Rosie Perez

Rosie Perez was the daughter of Lydia Perez, a merchant marine and Ismael Serano. She was born in Bushwick Brooklyn, New York City. Rosie is of Puerto Rican descent. Rosie graduated from Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood in Queens, New York. Then, she attended Los Angeles City College. Rosie Perez was in her sophomore year of college and was about to relocate back to New York from Los Angeles. Her departure was a party by her fellow students. She accepted the offer of Spike Lee to join his film Do the Right Thing (1989). It was her first big acting job. Then she was nominated to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Carla Rodrigo (Peter Weir’s Fearless 1993). The Academy Award went to Anna Paquin, for The Piano (1993). The Latin community was the root of the majority of my criticism early in my career. They would take me out to lunch and say, "Can I go and take lessons to improve my accent?" or, "When it's a talk show, how are you going to not not be funny? The people were so critical of my voice that they dealt me a lot of criticism. I tried my best to alter my voice, but it was my way of speaking. My octaves dropped when I got older, I am grateful for that. It's about taking on your fears head-on. It's about fighting for yourself. Floyd Mayweather could get punched with a clean punch down the middle, right to his face - and he'd not even flinch. And I can understand what he's doing. [Who talked about Don Cornelius watching her dance]: Don Cornelius did not want to know how I performed - I was dancing hip-hop, and it was unheard of by people living in California. They were only aware of popping and locking, so they didn't like hip-hop dancing. Don was just like "No I'm not going to. You're a girl. I thought "What?" This is really bizarre. Then I had to perform in high-heeled shoes, and I hadn't danced in heels before, and I was wearing this tiny, short dress, and it's getting up my thigh and I'm like, Oh my God!