Rosie Perez

Rosie Perez was born to Lydia Perez (a merchant marine) in Bushwick, Brooklyn. She 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, who was in her second year of college was about to move back to New York. She was given a going-away party by her fellow students. The moment Spike Lee proposed that she be part of his movie Do the Right Thing (1989), she said yes. This was her first major role as an actor. In Peter Weir's Fearless (1993), she was the role of support Carla Rodrigo, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Artistess. (She lost to Anna Paquin for The Piano (1993). The Latin community was the source of most of my critique early in my career. They used to invite me to lunch and say to me, "Can you go and learn how to reduce your accent?". or "Can you be loud and funny when you're on a talk show?" My peers gave me a lot of criticism about my voice, and I tried. Even though I tried changing my voice, it was not the way I spoke. Thank God, my octaves fell as I became older. Now I find it flattering if a sixteen-year-old comes up and starts imitating me.Boxing is about pushing through your fears. It's more about fighting for your rights. Floyd Mayweather could get punched by a straight punch in the middle, right to his face - and he wouldn't flinch. I know the way he's performing. Who spoke of Don Cornelius watching her dancingThen he said: Don Cornelius didn't want to watch me dance - I was doing hip-hop that was unfamiliar to Californians. They were only aware of locking and popping, therefore they didn't like hip-hop dancing. Don was like, "No. You're a girl." I thought, What? It's very bizarre. Then I had to perform in high-heeled shoes. I've hadn't danced in heels before, and I had the tiniest short dress, and it's going up my stomach and I'm all like, Oh my God