Rosario Dawson

Rosario Isabel Dawson[2] (born May 9, 1979)[3] is an American actress, voice actress, producer, and activist. She made her feature film debut in the 1995 independent drama Kids. Her subsequent film roles include He Got Game (1998), Josie and the Pussycats (2001), Men in Black II (2002), Rent (2005), Sin City (2005), Clerks II (2006), Death Proof (2007), Seven Pounds (2008), Unstoppable (2010) and Top Five (2014). Dawson has also provided voice-over work for Disney/Marvel, Warner Bros./DC Comics, and ViacomCBS's Nickelodeon unit.

Rosario Dawson
Dawson in June 2016
Born	Rosario Isabel Dawson May 9, 1979[1] New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actress voice actress activist producer
Years active	1995–present
Partner(s)	Cory Booker (2019–present)
Children	1

For her role in Rent, Dawson won the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture; for her role in Top Five, she was nominated for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress in a Comedy.

Dawson is also known for having several roles in comic book adaptations. These include Gail in Sin City (2005) and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), providing the voices of Diana Prince / Wonder Woman in the DC Animated Movie Universe and Barbara Gordon / Batgirl in The Lego Batman Movie, as well as her portrayal of Claire Temple in five of the Marvel/Netflix series (2015–2018). In 2020, she portrayed Ahsoka Tano in the second season of The Mandalorian, and will star in the upcoming Disney+ original series Ahsoka.

Early life

Dawson was born on May 9, 1979, in New York City. Her mother, Isabel Celeste, is of Cuban and Puerto Rican ancestry. Isabel was 16 years old when Rosario was born; she never married Rosario's biological father, Patrick C. Harris.[4][5] When Rosario was a year old, her mother married Greg Dawson, a construction worker.[4] Dawson has a step-brother, Clay, who is four years younger.

Isabel and Greg sublet their apartment and moved their family into 544 East 13th Street, a reclaimed building, after being approved by the residents as members of an affordable housing plan. During that time Rosario and Clay would also grow up in Texas.[6] Dawson has cited this part of her history when explaining how she learned that, "If you wanted something better, you had to do it all yourself."[7]

Career

As a child, Dawson made a brief appearance on Sesame Street. At the age of 15, she was subsequently discovered on her front-porch step by photographer Larry Clark and Harmony Korine, where Korine lauded her as being perfect for a part he had written in his screenplay that would become the controversial 1995 film Kids. She went on to star in varied roles, ranging from independent films to big budget blockbusters including Rent, He Got Game and Men in Black II.[8][9][10][11][12]

Dawson at the 1st Streamy Awards in March 2009

In 1998, Dawson teamed up with Prince for the re-release of his 1980s hit "1999".[13] The new remixed version featured the actress in an introductory voice over, offering commentary on the state of the world in the year before the new millennium.[14] The following year, she appeared in The Chemical Brothers' video for the song "Out of Control" from the album Surrender.[15] She is also featured on the track "She Lives In My Lap" from the second disc of the OutKast album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below,[16] in which she speaks the intro and a brief interlude towards the end.

In 2001, she appeared in the movie Josie and the Pussycats as band member Valerie Brown.

Dawson starred as Naturelle Rivera, the love interest of a convicted drug dealer played by Edward Norton, in the 2002 Spike Lee film drama, 25th Hour. In the 2004 Oliver Stone film Alexander, she played the bride of Alexander the Great. In the autumn of 2005, Dawson appeared on stage as Julia in the Public Theater's "Shakespeare in the Park" revival of Two Gentlemen of Verona.[17] It was her first appearance on stage.[18]

In the film adaptation of the popular musical Rent in 2005, she played the exotic dancer Mimi Marquez, replacing Daphne Rubin-Vega, who was pregnant and unable to play the part. She also appeared in the adaptation of the graphic novel Sin City, co-directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, portraying Gail, a prostitute-dominatrix. Also in that year, she appeared in a graphically violent scene in the Rob Zombie film The Devil's Rejects. Though the scene was cut from the final film, it is available in the deleted scenes on the DVD release.

