Rosario Dawson in Malibu Magazine

Interviewed By: Sonja Magdesvski
Photography By: Sheryl Nields
Source: Malibu Magazine

For full sized photos from the amazing shoot check out the Rosario Dawson Online Gallery. Registration is easy and free

Rosario Dawson could have said no. How often do all of us say “no” in a day? It was a “yes” that changed her life forever. When approached at the age of 15, while sitting on her front stoop in New York City’s Lower East Side, by a “writer” and “director” who simply “had to have her in their movie,” she didn’t laugh at them in an awkward teenage way; she went inside to tell her parents. Then she jumped on the back of her dad’s bicycle as he peddled her to the film office to verify the legitimacy of their claims — and legit they were.

There is a joke that most people have heard about the man trapped on his roof in a rising flood. A rowboat drifts by, and the man paddling yells out, “Hey, jump in!” The trapped man says, “Go ahead without me, I’m waiting for God to help me.” Then, a man in a speedboat drives by and shouts, “Hurry! Jump in! The water is rising!” but the man says again, “Go ahead without me. I am waiting for God to save me.” Then a helicopter flies by and the pilot yells, “Hey, man, grab on! The water is rising!” Again the man says, “Go on ahead. I am waiting for God!” The water rises. The man dies. When face-to-face with God, he asks, “Why have you forsaken me?” And God replies, “What are you talking about? I sent you a rowboat, a speedboat and a helicopter.”

Dawson was courageous enough to get the message the first time, even though she may not have understood the responsibilities that came with that decision and where it would ultimately lead her. The movie was Kids, the highly controversial independent film released in 1995 about New York City teenagers belligerently having sex and doing drugs in the era of HIV-AIDS. The filmmakers cast all first-time actors. Dawson laughs at her parents’ first reading of the script and their refusal to allow her to smoke cigarettes in the movie. “So, being this incredibly sexually promiscuous teenager in the film is totally fine, but talking about all of my sexual exploits on film, while holding a cigarette — that’s where you are drawing the line?”

Speaking with Dawson recently, she recalled that even though she was “discovered,” her participation in the film wasn’t automatic. She actually had to audition. Repeatedly. And while on the outside it seems as if her success over the past 16 years has been effortless, it has been far from inevitable. She credits hard work, dedication and her penchant “for never saying never.” And she has continued to audition for roles, appearing in more than 40 films throughout her career, including Spike Lee’s He Got Game, Oliver Stone’s Alexander with Colin Farrell, Sin City directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez, and Seven Pounds with Will Smith. She even auditioned for the film version of the hit Broadway musical Rent, in spite of the fact that she had no formal vocal or dance training. She wanted the role bad enough and fought for it.

For years, Dawson said she felt insecure because she didn’t fit into the traditional Hollywood mold. She didn’t hold childhood aspirations of stardom. She never worked long hours waiting tables to make ends meet. She didn’t toil for years under oppressive acting coaches until she found her voice. She simply took an opportunity when it appeared and ran with it. “For a lot of years, I wasn’t comfortable calling myself an actor,” Dawson recalls. “I kept waiting for the Apollo hook to come out and yank me offstage with someone saying, ‘You know, you really aren’t supposed to be here.’ I figured I was just doing this until I couldn’t anymore, and then I would go and get a real job.” It was during a moment of uncertainty that a lifelong friend reminded her that she was actually the one in control of her career. “She said to me, ‘Rosario, if someone would have stopped me on the street, I would have said no. So, you have to take ownership of your decision because you have always been a part of what is happening to you,’” Dawson said.

Anyone familiar with Dawson’s upbringing knows the indelible effect its circumstances have had on her. It is the source and inspiration for her strength. She grew up in relative poverty in a tenement squat in New York City to a mother who gave birth to her when she was 16 years old. Her grandmother raised five children on her own. She lived in New York and San Francisco watching her parents struggle to not only improve their children’s lives but also their communities. Her mother was a dedicated activist working on behalf of women’s issues. Oftentimes, her living conditions weren’t much better than the people her mother was helping.

