Rosario Dawson Biography

Rosario Dawson (born May 9, 1979) is an American actress, singer, and writer. She has appeared in films such as Kids, Men in Black II, 25th Hour, Sin City, Clerks II, Rent, Death Proof, The Rundown, Eagle Eye, Alexander, Seven Pounds, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Unstoppable, and Trance.

Early life

Dawson was born in New York City, New York. Her mother, Isabel Celeste, is a writer and singer who is of Puerto Rican and Afro-Cuban descent. Isabel was sixteen years old when Rosario was born; she never married Rosario's biological father, Patrick C. Harris. When Rosario was one year old, her mother married Greg Dawson, a construction worker, who "loved and raised Rosario as his own daughter" (Dawson has stated that "He's always been my dad"). Dawson has a half-brother, Clay, who is four years younger. Isabel and Greg divorced in 2006.

At the age of 21, Isabel moved the family into an abandoned building squat on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where she and her husband renovated an apartment and installed the plumbing and electrical wiring for the building, creating affordable housing where Rosario and Clay would grow up. Dawson has cited this part of her history when explaining how she learned that "If you wanted something better, you had to do it all yourself."

Career

As a child, Dawson made a brief appearance on Sesame Street. At the age of 15, she was subsequently discovered on her front porch step by photographer Larry Clark and Harmony Korine, where Korine lauded her 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, in which she speaks the intro and a brief interlude towards the end. In 2001, she appeared in the movie, Josie and the Pussycats.

Dawson starred as Naturelle Rivera, 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. 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. It was her first appearance on stage. "That park is so beautiful," she said of New York's Central Park.

In the film adaptation of the popular musical Rent in 2005, she played the exotic dancer Mimi Marquez, replacing 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, portraying 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.

She starred as Becky in 2006's Clerks II, and mentioned in Back to the Well, the making-of documentary, that 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, she starred in Gemini Division, an online 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 Artemis of Bana-Mighdall in the animated film Wonder Woman.

In 2009, Dawson performed in The People Speak, a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.

In 2009, Dawson also voiced the character of Velvet Von Black in Rob Zombie's animated feature, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto.

For the Kasabian album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, she is featured singing on the track "West Ryder Silver Bullet".

In 2010, she starred in the movies Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, as Persephone, and Unstoppable, as railway yardmaster Connie.

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 started dating director Danny Boyle in 2012, after having been cast in his 2013 film Trance.

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, and Voto Latino, and she participated in the Vagina Monologues. She is on the V-Day Board. She attended both the Democratic National Convention (in 2008) as well as the Republican National Convention (also in 2008). In October 2008, Dawson became a spokeswoman 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. In 2012 Dawson partnered with SodaStream International in launching the first annual Unbottle the World Day, a campaign conceived in an effort to raise awareness to the impact of cans and plastic bottles on the environment.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Kids	Ruby
1997	Girls' Night Out	Girl	Short film
1998	He Got Game	Lala Bonilla
1998	Side Streets	Marisol Hidalgo
1999	Light It Up	Stephanie Williams
2000	Down to You	Lana
2000	King of the Jungle	Veronica
2001	Josie and the Pussycats	Valerie Brown
2001	Sidewalks of New York	Maria Tedesko
2001	Trigger Happy	Dee
2001	Chelsea Walls	Audrey
2002	Ash Wednesday	Grace Quinonez
2002	The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest	Alisa
2002	Men in Black II	Laura Vasquez
2002	The Adventures of Pluto Nash	Dina Lake
2002	Love in the Time of Money	Anna
2002	25th Hour	Naturelle Riviera
2003	V-Day: Until the Violence Stops	Herself	Documentary film
2003	This Girl's Life	Martine
2003	Shattered Glass	Andy Fox
2003	The Rundown	Mariana
2004	Alexander	Roxana
2005	This Revolution	Tina Santiago
2005	Sin City	Gail
2005	Little Black Dress	Haley	Short film
2005	Rent	Mimi Marquez
2006	Clerks II	Rebecca "Becky" Scott
2006	A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints	Laurie
2007	Death Proof	Abernathy Ross
2007	Descent	Maya	Also Producer
2008	Explicit Ills	Babo's Mom
2008	Eagle Eye	Zoe Perez
2008	Killshot	Donna
2008	Seven Pounds	Emily Posa	NAACP Image Award For Best Actress
2009	Wonder Woman	Artemis	Voice role
2009	The Haunted World of El Superbeasto	Velvet Von Black	Voice role
2009	The People Speak	Herself	Documentary film
2010	Awake	Robin	Short film
2010	Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief	Persephone
2010	Unstoppable	Connie Hooper
2011	Miss Representation	Herself	Documentary film
2011	Girl Walks Into a Bar	June
2011	Zookeeper	Kate	Nominated"?Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Female Movie Star
2011	10 Years	Mary
2011	Five	Lili	TV film Nominated"?Black Reel Awards for Best Actress in a Television Miniseries or Movie Nominated"?NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special Nominated-Imagen Awards for Best Actress/Television Nominated-NAMIC Vision Awards for Best Performance - Drama
2012	Fire with Fire	Talia Durham
2013	Trance	Elizabeth
2013	Gimme Shelter	June Bailey
2013	Chavez	Dolores Huerta
2013	Parts Per Billion	Mia
2014	Sin City: A Dame to Kill For	Gail
2014	Queen of the Night		post-production
TBA	Finally Famous (film)		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Punk'd	Herself	(season 1: episode 8)
2007	Robot Chicken	Clara Palmer / Dean's Girlfriend / Woman	"More Blood, More Chocolate" (season 3: episode 8)
2008	Gemini Division	Anna Diaz	Web series; 50 episodes; executive producer
2009	Saturday Night Live	Herself	"Rosario Dawson/Fleet Foxes" (season 34: episode 13)
2009	SpongeBob SquarePants	Herself	"Truth or Square" (season 6: episode 23-24)

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Marc Eck?'s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure	Tina	Voice role
2012	Syndicate	Lily Drawl	Voice role

Awards and nominations

• ALMA Awards

• 2006, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (Rent) Nominated

• American Black Film Festival

• 2004, Rising Star Award Won

• Black Movie Awards

• 2006, Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Rent) Nominated

• Black Reel Awards

• 2012, Best Actress in a Television Miniseries or Movie (Five) 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

• Broadcast Film Critics

• 2006, Best Song (Rent) "Seasons of Love" Nominated

• Image Awards

• 2012, Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special (Five) 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

• MTV Movie Awards

• 2006, Best Kiss (Sin City) Nominated

• Satellite Awards

• 2006, Best Supporting Actress Comedy or Musical (Rent) Won

• Spike Video Game Awards

• 2006, Gamer's Choice: Breakthrough Performance Won

• Streamy Awards

• 2009, Best Female Actor in a Dramatic Web Series Won

• Teen Choice Awards

• 2001, Film " Choice Breakout Performance (Josie and the Pussycats) Nominated
• 2010, Choice Movie Actress: Fantasy (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief) Nominated

See also

• List of famous Puerto Ricans