Rosario Dawson

Rosario Dawson

Dawson at the 2015 Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations Press Conference
Born (1979-05-09) May 9, 1979[1]
New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation
  • Actress
  • singer
  • writer
Years active 1995–present

Rosario Dawson[2] (born May 9, 1979) is an American actress, singer, writer, and activist. She made her film debut in 1995 with the controversial teen drama Kids. Her subsequent film roles include: He Got Game (1998), Men in Black II (2002), 25th Hour (2002), The Rundown (2003), Alexander (2004), Sin City (2005), Clerks II (2006), Death Proof (2007), Eagle Eye (2008), Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), Unstoppable (2010), César Chávez (2013), Trance (2013), and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014).

For her role in Rent (2005), Dawson won the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture; for her role in Top Five (2014), she was nominated for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress in a Comedy. Dawson currently portrays Claire Temple in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, recently in two of the Marvel Studios/Netflix series, Daredevil and Jessica Jones.

Early life

Dawson was born in New York City. Her mother, Isabel Celeste, is a writer and singer who is of Puerto Rican and Cuban ancestry. Isabel was sixteen years old when Rosario was born; she never married Rosario's biological father, Patrick C. Harris.[3][4][5] When Rosario was one year old, her mother married Greg Dawson, a construction worker, who "loved and raised Rosario as his own daughter".[3] Dawson stated, "He's always been my dad".[4] Dawson has a half-brother, Clay, who is four years younger. Isabel and Greg divorced in 2001. Dawson lived in Garland, Texas for a year and went to Garland High School.[6]

At age 21, Isabel moved the family into an abandoned building, a 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."[7][8]

Career

Dawson in 2009

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.[9][10][11][12][13]

In 1999, Dawson teamed up with Prince for the re-release of his 1980s hit "1999".[14] 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.[15] The same year, she appeared in The Chemical Brothers' video for the song "Out of Control" from the album Surrender.[16] 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 at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival

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.[17] It was her first appearance on stage.[18]

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.[19] 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 Grindhouse. She teamed up with friend Talia Lugacy, whom she met at the Lee Strasberg Academy, to produce and star in Descent.[20] On July 7, 2007, Dawson presented at the American leg of Live Earth.

Dawson at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International

In 2008, Dawson starred with Will Smith in Seven Pounds and in Eagle Eye, produced by Steven Spielberg. 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.[21] 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.[22]

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.[23] 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. In 2013, she played Apple's mother in the independent film Gimme Shelter. The following year, she reprised her role as Gail in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. In 2015, she played Claire Temple in the TV series Daredevil, a role which she reprised in Jessica Jones.[24] Dawson's likeness was also used in the Jessica Jones tie-in comic as her character on both shows.

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.[25] She started dating director Danny Boyle in 2012, after having been cast in his 2013 film Trance.[26] The couple split in March 2013.[27]

Dawson is also a self-professed Trekkie who mentioned both her and her brother's love of Star Trek in an interview with Conan O'Brien, and also demonstrating her knowledge of several words of Klingon.[28]

Politics

Dawson at the Bernie Sanders rally in Washington Square Park, 2016

Dawson was once arrested in 2004 for protesting then president George W. Bush.[29]

Dawson endorsed Barack Obama for re-election in 2012,[30] and Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 Democratic Party primaries.[31]

On April 15, 2016, Dawson was among the protesters arrested during Democracy Spring in Washington, D.C..[32]

Philanthropy

Dawson at the 2008 Willow Awards

Dawson is involved with the Lower East Side Girls Club[33] and supports other charities such as environmental group Global Cool, the ONE Campaign, Operation USA, Oxfam, Amnesty International, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, the International Rescue Committee, Voto Latino,[34] and Stay Close.org, a poster and public service ad campaign for PFLAG where she is featured with her uncle Frank Jump.[35] She has participated in the Vagina Monologues (she refers to her vagina as "The General"[36]) and serves on the board for V-Day, a global non-profit movement that raises funds for women's anti-violence groups through benefits of this play.[37]

In October 2008, Dawson became a spokeswoman for TripAdvisor.com's philanthropy program, More Than Footprints, 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,[38] 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.[39]

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 First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest, TheThe First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest Alisa
2002 Men in Black II Laura Vasquez
2002 Adventures of Pluto Nash, TheThe 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 Rundown, TheThe 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 Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, AA Guide to Recognizing Your Saints Laurie
2007 Death Proof Abernathy Ross
2007 Descent Maya Also producer, direct-to-VOD
2008 Explicit Ills Babo's Mom
2008 Eagle Eye Zoe Perez
2008 Killshot Donna
2008 Seven Pounds Emily Posa
2009 Wonder Woman Artemis (voice) Direct-to-VOD
2009 Haunted World of El Superbeasto, TheThe Haunted World of El Superbeasto Velvet Von Black (voice)
2009 People Speak, TheThe 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 Direct-to-YouTube
2011 Zookeeper Kate
2011 10 Years Mary
2012 Fire with Fire Talia Durham Direct-to-VOD
2012 Hotel Noir Sevilla, the Maid Direct-to-VOD
2013 Trance Elizabeth Lamb
2013 Gimme Shelter June Bailey
2013 César Chávez Dolores Huerta [40]
2013 Parts per Billion Mia Direct-to-VOD
2013 Raze Rachel Direct-to-VOD
2014 Sin City: A Dame to Kill For Gail
2014 Captive, TheThe Captive Nicole Direct-to-VOD
2014 Top Five Chelsea Brown
2015 Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast Nyx (voice)
2015 Justice League: Throne of Atlantis Wonder Woman (voice) Direct-to-VOD
2016 Justice League vs. Teen Titans Wonder Woman (voice) Direct-to-VOD
2016 Ratchet & Clank Elaris (voice)
2016 Henchmen (voice) Filming
2016 Unforgettable Julia Banks Filming
2017 Lego Batman Movie, TheThe Lego Batman Movie Batgirl (voice) Filming[41]

