Rosario Dawson

Rosario Dawson
Dawson in 2009
Born	May 9, 1979 (1979-05-09) (age 31) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress/Singer/Writer
Years active	1995–present
Website
http://www.rosario-dawson.net/

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

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Filmography 5 Awards and nominations 6 References 7 External links

Early life

Dawson was born in New York City. Her parents were 15 years old when she was born.^[1] Her mother, Isabel,^[2] is a plumber of Puerto Rican and Afro-Cuban descent, and her father, Greg Dawson, is a construction worker of Native American (Apache-Seminole)^[3] and Irish descent.^[4][5][6] Dawson has one younger brother, Clay (b. 1983). Her parents divorced while she was in elementary school.^[7]

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, to turn the building into a squat where their two children would grow up. Dawson cites this when explaining how she learned, "If you wanted something better, you had to do it yourself."^[7][8]

Career

As a child, Rosario 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 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".^[9] 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.^[10] The same year, she appeared in The Chemical Brothers' video for the song "Out of Control" from the album Surrender.^[11] 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.

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.^[12] It was her first appearance on stage. “That park is so beautiful,” she said of New York's Central Park.^[13]

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.

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.^[14] 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.^[15] 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-based TV series. In the computer animated series Afterworld she voiced the character Officer Delondre Baines.^[16] 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.^[17]

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.^[18]

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 movie Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief as Persephone.

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.^[19] She has also been rumored to have dated Dawson's Creek star Joshua Jackson.^[20] 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^[21][22] 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),^[23] International Rescue Committee, and Voto Latino,^[24][24][25] 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,^[26][27] 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,^[28] 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

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Kids	Ruby
1997	Girls' Night Out	Girl
1998	He Got Game	Lala Bonilla
	Side Streets	Marisol Hidalgo
1999	Light It Up	Stephanie Williams
2000	Down to You	Lana
	King of the Jungle	Veronica
2001	Josie and the Pussycats	Valerie Brown
	Sidewalks of New York	Maria Tedesko
	Trigger Happy	Dee
	Chelsea Walls	Audrey
2002	Ash Wednesday	Grace Quinonez
	Men in Black II	Laura Vasquez
	The Adventures of Pluto Nash	Dina Lake
	25th Hour	Naturelle Riviera
	The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest	Alisa
	Love in the Time of Money	Anna
2003	V-Day: Until the Violence Stops	Herself	Documentary
	This Girl's Life	Martine
	Shattered Glass	Andy Fox
	The Rundown	Mariana
2004	Alexander	Roxana
	This Revolution	Tina Santiago
2005	Sin City	Gail
	Little Black Dress	Haley
	Rent	Mimi Marquez
2006	Clerks II	Rebecca "Becky" Scott
	A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints	Laurie
2007	Grindhouse: Death Proof	Abernathy Ross
	Descent	Maya
	Robot Chicken	Clara Palmer	Episode: "More Blood, More Chocolate" (3.08)
2008	Explicit Ills	Babo's Mom
	Eagle Eye	Zoe Perez
	Gemini Division	Anna Diaz	30 episodes
	Seven Pounds	Emily Posa	NAACP Image Award For Best Actress
2009	Killshot	Donna
	Wonder Woman	Artemis	Voice
	The Haunted World of El Superbeasto	Velvet Von Black	Voice
	Un-broke: What You Need To Know About Money	Herself	Television special
	SpongeBob's Truth or Square	Herself
	The People Speak	Herself	Documentary
2010	Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief	Persephone
	Unstoppable	Connie Hooper
	Girl Walks Into a Bar
2011	The Zookeeper

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

• 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

• 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^[29]

References

External links

• Official site
• Rosario Dawson at the Internet Movie Database
• Rosario Dawson at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Rosario Dawson at TV.com

Persondata
Name	Dawson, Rosario
Alternative names
Short description	American actress, singer
Date of birth	1979-5-9
Place of birth	New York, New York, U.S.
Date of death
Place of death