Rosario Isabel Dawson is in the internet. AMA.

How much fun was Josie and the Pussycats to make ?

JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS was hilarious and awesome to make. I got my hair permed, which was a horrible idea, especially when it grew back with straight roots. But it was really really fun. I got to pretend to be a rockstar and wear ears and a tail every day, which was amazing. I remember when we were filming that, I remember feeling like Macy Gray compared to these other girls because of my big curly hair, I was so much taller and bigger than these other girls who were so tiny, they were like the size of my thigh, and just laughing hysterically with them because my character was always the odd one out. We got really really close, that was the time I remember it being all about the two-way pagers, and we would get these like matching things, it was very cute and sweet. DuJour is incredible. The people were sweet on it, I think that movie was TOTALLY ahead of its time, and I quote it all the time, and no one ever knows what I'm talking about!

DUJOUR MEANS FAMILY!

I think it's the most hysterical and awesome movie ever. And I'll always be fond of Target.

Hey Rosario,

What has been your strangest fan encounter?

Thank you for doing this!

Hmmm.

I don't know, let me think.

It was really amazing. I was at the Golden Globes last year, I took my mom, we were backstage before the awards started for everyone who showed up on time and early (and it was amazing that I was there, cuz I'm always late for everything) - I was there on time, and John Goodman was there, and she said "Oh my gosh, it's John Goodman we have to say hello." and i don't know him personally, but I thought let's do this, let's introduce ourselves, and as I was walking up to him, he started gushing and saying "Rosario Dawson! I love you! You're super great!" and i remember my mom just beaming, and I was struck silent with this remarkable thing.

I didn't even know what to do, just hugging him, I love him, and we just giggly walked away afterwards.

And then LATER, the same day, which is super-awesome, that same night, I saw Bill Murray. And he was dancing, and mom and I were again fanning out, and staring at him, and he looked over and said "You can't just stand there, you have to dance" so I started dancing with him, and I said "You can't get better than this moment right now, but what would make it better is if it we were walking in slow-motion" because he had a fan encounter where he shot a film of them walking in slow-motion, instead of a picture or autograph, they were just walking in slow motion as if it were an opening trailer for a movie and filmed it together, so I had seen it and thought it was the coolest thing.

So when I started dancing with him, I said that, and he started dancing in slow motion, so then we started dancing in slow motion with each other to a super upbeat song for quite a few minutes actually.

So that was a good day and night. John Goodman knew who I was, and I slow-mo danced with Bill Murray.

So Rosario, congratulations on everything you’ve accomplished. Now let’s talk about that girl talk scene in kids. How much of it was scripted or was everything you ladies were talking about from actual experience?

Also what’s your go to puerto rican/cuban dish?

All of those scenes were scripted. It was very interesting, there was another actress who was cast as Chloe Sevigny's character, and she wa sthe only one who was an actor, everyone else was just friends or people they found on the street, and I remember when we were doing the rehearsal for those scenes, she tried to do these acting exercises and we were all really uncomfortable - Harmony wrote this when he was 19, so it didn't feel like we needed to do all this prep work beyond saying the dialogue to each other.

I remember i would be mesmerized seeing everyone do the scene over and over again, and I remember Harmony yelling me to speak up, and she would go off and be very gregarious and loud. I remember being like "Yea, I've got to speak up!" but it was so fascinating to do that scene over and over again. I remember when they fired this other girl and brought in Chloe, and the energy just changed, and everything just clicked, and we just played - it wasn't anyone saying the way it should be, it was just naturally showing up and experimenting. Just very fun. Did we ad lib some things here and there? Probably. But I remember us rehearsing it and being pretty down to the line, but in general, Harmony wrote a pretty good script.

I love me some black beans and pernil!

Hey Rosario! Can we count on you for Clerks III?

YES! 100%! I mentioned that earlier, and I"m excited to come back. Like with Gail in SIN CITY 2, I very rarely get to go back and revisit the character, and it's a fun thing to do, so I'm curious to see what Kevin imagines for them and where they are at in their life now, and what hijinx they'll get up to. It'll be hard to top a donkey show, but I think he's game for it. He'll knock it out of the park.