Dawson at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival

She starred as Becky in 2006's Clerks II, and mentioned in Back to the Well, the making-of documentary, that the donkey show sequence was what made her decide to take the role. In May of the same year, Dawson, an avid comic book fan, co-created and co-wrote the comic book miniseries Occult Crimes Taskforce.[19] She was at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con to promote the comic. She co-starred with former Rent alum Tracie Thoms in the Quentin Tarantino throwback movie Death Proof in 2007, part of the Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double feature Grindhouse. She teamed up with friend Talia Lugacy, whom she met at the Lee Strasberg Academy, to produce and star in Descent.[20] On July 7, 2007, Dawson presented at the American leg of Live Earth.

In 2008, Dawson starred with Will Smith in Seven Pounds and in Eagle Eye, produced by Steven Spielberg. Beginning in August, she starred in Gemini Division, an online science fiction series. In the computer animated series Afterworld, she voiced the character Officer Delondre Baines.[21] On January 17, 2009, Dawson hosted Saturday Night Live. Later in the year, she voiced Artemis of Bana-Mighdall in the animated film Wonder Woman.[22]

In 2009, Dawson performed in The People Speak, a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.[23] In 2009, Dawson also voiced the character of Velvet Von Black in Rob Zombie's animated feature, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. For the Kasabian album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, she is featured singing on the track "West Ryder Silver Bullet".

In 2010, she starred in the movies Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, as Persephone, and Unstoppable, as railway yardmaster Connie. In 2013, she played Apple's mother in the independent film Gimme Shelter. The following year, she reprised her role as Gail in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. In 2015, she played Claire Temple in the Netflix web television series Daredevil, a role which she reprised in Jessica Jones and Luke Cage.[24] Dawson's likeness was also used in the Jessica Jones tie-in comic as her character on both shows. Dawson has continued this role in 2017 in Iron Fist and The Defenders. In 2018, she played the female lead role in the Netflix movie, Krystal. In 2020, she was cast as the Star Wars character Ahsoka Tano in the second season of The Mandalorian on Disney+.[25]

Personal life

Dawson is a self-professed Trekkie who mentioned both her and her brother's love of Star Trek in an interview with Conan O'Brien, and also demonstrated her knowledge of several Klingon words.[26]

Dawson briefly dated writer and actor Jason Sudeikis in 2010.[27] Dawson was in a relationship with director Danny Boyle during shooting of the film Trance, which he directed and she starred in, in 2013.[28][29]

Dawson adopted a 12-year-old girl in 2014.[30]

From 2016 to 2017, Dawson dated comedian and television host Eric Andre.[31]

In March 2019, Dawson confirmed that she is in a relationship with United States senator Cory Booker.[32]

In October 2019, Dedrek Finley, a trans man, filed a case in Los Angeles against Dawson and her family for alleged incidents involving discrimination, verbal abuse, misgendering and physical assault. Finley had been employed as a handyman, living with the family and had known them for decades.[33][34] Through their attorney, the Dawson family said that they are "saddened and disappointed by these false and baseless allegations."[35] In August 2020, 18 of the 20 accusations, including those against Dawson herself, were voluntarily dropped by the plaintiff.[36]

In 2018, Dawson made a post to Instagram which was widely perceived as her coming out; when asked about this in a 2020 interview, she stated that this had not been her intention, and further specified that although "it's not inaccurate", she had never "had a relationship in that space."[37][38][39]

Politics

Dawson at the Bernie Sanders rally in Washington Square Park in April 2016

Dawson was arrested in 2004, while protesting against president George W. Bush.[40]

Dawson endorsed Barack Obama for re-election in 2012,[41] and Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 Democratic Party primaries.[42] On April 15, 2016, Dawson was among the protesters arrested during Democracy Spring in Washington, D.C.[43]

In mid-2019, Dawson endorsed her boyfriend Cory Booker in the 2020 presidential election. Booker ended his campaign for president on January 13, 2020.[44][45] Had she become First Lady of the United States, Dawson said she would have advocated for solutions to youth homelessness.[46] On March 9, 2020, Dawson endorsed the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders, whom she had also previously endorsed in his 2016 bid.[47]

Philanthropy

Dawson at the 2008 Willow Awards

Dawson is involved with the Lower East Side Girls Club[48] and supports other charities such as environmental group Global Cool, One Campaign, Operation USA, Oxfam, Amnesty International, Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), the International Rescue Committee, Voto Latino,[49] and Stay Close.org, a poster and public service ad campaign for PFLAG where she is featured with her uncle[50] Frank Jump.[51] She has participated in the Vagina Monologues (she refers to her vagina as "The General")[52] and serves on the board for V-Day, a global non-profit movement that raises funds for women's anti-violence groups through benefits of this play.[53]