These examples motivated Dawson early on to work on behalf of the issues that are important to her. “Once you are aware, you can’t be unaware,” she said. In 2004, Dawson co-founded Voto Latino to raise political efficacy among Latino populations in the United States. In 2008, she traveled the country with the United We Win campaign encouraging people to get out the vote. She works closely with her mentor, Eve Ensler, creator of the Vagina Monologues, on V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women, in addition to a dozen other organizations covering issues ranging from global health to clean water to which she lends her time and resources. “I love people, and I know we are all so similar in our journeys even though we are conditioned to think we are not,” Dawson said. “I cannot not see that and then just live my life in which my only job is to entertain people. While it is incredibly satisfying, and I love it, and I am so grateful, I also want to interact with people in a different way.”

I spoke with Dawson while she was in France during a European trip that included a stay in Milan, Italy, for Fashion Week. As part of her willingness to always try something new, she admitted acquiring an unexpected taste for fois gras during her stay, something she was certain would never happen. She spoke of that experience, as she does of all her experiences, in a feverish pitch barely stopping for a breath. Dawson emotionally remembers every detail in vivid colors. You get the genuine feeling that no moment is wasted on her. She possesses a keen recognition of her unique situation that she doesn’t take for granted, approaching her life and work with equal measure, desiring to savor every feature. “I really don’t take any decision lightly,” she said. “I love that I get to have all of these options and choices. Who really knows how long it will last, because this industry is very fickle, and life is not guaranteed, so I really just try to keep that in mind at all times.”

What ranks as some of the craziest or most exhilarating experiences you’ve had in your career?
It has been such a wild career. I have had such incredible opportunities to work with such amazing people. Who else can say they’ve had crazy, fight-night sex scenes naked with Colin Farrell (Alexander)? Half the time I have been paid to be there, you know? And the other half, I have paid to be there. And when it is over I think, “Did I really just do that?” I just love life, and I have a tendency to make the best of whatever I am doing whether it is because I am good-natured or a good sport. I am not so interested in being the focus of the spectacle as much as I love simply being a part of it. I guess it is just growing up in New York and being a people-watcher.

To think about my life and how much I have seen just amazes me. In my life, I have done my own crazy stuff like jumping out of planes and scuba diving and running with the bulls in Pamplona, and I can be a bit of an adrenaline junkie. I mean, I have gone to Burning Man four times! I like to fully enjoy myself, and I love to travel for the eye candy and ear candy of it all. I like to try everything once.

When you were first “discovered” on your front step, what did you think at that moment? Did you ever think, “Wait, these people are crazy” or “This is amazing! How much fun will I have?” What made you actually agree to go for it?
All of the above. By the age of 15, when I did Kids, I had never had sex. I had never done any drugs. So, I wasn’t necessarily worldly, but I possessed an awareness because of where and how I grew up. And yet, now, 16 years later, [acting] is the only job I have ever had. While it is very important for me to acknowledge how very lucky I am, I am also a very hardworking person with a very strong work ethic, and I take responsibility for that opportunity, and what I had to make of it is very important to me. I have a favorite quote that I always get wrong, but it is about the number of people who miss opportunities because the opportunity was wearing overalls and was disguised as hard work. I am very professional with my work. It is just something that is handed up with my family.

How much of your time do you dedicate to your career, and how do you balance everything else that is important to you?
I am not 100 percent focused on my career. I have other things I am very passionate about. For instance, I co-founded Voto Latino in 2004, and I have been an activist my whole life. So success to me means something different than it might to others. It isn’t just about being in movies. Success to me is having a great relationship with my family. It is about having this woman [Eve Ensler] who I have always wanted to be my mentor as my friend and partner on V-Day. And I am a success at many things because of what I do that people don’t even know about. These are the things that make me feel good and keep me going in my hard times when I am stressed or insecure. I am a woman in an industry that is very much about how you look and how young you are, and it is an incredibly stressful industry. But I think it would be that much more so if I didn’t have those other things. That is what gets me through my life on a day-to-day basis. That is what gets me out of bed.

And yet, I can’t wallow in having bad days that we all have because I am my job. I can’t call in sick. I can’t have someone else fill in for me. When 9/11 happened, that was the most torturous thing. I was on a movie set, and I was contractually obligated to stay and work, so I was unable to go home and be with my family. I have to have a lot of love and passion for what I do to get me through those moments. And, of course, there are great perks that come with it, but it could go away at any moment. I have to have other things that stimulate me and keep me going.

