1

OUR

FALL
STYLE
ISSUE
SEPTEMBER 2012 / ROSARIO DAWSON / LATINA.COM

THE SEASONS
HOTTEST COLORS
ACCESSORIES
WERE LOVING NOW
STUNNING
MAKEOVERS

BUY YOUR
OWN HOME:
HERES HOW
P. 88

STAY CONNECTED TO YOUR CULTURE

ROSARIO
DAWSON

THE
LATINA
BEAUTY
AWARDS

36

AMAZING
SKIN, HAIR
AND NAIL
PRODUCTS
YOULL
SWEAR BY

MEET THE
INSPIRING
LATINA
WHO
SAVED A
TEXAS
SCHOOL
P. 90

Latina.com

SEPTEMBER 2012

SCAN FOR SPECIAL OFFER

ON PLAYING BY HER OWN RULES

IN HOLLYWOOD, POLITICS AND LIFE

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BY AMY ELISA KEITH
PHOTOGRAPHS BY YU TSAI

hen shes draped in vintage-inspired gowns and channeling a glamorous 1940s screen
siren with all of Los Angeles as her backdrop at her Latina cover shoot, its easy to be
confused (and a li!le shocked) when Rosario Dawson says, Im so silly.
Oh no, please dont tell us shes just another self-deprecating Hollywood star. Hardly.
As soon as the photographer yells for a break on the sweeping terrace of screen legend
James Deans former house, the actress breaks into a verse of Salt-n-Pepas None of
Your Businesscomplete with requisite hip-hop ba!le stance. I cant believe I knew
that song when I was like 14 years old, she says to the crew just seconds before someoneahemcracks a joke about underarm hair and Dawsons modelesque pout breaks
to unleash an infectious cackle.
This is all wildly inappropriate, she exclaims.

HAIR BY GIANNANDREA AT THE WALL GROUP; MAKEUP BY KAYLEEN MCADAMS FOR ARMANI COSMETICS AT THE WALL GROUP;
STYLING BY MARTINA NILSSON AT OPUS BEAUTY; MANICURE BY BETH FRICKE USING OPI FOR ARTISTSBYTIMOTHYPRIANO.COM.

N
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S
W
DA REED
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PHOTOCREDIT

9.A6;. SLUG HERE

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THIS IS
ALL WILDLY
INAPPROPRIATE.
But wild and a bit messy is exactly
how the multifaceted Dawson likes things.
A few days later, the 33-year-old Puerto
Rican and Cuban actress races to her
favorite low-key brunch spot in Venice,
Calif. (on her old bike, aka her rust
wagon), for her usual huevos rancheros,
dashing in just a few minutes behind
schedule. Dawson has shed the front-ofcamera glam for shower-wet hair, a
makeup-free face and a pink linen frock.
Thinking back to the photo shoot, Dawson
sips her mimosa, saying, People never
think Im goofy. I just cant tell everyone
Im goofy.
She launches into an impersonation of
a drunk James Brown that she saw on
YouTube, snickering, Ive always been
this way.
Goofy? Yes. Glamorous, well, that took
some time to perfect. Thinking back to her
teenage years was part of Dawsons
research in preparing for her new film, 10
Years, costarring ho!ie of the moment
Channing Tatum, out this month. Never
the prom queen, like her character in the
film, the daughter of teen parents was a
nonchalant nerd. I didnt brush my hair;
I wore platform flip-flops and Converse
because I had a height complex, Dawson
says of envying her moms six-foot stature.
I would roll in wearing my pajamas, just
in the nick of time before class started.
And thats still me.
But a lot has changed since Dawsons
days of tutoring and babysi!ing. If she
had a!ended her own 10-year high school
reunion, Dawson would have one hell of a
life update: tussling with Colin Farrell in
Alexander, receiving a donated heart from

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Dress,
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Will Smith in Seven Pounds, enfranchising thousands through Voto Latino (see
box on page 137) and portraying Mexican
American labor activist Dolores Huerta in
the 2013 biopic Chavez, which chronicles
the civil right leaders fight for farmworker rights in the 1960s. Fresh from
wrapping filming, Dawson admits to being
both excited and terrified by playing this
amazing icon, despite her own extensive
work on social issues.
Dawson says Huerta, who sent her a
tweet of approval, may be in her 80s,

I WONT BE ABLE TO ACT

ANYMORE [ WHEN I BECOME A
MOTHER ]. ILL JUST BE
FOCUSED ON TRYING TO MAKE
THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE
FOR MY BABY.
but she is still fierce, not unlike Dawson
herself, who has worked with Amnesty
International and green living advocates
Global Cool, among others.
Its so rare that I get to mix my work
as an activist with being an actress, she
says of Chavez, which is directed by
Mexican actor-turned-filmmaker Diego
Luna. While shooting, Dawson used her
bubbly personality to accentuate the
movies more lighthearted moments.
They werent these regimented people;
they [were] intense but they did have fun

involved over time.

