Rosie Perez

Rosie Perez was born to Lydia Perez (a merchant marine) in Bushwick, Brooklyn. She is of Puerto Rican descent. Rosie was a student at Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood, Queens, New York, and later enrolled in Los Angeles City College in Los Angeles, California. Rosie Perez was in her sophomore year of college and was just about to move back to New York from Los Angeles. Her friends had invited her to the opportunity to have a party to celebrate. Spike Lee offered her a part in his film Do the Right Thing (1989). She accepted. It would be her first major role in acting. Then, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Carla Rodrigo (Peter Weir’s Fearless, 1993). (She lost to Anna Paquin for The Piano (1993).) A lot of the criticism I received in the beginning of my career came coming from the Latin community. I can remember them taking me out for lunch and telling me "Can you go to lessons to tone down your accent?" Or, "When you're on a talk show, could you not not be hilarious and loud?". I received a lot of crap about my voice, and I even tried. It was my voice I couldn't bear to change. Thank Godthat my octaves decreased as grew older. Boxing is all about beating your fears. Boxing is all about fighting for your own rights. Floyd Mayweather could get punched with a clean punch down the middle, right to his face and he'd never flinch. And I know what he's doing. He mentioned that Don Cornelius was fascinated with her dancing]: Don Cornelius was not interested in watching me perform. I was dancing hip-hop, which was a different style for Californians. They had no idea about hip-hop dancing and only had a basic understanding of locking and popping. Don was saying, "No, no, no. You're an attractive girl. I thought, "What? This is truly bizarre. It was really strange.