In October 2008, Dawson became a spokeswoman for TripAdvisor.com's philanthropy program, More Than Footprints, Conservation International, Doctors Without Borders, National Geographic Society, The Nature Conservancy and Save The Children. Also in October 2008, she lent her voice to the RESPECT! Campaign,[54] a movement aimed at preventing domestic violence. She recorded a voice message for the Giverespect.org Web site stressing the importance of respect in helping stop domestic violence. In 2012, Dawson partnered with SodaStream International in launching the first annual Unbottle the World Day, a campaign conceived in an effort to raise awareness to the impact of cans and plastic bottles on the environment.[55] Dawson also sits on the Board of Directors of Scenarios USA, which works to support a generation of reflective, outspoken, and confident youth through filmmaking and uses film to educate students through a variety of programs.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	Kids	Ruby
1997	Girls' Night Out	Girl	Short film
1998	He Got Game	Lala Bonilla
	Side Streets	Marisol Hidalgo
1999	Light It Up	Stephanie Williams
2000	Down to You	Lana
	King of the Jungle	Veronica
2001	Josie and the Pussycats	Valerie Brown
	Sidewalks of New York	Maria Tedesko
	Trigger Happy	Dee
	Chelsea Walls	Audrey
2002	Ash Wednesday	Grace Quinonez
	The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest	Alisa
	Men in Black II	Laura Vasquez
	The Adventures of Pluto Nash	Dina Lake
	Love in the Time of Money	Anna
	25th Hour	Naturelle Riviera
2003	V-Day: Until the Violence Stops	Herself
	This Girl's Life	Martine
	Shattered Glass	Andy Fox
	The Rundown	Mariana
2004	Alexander	Roxana
2005	This Revolution	Tina Santiago
	Sin City	Gail
	Little Black Dress	Haley	Short film
	Rent	Mimi Marquez
2006	Clerks II	Rebecca "Becky" Scott
	A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints	Laurie
2007	Death Proof (Grindhouse)	Abernathy Ross
	Descent	Maya	Also producer
2008	Explicit Ills	Babo's Mom
	Eagle Eye	Zoe Perez
	Killshot	Donna
	Seven Pounds	Emily Posa
2009	Wonder Woman	Artemis (voice)
	The Haunted World of El Superbeasto	Velvet Von Black (voice)
	The People Speak	Herself
2010	Awake	Robin	Short film
	Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief	Persephone
	Unstoppable	Connie Hooper
2011	Miss Representation	Herself
	Girl Walks into a Bar	June
	Zookeeper	Kate
	10 Years	Mary
2012	Fire with Fire	Talia Durham
	Hotel Noir	Sevilla, the Maid
2013	Trance	Elizabeth Lamb
	Gimme Shelter	June Bailey
	César Chávez	Dolores Huerta
	Parts per Billion	Mia
	Raze	Rachel
2014	Sin City: A Dame to Kill For	Gail
	The Ever After	Herself
	The Captive	Nicole
	Top Five	Chelsea Brown
2015	Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast	Nyx (voice)
	Justice League: Throne of Atlantis	Diana Prince / Wonder Woman (voice)
	Puerto Ricans in Paris	Vanessa
2016	Justice League vs. Teen Titans	Diana Prince / Wonder Woman (voice)
	Ratchet & Clank	Elaris (voice)
2017	Justice League Dark	Diana Prince / Wonder Woman (voice)
	The Lego Batman Movie	Barbara Gordon / Batgirl (voice)
	Unforgettable	Julia Banks
	Krystal	Krystal Bryant
2018	The Death of Superman	Diana Prince / Wonder Woman (voice)
	The Need to Grow	Narrator (voice)	Documentary
	Sorry to Bother You	Voice in Elevator (voice)
	Henchmen	Jolene (voice)
2019	Reign of the Supermen	Diana Prince / Wonder Woman (voice)
	Someone Great	Hannah Davis
	Jay and Silent Bob Reboot	Reggie Faulken
	Zombieland: Double Tap	Nevada
	Wonder Woman: Bloodlines	Diana Prince / Wonder Woman (voice)
	The Deported	Herself	Documentary
2020	Justice League Dark: Apokolips War	Diana Prince / Wonder Woman (voice)
	The Water Man	Mary

