Rosie Perez

About Rosie Perez

Rosie Pérez (born Rosa Maria Pérez on September 6, 1964) is an American actress, talk show host, author, dancer, choreographer and director. Her film breakthrough performance was her portrayal of Tina in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989), which she followed with White Men Can't Jump (1992). Among many honors, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Fearless (1993) as well as three Emmy Awards for her work as a choreographer on In Living Color (1990–1994). Perez has also performed in stage plays on Broadway, such as "The Ritz", "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune", and "Fish in the Dark". In addition, she was a co-host on the ABC talk show The View during the series' 18th season.

At 19 years old, Perez started her career in the early 1980s as a dancer on Soul Train. As a student at Los Angeles City College, with plans to major in biochemistry, she said she relieved stress by going to nightclubs for ladies' night. A talent scout from Soul Train asked Perez to appear on the show. She was not a professional dancer, but loved it so much she dropped out of school. In 1988, when she was 24 years old, Perez was noticed at the dance club Funky Reggae by Spike Lee, who hired her for her first major acting role in Do the Right Thing.

Perez later choreographed music videos by Janet Jackson, Bobby Brown, Diana Ross, LL Cool J and The Boys. She was the choreographer for the dancing group the Fly Girls who were featured on the Fox television sketch comedy series In Living Color and also worked as a segment producer. She made her Broadway debut in Terrence McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. Perez had her third major role in the hit comedy White Men Can't Jump co-starring Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson.

Perez was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Peter Weir's 1993 film Fearless. She attended the ceremony with her father. In 1997, she co-starred with Javier Bardem in Perdita Durango, a film in which many scenes of excessive violence, sex and nudity were edited out of the version released in the United States but remained intact in the version released throughout Latin America. In 1999, Perez starred in Nancy Savoca's The 24 Hour Woman. She provides the voices of Click, the camera, on Nick Jr.'s Go, Diego, Go! and Chel, a beautiful native woman in the DreamWorks Animation film The Road to El Dorado. She played corrupt police officer Carol Brazier in the Judd Apatow-produced film Pineapple Express, co-starring Seth Rogen and James Franco.