Name: Rosario Dawson

Birth Name: Rosario Dawson

Birthdate: May 9, 1979

Birthplace: New York, N.Y.

Growing up in New York City's once very poverty-stricken Lower East Side, Rosario Dawson was literally discovered on her doorstep at age 15 by director Larry Clark, who cast her as a sexaholic teen in his controversial film Kids about kids on the streets. For the next 10 years, the actress of Puerto Rican, Dominican, Irish, Cuban and African-American descent played everything from the Rock's tough-cookie co-star in The Rundown to Alexander's hot-as-a-pistol wife Roxane in Alexander. Her role as the vulpine dominatrix Gail in Sin City put her squarely on the map as a future leading lady.


1. She enjoys adventurous activities like whitewater rafting in Costa Rica and running with the bulls in Spain.
2. She met Sin City director Robert Rodriguez when her mother told him at the Once Upon a Time in Mexico premiere that Rosario wanted to work with him.
3. She was arrested in August of 2004 while filming a movie in New York called This Revolution after refusing to get off the road for an anti-Republican protest. She was charged with two counts of disorderly conduct and one charge of obstructing governmental administration.
4. She's often called Rosie, a nickname she hates.
5. She landed the role of AIDS-afflicted Mimi in Rent when the original Broadway cast member got pregnant.

"When I got the role of Roxane in Alexander, some people got really upset, like, 'Why did they hire a black girl?' … Sometimes people say weird things, like, 'I don't understand why she just doesn't say she's black. Puerto Ricans aren't that brown!' [Race] wasn't an issue for me until I got older, and it became an issue for other people."
— Marie Claire, Dec. 2005

 

FILMS

Grindhouse - (2007) - Actor
Descent - (2007) - Actor, Producer
Death Proof - (2007) - Actor
Killshot - (2006) - Actor
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints - (2006) - Actor
Clerks II - (2006) - Actor
Rent/Godspell - (2005) - Actor
Rent/Tommy - (2005) - Actor
Rent - (2005) - Actor
Sin City - (2005) - Actor
Alexander - (2004) - Actor
This Girl's Life - (2004) - Actor
The Rundown - (2003) - Actor
Shattered Glass - (2003) - Actor
Men in Black II - (2002) - Actor
The Adventures of Pluto Nash - (2002) - Actor
Love in the Time of Money - (2002) - Actor
The First $20 Million - (2002) - Actor
25th Hour - (2002) - Actor
Ash Wednesday - (2002) - Actor
Chelsea Walls - (2002) - Actor
Blue Crush/Josie and the Pussycats - (2002) - Actor
Josie and the Pussycats - (2001) - Actor
Sidewalks of New York - (2001) - Actor
King of the Jungle - (2001) - Actor
Down to You - (2000) - Actor
Light It Up - (1999) - Actor
Side Streets - (1998) - Actor
Kids - (1995) - Actor