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Punk'd	Herself	Episode #1.8
2007	Robot Chicken	Various (voice)	Episode: "More Blood, More Chocolate"
2008	Gemini Division	Anna Diaz	Web series; 50 episodes Also executive producer
2009	Saturday Night Live	Herself	Episode: "Rosario Dawson/Fleet Foxes"
	SpongeBob SquarePants		Episode: "SpongeBob's Truth or Square"
2011	Five	Lili	Television film
2015–2016	Daredevil	Claire Temple	8 episodes
2015	Jessica Jones		Episode: "AKA Smile"
2016–2018	Luke Cage		11 episodes
2017	Iron Fist		6 episodes
	The Defenders		6 episodes
	Waves for Water	Herself	Documentary
2018–2019	Jane the Virgin	Jane "J.R." Ramos	17 episodes
2018	Elena of Avalor	Daria (voice)	2 episodes
2019	Weird City	Delt	Episode: "A Family"
2019–present	The Last Kids on Earth	Rezzoch (voice)	[56]
2020	It's Pony	Ms. Ramiro (voice)
	Briarpatch	Allegra "Pick" Dill	Main role
	Make It Work!	Herself	Television special
	The Mandalorian	Ahsoka Tano	Episode: "Chapter 13: The Jedi"
2021	The Late Late Show with James Corden	Herself	Season: 5 Episode: 224
2021	Dopesick	Bridget Meyer	Upcoming miniseries[57]
2021	Go-Big Show	Herself-Judge
2022	Ahsoka	Ahsoka Tano	Upcoming series

Music video

Year	Title	Artist(s)	Notes
1999	"Out of Control"	The Chemical Brothers
2002	"Miss You"	Aaliyah	Cameo
2012	"Supercool"	The Bullitts
2016	"Where's the Love?"	The Black Eyed Peas featuring The World
2017	"Family Feud"	Jay Z featuring Beyoncé	Promo video for Tidal
2018	"Earth Girls"	Jesse Boykins III	Cameo

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role(s)	Notes
2006	Marc Eckō's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure	Tina
2012	Syndicate	Lily Drawl
2016	Ratchet & Clank	Elaris
	Dishonored 2	Meagan Foster / Billie Lurk
	Lego Dimensions	Barbara Gordon / Batgirl	Credited as "Rasario Dawson"
2017	Wilson's Heart	Elsa Wolcott
	Dishonored: Death of the Outsider	Billie Lurk
2019	NBA 2K20	Isa	MyCAREER Story