First thanks for doing this AMA! Secondly I wanted to sincerely thank you for your work on RENT. That show was foundational to my growth in a time where I was struggling with finding out who I was and what I wanted out of life. Growing up in a small farming community I would have never been able to see Jonathan Larson’s amazing story had it not been made into a motion picture. My question: You nailed the performance of Mimi, but was it difficult stepping into the role when everyone else (with the exception of Tracie) had such a developed history with their characters?

Mmm.

I felt very connected to Mimi, so I thought there was quite a lot of information about who she was - subtly and comments - but having grown up in an abandoned building in the lower East Side right at that moment when Jonathan was inspired to write RENT, that whole world felt very familiar to me - from having transgendered friends since I was six, to having friends with HIV and AIDS, to know i could share food and drink with them - I was just raised that way - and the lower East Side being a place where artists, and struggling artists, because that's where the misfits could survive and support each other, sometimes it was dark and scary, but it was also amazing. Sometimes there were scary riots, like the Tompkins Square riots, but Wigstock being there - my uncle and his band called Conk, really amazing underground New York music, Madonna was their gogo dancer and Basquiat was their best friend - I was a little girl there... it was Grace Jones, and women wearing suits, and this sort of empowerment, and Africa being really sexy and interesting, and having Keith Haring who was walking around with lesions on his face - it was an insane time, the crack epidemic, graffiti art, the dawn of hiphop, technology with music and Spanish and African music, it was just this whole eclectic noise, chaotic, insane beauty that i Loved so much. And RENT was so perfectly epitomizing that. Mimi's strength, her fiery spirit, her lost-ness... and so young, and everything just connected to me. I wasn't a trained singer or dancer, I felt really ridiculous going in and auditioning for the movie - Tracie at least went to Juillard - and I was so in love with this project that i almost didn't go because i was so nervous going in there, but I felt like I was Mimi, I knew her so much, and I wanted to be a part of it - I had been a part of it my whole life, and it was a validation for me, that these stories were special and these people I grew up with are special, and they deserved to have their stories told too. So I'm so grateful I got to bring Mimi to life, and it was really a powerful experience.

I love that people connected with it. And that New York is gone now, you know? My friends who were fire dancers or this and that - they are like "Where are all the freaks? The block parties?"

It sucked that when you called the police, they didn't come, but the neighbors did.

it was a different world, a different space, but specifically Jonathan Larson created a space to epitomize all the aspects - functional and dysfunctional of that world- and he would be someone I would like to have at my dinner party.

Hi Rosario,

I’m a big fan – thanks for doing this AMA!

I have a few questions: I heard you’re a big comic book fan – what are some of your favorite comic book stories?

Despite the serious and sometimes disturbing subject matter – were there any good memories while filming “Kids?”

And finally – will you be reprising your role as Becky in the announced “Clerks” sequel?

So I love the Sandman series a lot, yeah... the Watchmen will probably always be the best comic graphic novel of all time, and obviously, I love my OCTP comic. I'm getting really into the Daredevil series right now.

I have a lot of great memories filming KIDS, it was my first experience on a set ever, I was discovered on my stoop to audition for that film. And it was exactly 20 years ago this summer that i filmed the movie. And I'm excited, I think we need to do something really special for the 20th Anniversary, and for me personally, the journey it's taken me on, and Justin Pierce and Harold Hunter are not with us.

And yes, I will be in the Clerks sequel. I've been guaranteed I will be there. So i'm excited !

Has anyone told you how underrated Josie And The Pussycats is lately? Because it is.

