Rosario Dawson Biography

Born on May 9, 1979, in New York City, Rosario Dawson is the daughter of Isabel Celeste and Patrick C. Harris. Isabel, who is a writer and singer of Puerto Rican and Cuban ancestry, gave birth to Rosario when she was sixteen years old.

Her mother later married construction worker Greg Dawson, who not only gave Rosario his name but also raised her as his own daughter. She has a younger half-brother named Clay.

When Rosario was 5 years old, her mother decided to settle the family down in an abandoned building, a squat on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. She, along with her husband, renovated one of the apartments as well as fixed the plumbing and electric wiring of the building.

As a result, they created their own affordable housing where they could raise their children. According to Dawson, that incident taught her the valuable life lesson that "if you wanted something better, you had to do it all yourself.”

Rosario Dawson made her first television appearance in an episode of the educational children's television series, Sesame Street. When she was fifteen years old, photographer Larry Clark and filmmaker Harmony Korine saw her on her front-porch step. They approached her and told her that she would be perfect for a part in Korine’s next film.

In 1995, Dawson made her movie debut in the independent coming-of-age drama film Kids. It attracted controversy upon its release with many critics labeling it exploitive, bordering on child pornography.

In 1997, she worked in the short film Girls’ Night Out and a year later, she got the opportunity to share screen space with Denzel Washington in He Got Game. This was also her first collaboration with the acclaimed filmmaker Spike Lee.

In 1998, she also worked with Ismail Merchant and James Ivory in their comedy-drama Side Streets. In the next few years, she appeared in several low-budget films that were not commercially successful.

Rosario Dawson played Will Smith’s love interest, Laura Vasquez, in Men in Black II, a science fiction action comedy released in 2002. The second installment in the Men in Black film series, the movie also starred Tommy Lee Jones, Lara Flynn Boyle, and Johnny Knoxville. This was Dawson’s first box office success. Made on a $140 million budget, the film garnered $441.8 million. It also helped Dawson find a solid footing in the industry.

She also appeared in the critically acclaimed drama film 25th Hour in 2002. This was her second collaboration with Spike Lee. The film also starred Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Barry Pepper and was a critical and commercial success. It is often regarded as one of the best films of the decade.

In the 2003 biographical crime thriller Shattered Glass, Rosario Dawson was cast as Andy Fox. Based on a September 1998 Vanity Fair article by H. G. Bissinger, the film revolves around the fast rise and the sharp fall of Stephen Glass' (Hayden Christensen) journalistic career at The New Republic in the mid-1990s. While the film was a box-office failure, it earned rave reviews from the critics.

Her next major film was the 2004 historical epic Alexander, in which she portrayed the Sogdian princess Roxana, who became the wife of Alexander the Great. The movie was a box office disappointment and it failed to impress the critics as well. While the film was praised for historical accuracy by western historians, their eastern counterparts were much less forgiving.

Rosario Dawson portrayed Gail, the leader of the prostitutes and the love interest of Clive Owen’s character, Dwight McCarthy, in the 2005 neo-noir crime anthology film Sin City. Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller, the movie is based on Miller’s graphic novel of the same name.

Sin City premiered on March 28, 2005, at Mann National Theater to substantial critical and commercial success. Critics praised the film for its innovative visual style and special effects. Dawson reprised the role in the film’s 2014 sequel, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.

One of Rosario Dawson’s most memorable roles is of Becky Scott in Kevin Smith’s 2006 comedy Clerks II. Smith introduced several stylistic changes in the sequel, for instance, it was shot in color whereas the 1994 original was shot in black-and-white. However, like the original, Clerks II has gained cult status since its release.

Dawson starred in and produced the 2007 thriller Descent. This is the first film she ever produced. In 2008, she worked with Will Smith once more in the commercially successful film Seven Pounds.

She lent her voice to the comic book character Artemis in the animated film Wonder Woman (2009). She would later provide the voice for Wonder Woman/Diana Prince herself in Justice League: Throne of Atlantis (2015), Justice League vs. Teen Titans (2016), Justice League Dark (2017), The Death of Superman (2018), Reign of the Supermen (2019), Wonder Woman: Bloodlines (2019), Justice League Dark: Apokolips War (2020), and Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021).

In Tony Scott’s disaster thriller Unstoppable (2010), she was cast as railway yardmaster Connie Hooper. In 2011, she was part of the comedy film Girl Walks into a Bar, which was produced exclusively for online distribution.

Rosario Dawson starred opposite Kevin James in Zookeeper (2011) and Channing Tatum in 10 Years (2011). Dawson portrayed Mexican-American labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta in the 2014 Mexican-American biographical film César Chávez. She also appeared in Chris Rock’s 2014 directorial venture Top Five.

She voiced Elaris in the 2016 3D computer animated science fiction film Ratchet & Clank and played the eponymous character in William H. Macy’s 2017 coming-of-age comedy-drama Krystal. She played Hannah Davis in the romantic comedy Someone Great which was released in 2019.

Rosario Dawson made her small screen debut as a voice-over artist for Robot Chicken in 2007. A year later, she appeared in 50 episodes of the web series Gemini Division. She hosted Saturday Night Live in 2009 and acted in a telefilm called Five in 2011. In 2018, she joined the cast of CW’s comedy-drama television series Jane the Virgin.

Rosario Dawson has also played Claire Temple in Marvel/Netflix TV shows. She first played the role in 2015, when she joined the cast of Daredevil.

In May 2015, she signed a deal with Marvel that granted her the chance to appear on any Marvel show. Subsequently, Dawson was part of the main cast of all four Marvel shows on Netflix: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. She has also appeared in the 2017 miniseries The Defenders.

In 2021, she was seen in a couple of mini-series titled Dopesick and DMZ. She also played General Monica Jackson in a sitcom titled Young Rock.

Rosario Dawson played an important role in the 2005 musical drama Rent. The movie is based on the 1993 Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn, is a modern adaptation of Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème. Dawson, portraying Mimi Marquez, an HIV-positive heroin addict and stripper, also performed all of her songs. For her performance, she received the Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture.

Rosario Dawson was in a relationship with filmmaker Danny Boyle. In February 2017, she and actor Eric Andre announced that they were dating. However, they have broken up since then. In 2014, Dawson adopted a 12-year-old girl. In 2019, Dawson confirmed her relationship with politician Cory Booker. She broke up with Booker in 2021. In 2022, she started dating poet Nnamdi Okafor.

As a progressive feminist, Rosario Dawson has been part of several documentaries, including V-Day: Until the Violence Stops and Miss Representation. She received the Acting and Activism Award from the Women Film Critics Circle in 2014.