Audiobooks

Year	Title	Author
2017	Artemis	Andy Weir

Awards and nominations

See also

• List of Puerto Ricans

References

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2. Latina. Latina publications. 1998.
3. "Rosario Dawson - Actress". Biography.com. A&E Networks. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
4. "Isabel Celeste". Sur la Films. 2010. Retrieved November 8, 2010.
5. Hirschberg, Lynn (February 19, 2009). "The Kid Stays in the Pictures". The New York Times. New York City: New York Times Company. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
6. Staff, PageSix com (August 7, 2010). "Rosario Dawson's mom fights squatters". Page Six.
7. Hensley, Dennis (October 31, 2005). "Rosario Dawson: From Tenement to Tinseltown". Marie Claire. New York City: Hearst Publications. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
8. Adams, Jim (September 10, 2008). "New York community fosters show biz careers". Indian Country Today. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
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10. Barlow, Helen (January 9, 2004). "Between The Rock and a hard place". The Age. Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved October 13, 2018.
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12. "Rent Party". NewYorkCool.com. November 2005. Archived from the original on February 23, 2012. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
13. "1999: The New Master EP". Retrieved March 30, 2007.
14. "Prince & The Revolution – The New Master Lyrics". DTT-Lyrics.com. Retrieved March 30, 2007.
15. Tietjen, Alexa (April 5, 2017). "Rosario Dawson responds to Kendall Jenner's now-pulled Pepsi commercia". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
16. Moss, Corey (August 12, 2003). "Outkast 'Flip Flop' With Jay-Z; Rosario Dawson Climbs In Dre's 'Lap'". MTV News. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
17. Brantley, Ben (August 29, 2005). "Shakespeare in the Park Review; Enter 'Two Gentlemen' For a Sexy Sip of Sangría". The New York Times.
18. "In Step With: Rosario Dawson". Parade. November 6, 2005. Archived from the original on June 27, 2006.
19. "Speakeasy Teams Up With Actress Rosario Dawson For New Comic". CBR. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
20. Douglas, Edward (August 11, 2007). "Rosario Dawson & Talia Lugacy on Descent". ComingSoon.net. Archived from the original on January 7, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
21. "Welcome to GD Files". GeminiDivisionFiles.com. March 18, 2008. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
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24. "IMDb: Daredevil (TV Series 2015–)". IMDb. April 10, 2015. Retrieved April 11, 2015.
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26. Rosario Dawson Speaks Klingon on YouTube
27. "How Olivia Wilde Met Jason Sudeikis–The Howard Stern". Howard Stern. March 15, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
28. Johnson, Zach (March 18, 2013). "Rosario Dawson and Danny Boyle Split, Ignore Each Other at Trance Press Junket". Us Weekly. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
29. "Rosario Dawson, Danny Boyle Break Up: 'Trance' Actress, Director Split". HuffPost. March 19, 2013. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
30. Marquina, Sierra (December 2, 2014). "Rosario Dawson Adopts 12-Year-Old Daughter". Us Weekly. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
31. "Rosario Dawson and Eric Andre, a Real Couple, Break Up". W Magazine | Women's Fashion & Celebrity News. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
32. Morin, Rebecca (December 2, 2014). "Actress Rosario Dawson confirms relationship with Cory Booker". Politico. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
33. Fitzsimons, Tim (October 21, 2019). "Rosario Dawson and Her Family Sued Over Alleged Transphobic Assault". NBC News. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
34. Clifton, Derrick (November 4, 2019). "Trans Man Details Abuse Allegations Against Rosario Dawson". Out.
35. Dillon, Nancy (October 28, 2019). "Actress Rosario Dawson 'saddened' by 'baseless' lawsuit claiming she enabled transphobic harassment of family's handyman". New York Daily News. Retrieved September 14, 2020.
36. Robinson, Joanna; Breznican, Anthony (November 19, 2020). "As Gina Carano and Star Wars Fans Clash, Hero Worship Turns to Scorn".
37. Bendix, Trish (February 20, 2020). "Rosario Dawson's LGBTQ 'coming out' a chance to talk about what queerness really means". NBC News.
38. Gilchrist, Tracy E. (February 18, 2020). "Rosario Dawson Comes Out as LGBTQ While Explaining She Hadn't Before". Advocate. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
39. Maurice, Emma Powys (February 18, 2020). "Marvel star Rosario Dawson just came out while making an important point about bi-erasure". PinkNews. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
40. Silverman, Stephen M. (August 30, 2004). "Rosario Dawson Arrested in NY Bush Protest". People. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
41. Smialek, Jeanna (September 5, 2012). "Democrats use DNC to woo Latino vote". The Daily Tar Heel. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
42. Kahn, Mattie (March 25, 2016). "Rosario Dawson Supports Bernie Sanders in Powerful Open Letter". Elle. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
43. Deerwester, Jayme (April 16, 2016). "Rosario Dawson arrested in Capitol Hill protest". USA Today.
44. O'Kane, Caitin (March 15, 2019). "Rosario Dawson confirms she is dating presidential hopeful Senator Cory Booker". CBS News. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
45. Turman, Jack (January 13, 2020). "Cory Booker announces that he's suspending his campaign". CBS News. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
46. Peña, Mirtle (November 20, 2019). "Rosario Dawson on what she would support if she were to become First Lady". ¡Hola!. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
47. Belle, Elly (March 11, 2020). "Plot Twist: Rosario Dawson & Cory Booker Just Endorsed Different Candidates". Refinery29. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
48. "GirlsClub.org". Archived from the original on August 22, 2007.
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51. "Pflag". StayClose.org. Retrieved July 30, 2011.
52. Vineyard, Jennifer (April 3, 2013). "Rosario Dawson Calls Her Vagina 'the General'". New York. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
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56. Ramos, Dino-Ray (March 13, 2019). "'The Last Kids On Earth': Mark Hamill, Rosario Dawson, Catherine O'Hara and Others Set For Netflix Animated Series". Deadline. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
57. Petski, Denise (October 22, 2020). "Rosario Dawson Joins 'Dopesick' Hulu Limited Series". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 9, 2020.

External links

• Rosario Dawson on Twitter
• Rosario Dawson at IMDb
• Rosario Dawson at the Internet Off-Broadway Database