Rosie Perez

Rosie Perez was born to Lydia Perez (a merchant marine) in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Rosie is Puerto Rican. Rosie went to Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood, Queens, New York and then enrolled in Los Angeles City College in Los Angeles, California. Rosie Perez, who was in her second college year and was planning to move to New York. Her friends had invited her to an excuse to go away party. The moment Spike Lee proposed that she participate in his movie Do the Right Thing (1989), she accepted. This would be her first major role as an actor. In Peter Weir's Fearless (1993) she played the part of Carla Rodrigo, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Artistress. The Academy Award went to Anna Paquin, for The Piano (1993). The most critique I received early on in my career was coming from the Latin community. I can remember my parents taking me out for lunch and saying to me "Can you attend lessons to reduce the accent?" or, "When it's a talk show, how are you going to not be funny? People were so critical about my voice, they gave me a lot of snark. I tried to improve my voice but it was not my voice that I used to speak. As I grew older the octaves decreased Thank God. Now I find it flattering that a young person of 16 years old comes up and mimics me.Boxing is about pushing through your fears. It's about staying strong. Floyd Mayweather could be punched, like a clean shot through his middle and he'd never hesitate. I can understand what he is doing. [Who spoke about Don Cornelius watching her dancingthe dance]: Don Cornelius didn't want to see me dance . I was dancing hip hop which was a new concept to Californians. They were only familiar with popping and locking, so hip-hop dance was not something they wanted to learn. Don was as "No, no. You're an asian woman. I was like"What? This is very strange. It's really bizarre.