Mm-hmm. I get that a lot, you know? It's one of those funny things. I get that about JOSIE, I get that about RENT, about a lot of different films that I loved so much that didn't necessarily perform well at the box office but that were slow sleeper hits. It suddenly felt like every time I talked to someone, they'd quote something from JOSIE, and it was just a film that needed to hit its audience. And the cult has picked up. I think a lot of the subject matter, the proliferation of the media and sponsorship and endorsements and the need to transform yourself for fame, all these different things are coming up quite a lot, and that really boosted up the hilarity of the boyband creation, it started developing a few years later, and you'd see these megastars pushing soda brands at concerts - it was a film that took years for culture to catch up. It was very funny. I felt like I was almost int he closet as a JOSIE lover, but I was bummed it didn't really connect with fans, but to be able to speak about it - we're always talking about how much fun it would be to get the band back together! I think it would be hilarious, you know? So I'm thrilled by that. I think it's really awesome, and that's one of the benefits of the internet and Netflix and all of these things, that these movies get a life again and find their audience. Now the RENTheads are way more than even when the movie came out - it takes a while for movies to find their audiences, but when they do, it's really great. And I'm a fan of a lot of stuff and geek out all the time, so when someone sees me on the street or online, it's cool to me, because if i were doing a play, I get the immediate reaction of a clap or a boo, I don't necessarily know what that reaction is - box office can be affected by tons of reason - so it's been really nice to see that audience was there, it just didn't show up at the moment you wanted or expected them to. So I love that. I'm glad i"m not the only one.

You seem like you'd be fun to hang out with so hello from /r/blackladies !

Also how fun was filming Death Proof,please tell me you and Tracy Thoms are real life friends and is Tarantinos foot fetish really that serious?

Tarantino's foot fetish is very much that serious.

There's been many incidents. Yeah. It's a thing. Yeah. Like a million things just popped into my mind, including when he got roasted at the Friar's Club, and Uma roasted him and poured champagne in her shoe and had him drink from it and he couldn't have been more happy. There's something going on with him and shoes, and that's why I ended up with KY Jelly in my shoes when my eyes were closed - you don't want to be vulnerable on a Quentin Tarantino set, because you will get got by pranksters! You gotta keep your game face on at all times.

I loved working on DEATH PROOF. I auditioned for it, didn't get the part, and Tracy auditioned for it, and didn't necessarily get the part, and both of us were like "Aw HELL NAW." Just not okay if we don't get to do it! And we had become besties on RENT, because we were both newbies and spent a lot of time together, so we sat down and watched every Tarantino movie back to back, and we rehearsed the HELL out of our scene, and we asked if we could go down to meet with him again, and we flew together to New York, and it was supposed to be my audition but I brought her, and he jumped up and said "I feel like I"m

So we ended up getting the role, and had a blast on it. And Zoe (who lives in Venice Beach, as I do) would come over to the house, and we would rehearse like crazy, and so our scenes were COMPLETELY down, like rigorously down, I've probably never rehearsed anything so much - and I remember when we did the roundtable scene, which is an homage to himself, and then he wanted to do the splice shot where they were looking in the trunk - we always felt truncated whenever they called CUT because we'd been doing the whole scene for months, and he said "You know, I feel like we could get this in one take - we only have half a day now, and I should've thought of this before, but let's do it in one take." And everyone was super down, so we tried doing the circle around the table, where I would lean in, or someone else would lean back, and we only did it several times, but it ended up being one of my favorite scenes in a movie ever because we REALLY worked for it, and collaborated together. And Quentin changed his mind about something, which is a big deal, and the scene at the end where i do a kick in the air - he said "that is not a death blow" and I said "I hear you Quentin, I hear you, but i'm really flexible, and I think it would be cool after he's down if I hit him with my leg, and so I just wanted to show you" and he's like "Well, if we have enough time, we'll shoot it." SO i remember that he said "Well, it looked pretty cool, but I can't guarantee it'll be in the movie."

And the freeze-frame comes in after she does the roundhouse kick and I was like "Oh, it's okay that it didn't make it in" and then it unfreeze frames and the leg comes around and cracks him in the face, and I was like "YESS!!!" I was so excited! I get the same exact reaction about that movie. And it was really super, super awesome.

Any funny stories from filming with The Rock and Sean William Scott?

Love you

TOTALLY.