As for children of her own, Dawson
says, I have motherly instincts and its
really nice to be in a position where I dont
have to make a choice on that right now.
The happily single star isnt considering marriage, either, for the moment. A#er
relationships with actor Jason Lewis (Sex
and the City) and more recently French DJ
Mathieu Schreyer, she says its tough to
imagine marriage when she is still relishing Friday a#ernoons at the park with
food trucks and girlfriends.

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moments, says Dawson of filming scenes

where Cesar Chavez (played by Michael
Pea) and Huerta strategized over beers.
The beauty of being a community organizer is that it is messy but its fulfilling.
Not only has Dawsons activism
impacted her acting career, but it also has
opened her eyes to the possibility of motherhood. On a recent trip to Sierra Leone
with a philanthropic organization called
Shine On Sierra Leone, the actress became
a sponsor to a 12-year-old boy and his
family. This li!le boy chose me when I got
there; it was so amazing, says Dawson,
who helps the young boy, his three siblings
and their mother with financial assistance,
job support and education through Shine
On. Im not giving the money to some
family I dont know and just hoping their
lives improve, she adds. I give the a!ention, love and care.
That kind of commitment is what sets
her apart from many actresses, her 10
Years costar Tatum says. The fact that her
life endeavors are just as important as her
professional endeavors and she values
them equally [is admirable].
Shes been really moved by some of
the grassroots movements around the
world that are pu!ing power back in peoples hands, adds Maria Teresa Kumar,
Voto Latinos president and CEO. That
kind of deeply personal, authentic action
really drives her to get more and more

1 3 6 " LATINA .COM" SEPTEMBER 2012

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MAKE YOUR

VOICE
HEARD

But the clock is ticking, Dawson admits.

My mom had two teenagers and had been
married for 16 years by the time she was
my age, she says. I wonder if I focused so
much on not going the teen mom route that
in some ways I went far in the other direction, she reflects, biting her bo"om lip. I
have to really sit down and look at what Ive
done in my life to figure out why I havent
had kids or go"en married. She pauses,
swirling her drink with a finger. But then
thinking about itIve done a ton.
Friends agree, Dawson says. One of
them, actress and mom Jessica Alba, wonders if Dawson will be able to juggle having kids with her sociopolitical activities.
[Jessica] is looking at me like, I cant
even imagine what you will do, Rosario,
once you have children, because youre
already doing so much, Dawson says.
And honestly, Dawson thinks Albas right.
I wont even be able to act anymore;

More than 22 million

Latinos are reportedly
eligible to vote this year, so
Voto Latino, cofounded by
Dawson in 2004, is
organizing voter registration
drives nationwide on National
Voter Registration Day, Sept.
25, which is shortly before
the registration deadline in
many districts. Theres so
much at stake,
it really matters now,
Dawson says.
To find out more, go to votolatino.org.

I wont have time, Dawson concedes. Ill

just be focused on trying to make the
world a be"er place for my baby.
In any case, there are a few more things
on Dawsons to-do list before motherhood
takes over. Next on the list: rallying a billion people to stand up against violence
toward women alongside The Vagina
Monologues author Eve Ensler and her
nonprofit, V-Day, on whose board Dawson
serves. If li"le girls dancing and screaming for Justin Bieber can register on the
Richter scale, I want that for V-Day, jokes
Dawson with eyes wide open and fists
pumping. Im so serious.
Serious or silly, high fashion or beautifully messy, on the big screen or behind
the rally bullhorn, Dawson does it right
every time. Whats her trick to balancing it
all? My friend told me once, Youre either
going to laugh about it or cry about it,
she declares. I choose to laugh.

ROSARIOS
TOP
5
ROLES
From a gold-digging girlfriend to a Middle Eastern queen, the
actress speaks about her favorite big-screen characters.
1/ LALA

He Got Game (1998)

2

I loved my banana-yellow
nails. Come on! They were
so Aaliyah. People would
call Lala a chickenhead,
but at the end of that
movie you were reminded
that she was just a kid
trying to make really
tough decisions about the
rest of her life.

2/ NATURELLE

25th Hour (2002)

4

That silver dress [I wore]

was something, wasnt it?
I helped design that. The
script was very specific
about the dress and
what she looked like,
so I wanted it to be
right and right for me.

3/ ROXANE

Alexander (2004)

I loved being able to

travel [to Morocco and
Thailand for filming],
study and really get into
a character where you
can see a powerful
woman during that period.
Learning about what
5

09_FEAT_COVER_ship.indd 7

she had to accept, her

survival and her
[masterful] manipulation
was amazing.

4/ ZOE PEREZ

Eagle Eye (2008)

I remember walking
into Eagle Eyes set and
they had steak and
lobster for craft services!
I was like, Is it someones
birthday or is it a special
occasion? It was wild. It
was just Friday. I was
used to really smallbudget films where I
asked my mom to make
lasagna.

5/ EMILY POSA

Seven Pounds (2008)

The character was so

deep. I rarely get that
kind of script on my
desk, if ever. So I fought
for it. It was hard to get
that role.

7/20/12 5:52:26 PM