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 has graduated from Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood in Queens, New York. She then enrolled at Los Angeles City College. Rosie Perez, who was in her second year of college she was planning to relocate to New York. Her friends had invited her to an event to celebrate. The moment Spike Lee proposed that she participate in his film Do the Right Thing (1989), she accepted. This would be her first acting role in a major film. In Peter Weir's Fearless (1993) she played the supporting character Carla Rodrigo, for which she was nominated to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Artistess. She was defeated by Anna Paquin, for The Piano (1993). The most criticism I got early in my career was from the Latin community. They would invite me to lunch and ask me, "Can I go and learn lessons to lessen my accent?" or, "When it's a talk show, how can you not be funny? My voice was always a source of criticism. I tried to change it. It was my voice I couldn't bear to change. My octaves dropped as I grew older, I am grateful for that. Boxing is about taking on your biggest fears. Boxing is about fighting for yourself. Floyd Mayweather could be punched. Straight shot across his middle. He would not blink. I know the way he's doing. The person who spoke about Don Cornelius watching her dancingand observing her dancing]: Don Cornelius didn't want to watch me dance - I was doing hip-hop which was a new concept to Californians. They only knew about locking and popping, therefore they weren't interested in hip-hop dancing. Don was as "No, no. You're an asian woman. I was like, "What? This is really weird. Then I had to dance in high heels, and I never danced in high heels before, and I was wearing this tiny little short dress and it's getting up my thigh and I'm all like, Oh my God!