Rosie Perez

Rosie Perez was born in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York City and was the daughter of Lydia Perez and Ismael Serrano Merchant marine. Rosie is Puerto Rican. Rosie attended Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood, Queens, New York as well as later, she enrolled in Los Angeles City College in Los Angeles, California. Rosie Perez was in her second year of college, and was about to relocate back to New York from Los Angeles. Her friends had hosted an event to celebrate. She accepted the invitation from Spike Lee to be part of his film Do the Right Thing (1989). It was her first big acting job. She was later nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her part as Carla Rodrigo (Peter Weir’s Fearless, 1993). She was defeated by Anna Paquin, for The Piano (1993). In my early days, the Latin community was the source of the majority of the criticism I received. They would invite me to lunch and say to me, "Can you go and get some lessons to improve the sound of your voice?". Or, "When you're on a talk show, can you not be less hilarious and loud?". I received a lot of negativity about my voice and I tried. Though I attempted to alter my voice, it wasn't the way I spoke. Thank God, my octaves decreased as became older. Boxing is about beating your fears. It's about fighting for yourself. Floyd Mayweather could get punched in a straight shot down the middle, right to his face - and he'd be adamant about it. And I can understand the way he's performing. The person who mentioned Don Cornelius's awe with her dancing]: Don Cornelius was not interested in seeing me actually perform. I was doing hip-hop, which was an entirely different style from Californians. They knew nothing about hip-hop dancing, and only had a basic understanding of locking and popping. Don was thinking, "No. You're a girl. I thought, What? This is truly weird. It was really bizarre.