A ravishing, multiethnic beauty, this native New Yorker was discovered by director Larry Clark while hanging out near her Lower East Side home. The adolescent acting novice made her debut in
Kids, Clark's controversial 1995 film about teenagers and HIV, but she didn't hit the mainstream until the '00s, when she landed a string of supporting roles in high-profile films (Spike Lee's
25th Hour, the blockbuster sequel to
Men in Black, the big-screen adaptation of
Josie and the Pussycats) while managing to remain an indie darling with parts in more alternative fare (
Chelsea Walls,
Love in the Time of Money). Her unpretentious screen presence coupled with her striking looks helped her weather a few notorious bombs (
The Adventures of Pluto Nash,
Alexander). Her breakthrough came in 2005, when she did a sexually charged, leather-clad turn in the neo-noir
Sin City and had a leading role in the film adaptation of the musical
Rent, which allowed her to show off her surprisingly strong vocal chops.
Rosario Dawson Fast Facts:
- Describes her ethnicity as black, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Irish and Native American.
- Studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute in New York City.
- Contributed to the voiceover commentary on the remix of Prince's hit "1999" when she was 20.
- Replaced Halle Berry in the 2002 bomb The Adventures of Pluto Nash.
- Took guitar lessons from Joshua Jackson of Dawson's Creek and Eddie Murphy.
- In 2004, she was arrested outside the Republican National Convention in New York City while filming a scene for the film This Revolution when she refused to get out of the street.
- Made her stage debut in 2005 in the Public Theater's revival of the 1971 musical Two Gentlemen of Verona in Central Park.
- Starred in the movie musical Rent (2005), which was set on Manhattan's Lower East Side, the neighborhood in which she grew up.
- Rosario Dawson Relationships:
- Clay - Brother
- Isabel Dawson - Mother
- Jason Lewis - Ex-significant Other
