Rosie Perez

Rosie Perez was born to Lydia Perez (a merchant marine) in Bushwick, Brooklyn. She is Puerto Rican. Rosie attended Grover Cleveland High School, Ridgewood, Queens, New York. She then enrolled at Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles, California. Rosie Perez, who was in her second college year and was planning to move back to New York. Her friends had invited her to an elopement party. Spike Lee offered her a part in his film Do the Right Thing (1989). She said yes. It was her first big acting job. She was then nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Carla Rodrigo (Peter Weir’s Fearless 1993). (She was defeated by Anna Paquin for The Piano (1993). The Latin community was the cause of the majority of my criticism at the beginning of my career. They would take me out for lunch and say, "Can I go and learn lessons to lessen my accent?" Or, "When it's a talk show, how can you not be so funny? My voice was always a source of criticism. I tried to alter my voice. My voice was something I didn't want to change. My octaves slowed as I grew up, thank goodness. It's now a pleasure when a teenager comes up and mimics me.Boxing is about overcoming your fears. It's about fighting for yourself. Floyd Mayweather could be punched. A straight punch into the middle of his face. He wouldn't blink. And I'm aware of what he's doing. Who spoke of Don Cornelius watching her dancingThen he said: Don Cornelius didn't want to see me dance . I was doing hip-hop which was something that was not known to Californians. They were only familiar with popping and locking, so hip-hop dancing wasn't something they wanted to study. Don was like, "No. You're one of us. I was like, "What? It's really bizarre. Then I had to perform in high-heeled shoes. I've hadn't danced in heels before, and I was wearing this tiny little short dress and it's going up my stomach and I'm thinking, Oh my God!