Rosie Perez

Her mother Lydia (née Fontañez y Reyes) was born October 13, 1939, in Humacao, Puerto Rico.

Her father was from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.

Her mother was married to a man 20 years her senior, Arturo Pérez.

Her mother already had five children when she became pregnant with Rosie after having an affair with Serrano.

Perez was born at the now-closed Greenpoint Hospital in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn.

Perez is one of ten children born by her mother.

Rosie and her siblings grew up in Bushwick while their mother was intermittently jailed.

Her mother gave birth to her youngest child while incarcerated.

She was for a time raised by an aunt and then, like her siblings, went through group homes and foster care.

She and her siblings were often split up.

She was transferred to a group foster home and lived in foster care in New York and Peekskill until age eight.

She was legally considered a ward of the State of New York until age twelve.

Her mother and aunt frequently visited, and her father made an unsuccessful custody bid at one point.

When she was in third grade, Perez learned that she had a speech impediment.

She had a strict Catholic upbringing, which she has credited to the influence of the nuns during her childhood.

She eventually moved in with her paternal aunt, Ana Dominga Otero Serrano-Roque.

She attended Grover Cleveland High School, in the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens.

Rosie Perez (born Rosa Maria Perez on September 6, 1964) is an American actress.

Perez was born on September 6, 1964, in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, to Lydia Pérez and Ismael Serrano, a merchant marine seaman.

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 comedy program 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.

Her breakthrough came at age 24 with her portrayal of Tina in the film Do the Right Thing (1989), followed by White Men Can't Jump (1992).

Perez earned three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for In Living Color (1990–1994) and another Emmy nomination for her work in The Flight Attendant (2020–22).

She has performed in stage plays on Broadway such as The Ritz, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, and Fish in the Dark.

Perez's performance in Fearless (1993) earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, among other accolades.

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.

Her starring film roles since include It Could Happen to You (1994), The Road to El Dorado (2000), Pineapple Express (2008), and Birds of Prey (2020).

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.

By 1999, her mother was living in poverty in the Woodside Houses, when she died of AIDS-related complications.

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.

Perez appeared on an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in October 2009 about pedophiles' rights.

She was also a co-host on the ABC talk show The View during the series' 18th season.