Rock is afraid of bugs, which is amazing. So we tortured him by throwing fake bugs at him. That man is really that beautiful. I'm always struck by how tall and gorgeous and lovely he is - he just shines, he glows, and he's REALLY sweet. And he could be absolutely intimidating if he wanted to be, because he's SO muscular and big. Whatta man! And then he screams like a little child if there's a bug on him. And we had this thing - I don't know how it started, but Sean and I and Dwayne, we would eat really nasty things at lunch, and then burp in our mouths, and blow the burp in each other's faces - like a side-blow - just before we were about to start rolling or in general. Just to gross each other out. And try to guess what we had just eaten - "That's tuna-fish with fiery-hot crisps" - I don't know how that started, it's really gross.

And something else - there was a moment when Christopher Walken - he's really amazing, but he does an impression of himself. The reason why it's so difficult to do an impression of Walken is because he's doing an impression of himself. When you call "ACTION", he adds to it - it's amazing, just riveting to watch. And he also had this moment, I'll never forget, because the Rolling Stones were coming to perform, we were filming in Hawaii, or something, and he was like "Hey, I really want to see them perform. Do you think you could help me get tickets?" And Dwayne's looking at him thinking "We could probably sort out some tickets." And so he calls his assistant over and told Christopher "We're having some trouble getting tickets, when are the dates?" And Christopher said "oh September 20" and the Rock just looks at him like "...It's NOVEMBER."

Just these awesome, funny moments. We had a good time.

I insisted on boob sweat stains. I was like "There's no way I'm in the jungles of Brazil, HIKING, and I wouldn't have boob sweat." So we were maniacs about our sweat stains.

We were trying to be authentic.

Hi Rosario! Great to see you in the AMA’s.

You’ve been acting for a long time now. I can only imagine what kind of material crosses your path.

What kind of scripts have you seen too much of and what kind of scripts would you like to see? Are there any roles you’d like to play that you haven’t gotten a chance to yet?

I get a lot of the same stuff, you know? But the thing that's interesting about the material that crosses your path that despite what I want to do, there's no chance at really just the stars aligning and you getting to do exactly what you want in that exact moment. That script has to get out in a meaningful way, the director and all these different things attached... so my resume makes me look like a schizophrenic, but i always want to try things i haven't done before, so I am constantly pushing that envelope, whether it's shooting another indie film, or picking a movie because of the director or the cast or some element that strikes me... and sometimes that means a no going into projects that have really big budgets or great directors because I feel that I've done that character already.

So maybe I haven't been particularly smart because I haven't been very calculating about my career, but it's kept it very challenging and enjoyable.

Any funny or interesting Chris Rock stories? Did you hang out with him much while filming?

Well, Chris I've been friends with for 16 years. So for me, it was just really - one of the things i really loved about working with him is his little idiosyncracies - if the Director of Photography wanted another shot, he would say "For you - FOR YOU - we'll do it, I'll do it, everybody he wants another one, we're gonna do it for him."

He just jokes with everybody, he had his acting coach there, he was completely shameless and egoless about stuff - he was like "I'm not the greatest actor, I'm fine, Larry give me some tips!" - he was so easy, I'd constantly have to pick stuff out of his teeth, and I'd be like "Dude, I can't work like this, you can't work like this with all this stuff in there for your close-up. I gotta look out for you."

He called himself "The protector" not the director - he protected everybody and made sure everyone had a big shining moment, he wanted everyone to give their best, do their best, and to shine. Every single person that was there was like an instrument, and he knew as a conductor to let them have their solo, let them hit their note even when they were running out of breath, and THEN he called cut. You'd be sitting off camera, dying laughing, and wondering why he didn't call cut yet - and he'd do something else to hit another level of funny, before moving on.

He has an idea about different decibels of laughter- he would say "I want a 9.0" or "I want a 10.0." "I want it to be a 10, I want it to be 100, I want people EXPLODING with laughter." And it was cool, because his vision of comedic timing, you could see him editing his words, editing the scene, manipulating as he was directing, he worked on this script for 3 years, he was very rehearsed and practiced and purposeful, as well as loose and open and generous and collaborative, and pleasant.

He was an incredible mixture of multiple talents and ways of working, which I think was necessary on this type of movie, with so many different directions as the story goes - you have to be flexible and inflexible at times. And it was really funny. I don't know how his hair and his mustache could get so wiley in 2 days of not shooting and with my shaved head, I was like - it's true, men need more attention than women.

