
- *2006, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture (Rent)
Nominated
- *2000, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture (Light It Up)
Nominated
- *2006, Best Kiss (Sin City) Nominated
- *2006, Best Supporting Actress Comedy or Musical (Rent)
Won
- *2009, Best Female Actor in a Dramatic Web Series
Won
References
- Between The Rock and a hard place
- Rosario Dawson. "Using Fame and Fortune to Help Others"
Newsweek;
October 13, 2008; Page 58.
- Brantley, Ben. "Shakespeare in the Park Review; Enter 'Two
Gentlemen' For a Sexy Sip of Sangría", The New York
Times, August 29, 2005
- Rosario Dawson & Talia Lugacy on
Descent
- Comics Continuum cast list
- Rosario Dawson Biography - Yahoo! Movies
- http://www.girlsclub.org/special/index.html
- Rosario Dawson on Jimmy Kimmel Live 4-9-07
part1
- Stay Close :: Pflag
- Rosario Dawson's Charity Work
- Vidéos MySpaceTV : Rosario Dawson par Global
Cool
- http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/081031/0448209.html
- http://www.rosario-dawson.net/
-
http://rosario-dawson.net/2008/10/24/rosario-dawson-joins-the-respect-campaign/
External links