- Hi, I'm Rosario Dawson, I'm here at BuzzFeed,
and I am here to talk about my first times.
Starting with this is my first time doing this game.
(laughing)
(chill music)
First time you ever saw rent?
For the first time when I was around 24?
Yeah, so just a few years after it came out.
Powerful, it was the first time
I ever saw something that highlighted my life story
and make it seem awesome, because I grew up
in a squat in the Lower East Side
and I didn't know that folks that I grew up with
could be protagonists.
My first job.
My first job actually I got paid 20 dollars
to work on Sesame Street.
One of the people who grew up
in the squat that I grew up in,
one of the people who lived there,
she was dating a camera man on Sesame Street.
And, was working with Children's Liberation.
We were doing a community garden video,
which still exists today, and that's still
my favorite way to get recognized.
When I've had little kids come up and be like,
"Are you on Sesame Street?"
I'm like, "Yes I was."
First role you really wanted but didn't get.
Dang, way to go dark.
You know what, the first role that I really remember,
Actually I got the role, it was called "Lift".
And I got offered the role,
and it was between that or "The Adventures of Pluto Nash".
You know, "Lift" woulda been here in New York,
for no money, little indie film.
Or I could go to Canada and shoot this movie
with Eddie Murphy, and see what could happen.
And I remember my mom and everybody
arguing with me like you need to get off this couch.
And so Kerry Washington ended up doing the job.
And I always remember looking back
on that moment like, did I mess up,
was that the wrong choice?
But I think it worked out okay
for the both of us, so we're fine.
First thing you kept from a set?
I don't remember keeping anything from "Kids".
Actually got things stolen from me when I was on "Kids".
I remember going to go to rehearsal
on my bicycle and it getting stolen
by the time I came out from rehearsal, it was great.
But the first thing I kept from a set
was on "He Got Game", it's a Spike Lee movie set
in Coney Island, Brooklyn,
which is actually where I was born.
My character went to Lincoln High School,
which is the high school that my mom
and all of my uncles went to.
And she actually had to drop out of school
from there because she found out later
that she gets gestational diabetes when she's pregnant,
so she can't produce enough insulin
for both her and the baby so she kept passing out.
And then 18 years later, I was shooting a Spike Lee
movie there, doing a scene right outside
of Lincoln High School with Denzel Washington.
And so I kept I have these Lincoln High School
sweat track suit outfit thing or whatever,
and I kept that 'cause I just thought
that was really cool that at one point
18 years earlier I was in the womb there,
and now I was working on a Spike Lee joint.
My first audition, well that's easy.
(laughing)
It was for this movie called "Kids".
I was hanging out on my stoop, 'cause my dad told me to.
They were shooting a Vibe commercial on the block,
and my dad told me to go downstairs
and get discovered 'cause he'd overheard someone
saying that they wanted dancers.
And I went downstairs and I did end up dancing
in the commercial, but I scored my first audition,
'cause Larry Clark and Harmony Korine,
and a bunch of the crew were walking by
scouting for locations and saw me
and asked me if I'd audition for "Kids".
And that changed my life forever.
First kiss.
It didn't say with Mike or a boyfriend,
it just says first kiss, sorry my love.
- [Cory] But all the other kisses disappeared.
(laughing)
- Did they?
No I'm kidding.
(laughing)
And it's so funny actually I remember
having this conversation with Chloe in "Kids",
because it happened that summer when I turned 15.
In Tompkins Square Park, in the skate park now area.
I think we we're playing like truth or dare,
or spin the b--
Something like that, and I ended up making out
and thinking it was not so great.
And so in the scene I remember her laughing going,
"Bizzario."
Because I was telling her the story,
I was like "Oh my god I just had my first kiss,
"in Tompkins Square Park."
And her just being like, 'cause I was really young
even though I played a really promiscuous character,
I was very much not like that in real life.
First time I knew I was famous.
For me, the real tell tale of fame
is walking down in like around Central Park
and seeing those artists who are doing
like portraits for money.
And they always have certain staple people
that they already have to show
what kind of, you know, what their art looks like.