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2003 Punk'd Herself Season 1, episode 8
2007 Robot Chicken Various (voice) Episode: "More Blood, More Chocolate"
2008 Gemini Division Anna Diaz Web series; 50 episodes; also executive producer
2009 Saturday Night Live Herself Episode: "Rosario Dawson/Fleet Foxes"
2009 SpongeBob SquarePants Herself Episode: "Truth or Square"
2011 Five Lili Television film
2015–present Daredevil Claire Temple 9 episodes
2015 Jessica Jones Claire Temple Episode: "AKA Smile"
2016 Luke Cage Claire Temple Guest star

Video games

Year Title Voice Role
2006 Marc Eckō's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure Tina
2012 Syndicate Lily Drawl
2016 Ratchet & Clank Elaris

Awards and nominations

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Monitor". Entertainment Weekly (1258): 30. May 10, 2013.
  2. ↑ Latina. Latina publications. 1998.
  3. 1 2 "Isabel Celeste". Sulafilms.com. 2010. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
  4. 1 2 Mills, Nancy (September 23, 2007). "Rosario Dawson grabs life by the horns". Daily Mail. London. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
  5. ↑ "The Kid Stays in the Pictures". The New York Times. February 19, 2009.
  6. ↑ Rosario stated this on the March 11, 2014 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!
  7. ↑ Hensley, Dennis. "Rosario Dawson: From Tenement to Tinseltown". Marie Claire. Retrieved March 20, 2007.
  8. ↑ Rosario Dawson. "Using Fame and Fortune to Help Others" Newsweek; October 13, 2008; Page 58.
  9. ↑ Adams, Jim (September 10, 2008). "New York community fosters show biz careers". Indian Country Today. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
  10. ↑ Drumming, Neil (April 14, 2006). "Spotlight on Rosario Dawson". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
  11. ↑ Barlow, Helen (January 9, 2004). "Between The Rock and a hard place". The Age. Melbourne.
  12. ↑ Hensley, Dennis. "Rosario Dawson: Actress Profile". Movies.go.com. Retrieved March 20, 2007.
  13. ↑ "Rent Party". Retrieved April 10, 2007.
  14. ↑ "1999: The New Master EP". Amazon.com. Retrieved March 30, 2007.
  15. ↑ "Prince & The Revolution – The New Master Lyrics". Retrieved March 30, 2007.
  16. ↑ "SlickMedia.com". August 1999. Retrieved April 5, 2007. Starring Rosario Dawson of "Kids" and "He Got Game" as a cola-brandishing rebel, the new video is said to deal with a revolution in a fictional Latin American banana republic.
  17. ↑ Brantley, Ben (August 29, 2005). "Shakespeare in the Park Review; Enter 'Two Gentlemen' For a Sexy Sip of Sangría". The New York Times.
  18. ↑ "In Step With: Rosario Dawson". Parade. November 6, 2005.
  19. ↑ "SPEAKEASY TEAMS UP WITH ACTRESS ROSARIO DAWSON FOR NEW COMIC". Retrieved March 20, 2007.
  20. ↑ "Rosario Dawson & Talia Lugacy on Descent". ComingSoon.net.
  21. ↑ "Welcome to GD Files". GeminiDivisionFiles.com. March 18, 2008. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
  22. ↑ "Comics Continuum cast list". ComicsContinuum.com. June 26, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
  23. ↑ The People Speak – Credits Archived May 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  24. ↑ "imdb: Daredevil (TV Series 2015-)". Marvel. April 10, 2015. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
  25. ↑ "Rosario Dawson and Jason Lewis Split". Us Weekly. Archived from the original on February 12, 2007. Retrieved March 20, 2007.
  26. ↑ Marquina, Sierra (August 5, 2012). "New Couple Alert: Danny Boyle and Rosario Dawson". E!Online. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
  27. ↑ Johnson, Zach (March 18, 2013). "Rosario Dawson and Danny Boyle Split, Ignore Each Other at Trance Press Junket". Us Weekly. Retrieved December 25, 2015.
  28. ↑ Rosario Dawson Speaks Klingon. YouTube. November 10, 2010.
  29. ↑ "Rosario Dawson Arrested in NY Bush Protest". People. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  30. ↑ "Democrats use DNC to woo Latino vote". Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  31. ↑ Mattie Kahn (25 March 2016). "Rosario Dawson Supports Bernie Sanders in Powerful Open Letter". ELLE. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  32. ↑ "Report: Rosario Dawson arrested at rally". TheHill. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  33. ↑ "GirlsClub.org".
  34. ↑ "Rosario Dawson's Charity Work". LooktotheStars.org. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
  35. ↑ "Pflag". StayClose.org. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
  36. ↑ Vineyard, Jennifer (April 3, 2013). "Rosario Dawson Calls Her Vagina 'the General'". New York. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  37. ↑ Schnall, Marianne (January 30, 2008). "WMC Exclusive: From Superdome to SUPERLOVE – V-Day at 10".
  38. ↑ "Rosario Dawson joins the RESPECT! Campaign". Rosario-Dawson.net. April 26, 2007. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
  39. ↑ Carrion, Kelly (July 20, 2012). "Rosario Dawson helps kickoff 'Unbottle the World Day'". NBC Latino. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
  40. ↑ Wilkinson, Tracy (July 1, 2012). "Diego Luna's Cesar Chavez Movie Marches in Mexico". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 14, 2012.
  41. ↑ Kit, Borys (October 16, 2015). "'Lego Batman' Finds Its Batgirl (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 28, 2015.

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