Celebrity Profiles: Rosario Dawson

A native New Yorker, Rosario Dawson is widely acknowledged as one of Hollywood’s most beautiful and talented actress. The actress maintains an enviable level of street credibility through her association with cult directors like Rob Zombie and Quentin Tarantino. After a brief appearance on Sesame Street as a child, Rosario Dawson was “discovered” at the age of 16 by indie director Larry Clark and his protege and later became a protege for noted director Harmony Korine. Starring as a sexually rapacious teenager in the controversial Larry Clark’s 1995 film Kids about teenagers and HIV, she made an impression but success was yet to come.

The first signs of mainstream stardom came opposite Edward Norton in Spike Lee’s bleak drama 25th Hour in 2002, and then playing a main role in Oliver Stone's 2004 sword and sandals epic Alexander, with the films cementing her status as a bankable actress. Her breakthrough role came in 2006, in the graphic novel adaptation of Sin City co-directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller. In the highly stylised film rendered in tones of black white and red she played Gail,a sexually charged leather clad prostitute-dominatrix. The film’s runaway success catapulted her into Hollywood's A-list. A starring role in the film adaptation of the musical Rent, allowed her to show off her strong singing abilities and later lead to a backup performances on rock band Kasabian’s releases. In 2007 she starred in the Quentin Tarantino exploitation style drive in movie Death Proof part of the Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double feature Grindhouse. A self-confessed fan of sci-fi she started a comic book in 2007, and then created and starred in Gemini Division, an online sci-fi TV series in 2008 as well as lending her voice talents to a host of fantastically themed animated films including Wonder Woman and Rob Zombie’s The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. In 2013 she starred in director Ron Krauss American indie film Gimme Shelter to critical praise. The actress shows no sign of slowing down with an upcoming role in the highly anticipated Marvel superhero film Daredevil.