It's SO funny. When he's on, he's on. But when he's off, he's like a recluse. It was awesome to see so many dimensions of him. I fell in love with him a little bit, he's an awesome, awesome guy.

Hi Rosario,

What do you like to do in your free time?

I read. I like puzzles. I travel. And I cook. I like to ride bikes and do crazy things, like zip lining or go to burning man and make huge art installations. I really like arts & crafts types of things, I knit and make ornaments and homemade hot sauce for 100 people, and I cook with my mom and do lasagna nights for fundraisers, we'll make lasagna for 200 people, and I'm a sous chef, I love chopping fruits and vegetables and I get anal retentive about how pretty they look... I write, I sing, I know that when I'm not in my best place, my key to knowing that is when I sing less or dance less. If I catch myself singing along, or dancing a little, I know i'm in a better place. If I'm going through a breakup, I'll notice that it will be a while before I hum or sing along to be happy. I like to write songs, I like to paint. I like to kind of do things. I like to veg out. Play video games, marathon TV shows i haven't seen. I'm especially fond of if you're in New York, just going in spontaneously to watch a film back to back, that's always fun. I love conversations and talking to random people, that's why if I have insomnia, I can go off on Twitter. I was on my flight from Miami to New York and I was next to an engineer, and we talked about civil engineering, I took a civil engineering course at Columbia when I was in high school, and he heard me talking about engineering, and he worked in Sierra Leone during the war, and we had an amazing conversation, and at the end we said goodbye and were just smiling, to have had such an existential conversation.

I love those New York moments. Just passing in the night. You don't have to exchange numbers at the end, but just be present. Be as present as possible.

Hi! What is it like to be on Daredevil? Everything I've read and seen about the show gives me a lot of hope of it being awesome?

It was so fun, you know? I'd never been on anything so hush-hush. I thought Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino kept things under wraps, but i was shooting scenes with people who didn't even know they were in the next episode!

They REALLY know how to keep things locked down. And it was really fun for me - there was a lot that I didn't know, and I'd see Charlie being completely beat up in an episode I wasn't a part of, and I don't want to know because I'm excited to watch the show and fill in the blanks. Everything I've read makes it look amazing - it's super well-done- but I don't even know all of it! It'll be quite in event, and I think Marvel's done a very cool collaboration with Netflix. Because comic books are long form storytelling, you take your time getting to know these characters and why they decide to do this vigilante thing and move on, so you get to live with these characters for so long, and sometimes these movies go so quick you don't get to meaningfully attach to them, so I think it's going to be great for tons of people.

I'm excited.

Hi Rosario. Were the outfits in Sin City 1 or 2 more uncomfortable to wear?

And now the Golden Globe noms are out, who are you backing for the top actor and actress awards?

Hmmm.

I would say that the outfit in Sin City 1 was more uncomfortable, but only just the boots, because we had this leather strap that went over the knee, and i pretty much had to stand all the time or perch on a stool, because i couldn't properly bend my knees in it, and I think it was one of the last days that she did another version of the boot where it was elastic on the front, and then it was COMPLETELY flexible, and we were like "Why didn't we do it from the beginning?" but i think everybody should have a dominatrix day in their life. It's pretty fun, and you're there with a bunch of other women, getting our pose on, admiring each other's mohawks and studs. It was really great, we went out one day in our costumes - Robert took us all out, we were all really hungry and went out for BBQ, and we went out in our costumes and robes, I remember this place had ribs the size of Flinstones style meat, and I remember we all thought it was a horrible idea afterwards... but it was fun and hilarious to have an outfit that fit into the palm of your hand. It was an incredible experience both times, to be there with Frank Miller, who was just bugging out that the characters that he drew by himself, when he wanted to get AWAY from Hollywood, that were too taboo to be touched, were walking around and talking and laughing... he was just beside himself. And Gail - it would be fun to do that character again. She's awesome, and scary, and full on, and a really great part of my personality gets to shine in that role. Hopefully it won't take 10 years again.

