Rosario Dawson was born May 9, 1979, in New York City. She was raised in Manhattan by Isabel, her Bronx-born mother, a professional vocalist, and her father, Greg, who worked in construction. Although Rosario's parents separated when she was still young, they continued to live in the same building, allowing Rosario and her brother Clay to remain close to them.
Dawson attended an alternative school in downtown Manhattan, where she harbored aspirations of one day becoming a marine biologist. When she reached age 15, however, Dawson's career plans unexpectedly changed. She was literally cast off the street for the role of Ruby in the 1995 indie production Kids, after director Larry Clark spotted her on the stoop of her apartment building. Kids went on to become a controversial hit, and Dawson opted out of her college plans, choosing instead to attend the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute. The training Dawson received at the Strasberg Institute complemented the publicity that Kids had earned her, and it wasn't long before she received her second casting call, this time from Spike Lee for his 1998 film, He Got Game. That same year she appeared in Side Streets, which features a series of vignettes depicting life throughout New York City.
Over the course of the next few years, Dawson appeared in three more small-time films: as an honor student held hostage in Light It Up, a pothead in Down to You and a bully in King of the Jungle. Although none of these projects were box-office hits, they provided Dawson with the exposure crucial to a young actress, and the jobs kept coming. Her next role was as bassist Valerie Brown in 2001's feature film, Josie and the Pussycats. Despite the slew of publicity Josie and the Pussycats enjoyed preceding its release; the movie was a disappointment both critically and popularly. Nonetheless, the mass marketing of the film translated well for Dawson, who soon found herself on the "hot new faces" lists of entertainment publications throughout the country. Before the end of 2001, she managed to appear in three more movies: Sidewalks of New York, Trigger Happy and Chelsea Walls, an Ethan Hawke production.
Rosario Dawson's career has continued to flourish throughout 2002. She has demonstrated her versatility as an actress through equally strong performances in a variety of genres, from independent art-house films such as Love In the Time of Money and multi-million dollar blockbusters like Men in Black II and The Adventures of Pluto Nash. Rosario reunited with director Spike Lee in the critically acclaimed 25th Hour opposite Edward Norton. By the end of 2003 she had appeared in the adventure film The Rundown starring The Rock, Shattered Glass with Hayden Christensen, and the independent film This Girl's Life which has made its circuit in film festivals. 2004 brings a collaboration with Oliver Stone in the epic film Alexander starring opposite Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Val Kilmer, Jared Leto and Sir Anthony Hopkins. Rosario will be playing the role of Roxane, the wife of Alexander the Great. Over the next year Rosario has a plethora of projects due for release including Rob Zombie's sequel to A House of 1000 Corpses entitled The Devil's Rejects also the independent film This Revolution which is a remake of the 1968 film Medium Cool. Along with that Rosario will be playing the role of Gail in the highly anticipated Robert Rodriguez film Sin City which is based off the graphic novels by Frank Miller.
The projects currently in works include the Thora Birch produced Vinyl, a film that centers around the women behind an up and coming male rock bandand; Kismet a project in which herself, Famke Janssen, and Christina Ricci will direct comprised of three seperate shorts; and most recently she nabbed the lead role in of Mimi Marquez the film version of one of the greatest productions to hit the stage, Rent. In the fall of 2005 she is set to star in the Brian Priest and Talia Lugacy project Decent.
Has her own production company called Trybe.
Was raised in Manhattan by her mother, a professional vocalist, and her father, who worked in construction.
Is of Puerto Rican, Cuban, African American, Irish and Native American descent.
Discovered sitting on her front porch in New York City and asked if she wanted to be in a movie. That movie was Kids (1995).
"My doll's probably going to kick Barbie's a**, steal her clothes and wind up stealing Ken."
Birth name: Rosario Dawson
Gender: Female
Profession: Actress
Height: 5' 8"