And I still have never seen anyone
have my picture there to be like,
see look how well I drew Rosario,
like don't you wanna pay me some money to do your portrait?
So until that day happens,
I still just don't think it's happened,
still workin' on it guys, still workin' on it.
First thing I do on my phone when I wake up.
Usually I'm checking to see if my boyfriend
has sent me a song, or a poem,
or something that's going on in his day.
'Cause we have a lot of our relationship
long distance and that's our messages in a bottle
that we sent to each other.
First time I saw myself in a magazine.
You know what, I've actually been trying to find this image.
It's a picture, I think it's in Details magazine.
And they were doing a profile on squatters,
and it's a picture, a black and white picture
of my dad and I in our living room.
I think we were past the point of having a cast iron stove
in the living room which was totally illegal,
but the only way we stayed warm.
But it was just like a picture of the two of us,
like him sitting down on the ground,
and I'm kind of like we're folded on each other
and just looking kind of soberly at the camera.
And I remember being so blown away,
'cause that photo ended up coming up later in my life,
this artist spotted me on the street
and asked if he could do my portrait.
And when I went to his place,
there was this photo, this drawing of this girl.
I really was like, that really looks like me.
And he was like, "No, no, no.
"That's off a girl I got out of a magazine."
And then he proceeded to pull the magazine
out with the picture of me and my dad,
and somehow this guy had drawn a portrait
of me when I was a young girl, and then all the years later,
spotted me on the street and asked to draw my portrait again
which is kind of amazing.
So I'm still looking for that magazine.
First scene I remember filming with Yael,
on "Jane the Virgin".
My first scene with Yael actually was in her office.
And loving my power suits and being very bemused
with her frantic and incredible energy.
You know when I got that job it was Gina Rodriguez
had reached out to me over the holidays
because they'd cast that character already
and actually shot several scenes with her.
And an emergency they needed to replace that actress,
the scenes immediately very quickly
'cause they had to keep shooting
and also re cut and re film that stuff.
And I had no idea where the character
was gonna end up going.
I had no idea we were gonna end up having a tryst,
and a love affair or whatever.
So it was kind of great 'cause I don't think
my character obviously knew that either.
It was just really awesome, Yael's incredible,
she just had a baby. And I love her very much,
and I'm so grateful for working on that.
First memory from the "Josie and the Pussycats" set.
The first one that comes to mind,
is we were shooting this scene
where we were doing a concert.
So we all had ears and tails on,
and sparkly little outfits.
2000's ish outfits.
Actually I wasn't smoking cigarettes at the time,
I was still very anti cigarette.
But Rachael and Tara were smoking,
so I went out with them while they were smoking,
and we're just talking with them.
And I remember both of their eyes
getting really big and being like,
"We need to go back inside right now."
And it took me a second to realize what was happening,
but there were all of these girls,
'cause there was all these extras
and different people who were around that day
who were like touching my hair,
and twirling my tail and like,
just being very intimate with my costume and myself.
And I hadn't noticed, it was that first moment
where I felt like I'd lost my New York card.
Because I'd now gotten so accustom
to being on set and someone fidgeting with my mic,
and adjusting my wardrobe and touching up my hair,
that I just ignored the feelings.
And I was like, never again.
Okay, so first CD I bought,
and the reason why I wanna bring this up is pretty cool.
Is 'cause back in the day, you know,
you went to a CD store to buy music.
You couldn't just stream it.
And I wanted to have the soundtrack
to Reservoir Dogs, and the CD shop in Union Square
didn't have it, doesn't even exist anymore that store.
So I had to order it, and I remember them
finally calling me and saying my CD came in.
And it was just so great, and I love everything
about it including all the interludes that are on it,
and because of that and all the years later
ended up working on "Death Proof" with Quentin,
I ended up winning five bucks in trivia,
because I remembered how many dicks he said
in his opening monologue and he didn't.
But that's because I listened to that CD so much, so boom.
So that was really, really fun.
Thanks so much.
I'm Rosario Dawson, this is BuzzFeed,
and please check out Briarpatch.
Enjoy.
(upbeat music)