Biography
Rosario Dawson found notoriety as a teen before crafting a career that made her one of the most respected actresses in Hollywood. Born in New York, she was discovered as a 15-year-old by director Harmony Korine. He cast the young, inexperienced Dawson in his film "Kids" (1995) as the confident and sexually active Ruby. The movie generated a deluge of controversy with its matter-of-fact depiction of young teens having sex, taking drugs, and being violent, but many of the young actors were noted for their performances, including Dawson. Spike Lee cast the actress opposite Denzel Washington and basketball star Ray Allen in the hoops themed drama "He Got Game" (1998). The role legitimized her career and started her on a run of continuous roles that would go for the next two-plus decades. Her early roles included starring in the inspirational "Light It Up" (1999) and with Rachael Lee Cook in the live-action remake of the Saturday morning cartoon "Josie and the Pussycats" (2000). She jumped into the world of blockbusters, playing an alien princess (and Will Smith's love interest) in "Men in Black II" (2002). She also continued working with respected auteurs, starring in Oliver Stone's historical epic "Alexander" (2004) and Robert Rodriguez's "Sin City" (2005). She later became part of the updating of two 1990s cultural touchstones when she starred in Chris Columbus's adaptation of the beloved musical "Rent" (2005) and joined the cast of Kevin Smith's sequel to his breakout hit "Clerks II" (2006). Dawson was also among the early group of Hollywood actors to embrace online content. She appeared in the sci-fi web series "Afterworld" (2007) that debuted on YouTube.com and starred in "Gemini Division" (2008), an online series commissioned by Sci-Fi Channel. She continued lending her talents to a variety of films, including starring opposite Smith again in "Seven Pounds" (2008) and with Kevin James in the family comedy "Zookeeper" (2011). Dawson also became an in-demand voice actress, lending her talents to everything from video games to songs by the musical artists Prince and OutKast to the documentary "People Speak" (2009). That included becoming the voice of DC Comics' hero Wonder Woman in a series of projects. She eventually found her way onto the television side of the superhero genre, playing Marvel Comics' character Claire Temple. She first appeared as the character on "Daredevil" (Netflix, 2015-18), before subsequently crossing over to Marvel's other series "Jessica Jones" (Netflix, 2015-19), "Luke Cage" (Netflix, 2016-18), "Iron Fist" (Netflix, 2017), and "The Defenders" (Netflix, 2017). While continuing voice work, including playing Batgirl in the animated hit "Lego Batman" (2017), the actress starred in William H. Macy's "Krystal" (2017) as a recovering alcoholic who becomes the object of a young man's obsession. On television, she had a recurring role on "Jane the Virgin" (The CW, 2014-19) as lawyer Jane Ramos. Smith used the actress again in another of his "Clerks" (1994) off-shoots, "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot" (2019). Dawson also joined Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, and Emma Stone in the sequel to their cult horror comedy "Zombieland: Double Tap" (2019).
