Rosie Perez Movies
Brooklyn-born actress/choreographer Rosie Perez attended Los Angeles City College before making the cattle-call rounds for dancing jobs. She worked a few seasons with the TV variety series Soul Train, then went on to perform at the LA club Funky Reggae. Here she was spotted by director Spike Lee, who cast her in a choice role in his 1989 film Do The Right Thing. She can also be seen dancing to the title tune under the opening credits. As a choreographer, Perez has staged shows for Diana Ross and Bobby Brown, and was Emmy-nominated for her work on the Fox comedy/variety series In Living Color (1990-94). She has been shown to best advantage on screen in explosive supporting roles, such as the Jeopardy-obsessed girlfriend of Woody Harrelson in White Men Can't Jump (1992) and the hilariously covetous wife of lottery winner Nicholas Cage in It Could Happen to You (1994). On a more sombre note, Perez was excellent as the troubled plane-crash survivor in Fearless (1993) and received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 1997, Perez travelled to Spain to play the title role in Alex de Iglesia's wild Perdita Durango. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2002
The documentary What I Want My Words to Do to You offers a look at some actual rehabilitation at a women's maximum security prison. Directors Judith Katz, Madeleine Gavin, and Gary Sunshine used high-definition video cameras to capture an emotional reformation process for several incarcerated women. Activist and playwright Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues) conducted a writing workshop at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York. Some of the inmates were serving long sentences, including some members of the Vietnam war-era radical political group the Weather Underground. The convicts were asked to contemplate their crime and assess possibilities for their future, even if that means life imprisonment. After the workshop, the stories were then performed by actors with the entire prison population as the audience. The personal stories of the inmates shared a common theme of painful truths and acceptance. What I Want My Words to Do to You won the Freedom of Expression Award at the the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Alice, Glenn Close, (more)
Ron Shelton (Bull Durham) wrote and directed the basketball-oriented seriocomedy White Men Can't Jump. Woody Harrelson plays Billy Hoyle, a white con artist who hustles basketball games with black players, lulling his victims into the misguided notion that white men can't match up with black hoopsters. One of his victims, African-American Sidney Deane (Wesley Snipes), becomes Hoyle's "agent," arranging his various inner city scams. Deane doesn't feel as though he's selling out his own people; he goes along with Hoyle to provide a better life for his wife, Rhonda (Tyra Ferrell), and son. The film breezes through several zany sequences, including one liberal-baiting satirical moment set at a black/white "solidarity" basketball game arranged by an ambitious politician. Crooked gamblers intrude upon the last scenes of the film, but Hoyle is rescued by his girlfriend, Gloria (Rosie Perez), a Jeopardy freak who realizes a lifelong dream by winning big on the Alex Trebek-hosted game show. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes, (more)
Adapted by Lynda LaPlante from her own 1983 British miniseries of the same name, the ABC four-parter Widows was set in motion by a bungled art heist, in which three thieves (and a possible fourth) were betrayed and killed. Rather than grieve over their fallen husbands, the three widows of the thieves -- Dolly (Mercedes Ruehl), Linda (Rosie Perez), and Shirley (Brooke Shields) -- join forces to complete the original "caper," and to track down their spouses' murderers. The ladies are joined by exotic dancer Bella (N'Bushe Wright), whose missing-in-action boyfriend may have been slaughtered along with the other three crooks. The American version of Widows debuted August 6, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mercedes Ruehl, Rosie Perez, (more)
- 2006
- Add Yo Soy Boricua, Pa'Que Tu Lo Sepas! to QueueAdd Yo Soy Boricua, Pa'Que Tu Lo Sepas! to top of Queue
Actress Rosie Perez makes her directorial debut with this documentary about her heritage, Yo Soy Boricua, Pa'Que Tu Lo Sepas! (I'm Puerto Rican, Just So You Know!), which she co-directed with acclaimed documentarian Liz Garbus (The Farm: Angola, USA). Starting with the focal point of New York City's famed Puerto Rican Day Parade, Perez examines her culture, both from a deeply personal perspective, interviewing her sister and cousin about their sense of pride in their background and exploring the journey of her own family from the island to New York City, and from a broader perspective, looking at the island's rich, neglected history. The film explains how Spanish conquistadors nearly wiped out the island's indigenous population, and made Spanish the official language and Catholicism the official religion. The U.S. eventually took over the island during the Spanish-American War, making it a commonwealth, in which residents pay taxes and can serve in the military, but can't vote in national elections. The U.S. prized the island for its sugar plantations and its strategic proximity to the Panama Canal, but a vast percentage of its residents live in poverty to this day. The documentary takes an honest look at how residents of the island were used as guinea pigs by pharmaceutical companies, at how the U.S. government utilized forced sterilization in an effort to control the island's population, and at the bloody struggle for independence led by Pedro Albiza Campos. Operation Bootstrap, a government program to move islanders to the mainland, is also explored. Perez also celebrates the Puerto Rican poets, artists, and musicians that have impacted American culture, along with the island's unique influence on our language. The film had its New York premiere at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