What should people understand about your activism?
There is too much life to be had. I love people, and I love to be of service. If I put all of my focus only on my career, that is not what I am going to feel good about at the end of my life. I was very lucky to be raised by very strong people and growing up in a squat. Poor people are usually the ones who work at these organizations. I have it in me to do it. My examples come from my mom, grandmother, and my uncle, who is also an activist and has been HIV-positive for 25 years. These people are really the ones who have kept me so engaged.

When I took time off from acting work to participate in the last election to do voter registration, my boyfriend said to me, ‘You know, you work more when you are not working than most people.’ Activism is what excites me. I follow my passions. That is the thing I try to tell people all the time. We each have these epiphany moments in our lives that I am attracted to because I can go back to particular markers of my life and think, at that point, when I was 15, I had been going down that particular path, but then suddenly I was on a detour going in a whole other place. I am fascinated with that, and it is a running theme.

Which relationship in your life has been the most important to you?
The most influential person in my life is my mom, and it isn’t like we always get along — but this isn’t unlike so many other mother-daughter relationships. She is definitely her own person, and she can drive me mad. But she is so close in age to me, and because we are so different and so similar, she has been my most immediate mirror. She is the person outside of myself that I know the best.

From here forward, what are some of the things you still want to accomplish?
I want to share my passion and get more people voting in America. I want to ban single-use plastic bags across the country. I want to feel a part of a thing in my life that I can be super proud of. I want to say that I helped make the world better. These all are all very lofty goals, such as ending violence against women and children around the world, yet I know what we are all capable of. Because we all agree that these things exist is the reason that they persist. We could all just decide to stop, but we are conditioned to believe that we aren’t as powerful as we all are. And at the same time, my biggest goal is to have humility within my work, and it is not really for me to try and change anyone else because that is the most impossible thing to do. I am a Taurus, and I am stubborn as hell. Just try and get me to do something, right?

I am part of a book called Do It Anyway where the premise states that most likely you are not going to save the world, but you should still try and do it anyway. And in the process you may fail epically, but at least you can be part of the solution. Just do it anyway. If I don’t achieve all of my goals in my lifetime, that’s OK. Because, of course, I won’t. I have already missed a couple. I am definitely not going to be a ballerina, as it is too late for that, but it doesn’t matter because we should just do it anyway. If you are going to fail, then fail epically. That is what I am doing; that is my goal.

Dawson’s upcoming film is Unstoppable with Denzel Washington.

BONUS!
The following is an article done last year but still fun nonetheless

Ten by Ten by Julian Chavez
Source: Malibu Magazine

Why do you think religion has caused so much turmoil in the world?
Religion is sometimes used as a way to fight each other and can be really corrupt. Instead, it should be about creating a sense of community and being good to one another.

Who is your favorite author and why?
Hermann Hesse. I think I’m drawn to his work because, in it, characters are on that search for meaning and the exploration of one’s self. That or penis envy.

What is the single most regrettable decision you have ever made?
I’ve always wanted to go to college. I’ve learned to let go of this regret because I am happy with the place I’m at in my life and career, but I want to do it some day.

What is your definition of happiness?
Just being aware, present and not self-involved — that satisfaction you get when you’ve just had a great meal and awesome conversation.

You can choose five people, dead or alive, to have dinner with. Who would they be and why?
Noam Chomsky, Dalai Lama, Maya Angelou, Nelson Mandela and Frida Kahlo. What an amazing conversation that would be!

Define love in as few words as possible…
Love is being fearless. It’s the most precious thing in the world.

What do you fear most?
I fear that something might happen to my friends or family, especially to my mom or grandmother. That’s why I am just so deeply affected by what happened to Jennifer Hudson’s family. I want to send her my blessings. That is my worst nightmare. It is for that reason that I am proactive with so many organizations.

Favorite quote?
“The journey is the destination” – Dan Eldon.

Do you think there is life on other planets?
I’d imagine so, but maybe not. Maybe we are unique. I love thinking that life on other planets is just as likely as life on ours. I wonder because there are lots of other planets and suns out there.

What do you consider America’s biggest threat?
Complacency! We need people to organize, volunteer and build community. These are hard times and they’ll be even harder if we don’t work together. Let’s not lose the momentum of this election. One person can’t fix these problems just like one person didn’t create them. Together we can really make change.