I have to look and see, cuz I haven't seen who all was nominated. and I also haven't seen all the projects yet. As much as I have personal favorites, I'm very remiss to kind of choose somebody just based on that, because i love movies. So I'm excited, because just last year I joined the Academy, so I get all the screeners now, so I will be watching and catching up on quite a lot of films over the holiday break.

You did the voice of Wonder Woman. Are you in any talks to do an upcoming super hero?

MMMMM.

Um, I've always wanted to do some really fun cool superhero stuff.

I'm obsessed. I grew up being obsessed with Wonder Woman, we call my mom that because she's a super amazon, so when I did the first voice for Artemis, I was excited to be so close to it, and now that i've voiced her for 2 projects that's been amazing. So I feel I get to kick that off my bucket list, being able to voice her is pretty exciting.

My family calls me "She-Hulk" when I get upset, so I think that would be fun. But there are multiple characters that are really cool. I'm a cape person. I do like those types of characters.

So we'll see, maybe someday down the line. It was really fun to work on a Marvel miniseries for Daredevil, so we'll see! I'm getting closer and closer...

With the number of amazing comedians in the movie who made you laugh the hardest on/of the set?

HMMM.

That's a good one.

I've have to say I spent most of my time with Chris, and he really cracked me up, but every day it was a different kind of laughter - when Tracy Morgan was there, when Cedric the Entertainer was there and he put that wig on, Whoopi Goldberg in a strip club with Adam Sandler and Jerry Seinfeld - do I have to say it? - it was just preposterous. Because comedian are kind of vicious - they beat a joke until it's bleeding on the floor, they wring out the blood, they stomp it some more, and then they pulverize it into dust. You can't imagine that there's anything more to wring out of a joke, but they DO.

Chris is the mastermind. An awesome experience. So I'm gonna have to say Chris definitely tops it, because i got to spend every day with him, and he had the last word. He makes you laugh about things you can't imagine laughing about. He makes jokes that should not be funny, funny. He offends me until I'm guffawing. It's amazing. I don't know how he does it.

Who's at your dream dinner party?

Ummm... Auguste Rodin, Ana Mendieta, and David Bowie, and Tim Curry, and Bill Withers, and... so many people I love. Gabriela Garcia Marquez. Truman Capote. Maya Angelou. My grandma, I miss her, and she's been gone for almost 3 years. I'd like to have my biological dad, whom I never got to meet. My great-grandmother would be nice, Celestina. It would be nice to have them there, and the dialogue that would come up, I just love people of different ages and philosophies. I think Einstein would be hilarious to talk to. I would like Abigail Adams to be there, and talk to me about writing - don't forget ladies and the suffragette movement and what that was like. Cleopatra... there's just so many different moments in history and life and art and philosophy and math and science that I think are so fascinating. How we discovered and thought about the world and our place in it.

I'd like a good dinner party.

I LOVE a good dinner party.

And I'd like then everybody to be rounded up for interpretive dance for dessert.

Hi Rosario! Thanks for doing an AMA!

I was a big fan of "A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints", and a lot of people from that film have gotten really huge since then. You, Shia LaBeouf, Channing Tatum.

Do you have any good stories/memories about the process of making that film? It's a favorite of mine that I try to show to all my friends.

It's so funny. I was filming RENT at the time, and the director came over and met with me, and he said "I'm doing this movie, I've got Shia and Channing and RDJ but we need a big name to help us get it going" - haha- "And we're hoping you'll join us with our little movie." And you couldn't get that cast together now!

But this approach was, we need you to help us move the film along and secure it. Which I thought was hilarious.

But it was great, such an incredible experience. We filmed that in New York, and I will never forget the scene on the roof - I remember Ditto coming to me and saying "I really want to rile Robert's character up. Like you become this catalyst for him in this scene to shake him up, to taking on his present and manning up." So really get in his face, don't hold any punches back. So I did this scene, I got in his face, I said "You're not a man, that's actually a tail between your legs" and i pushed him with 2 fingers on his forehead, and the director kept telling me GET IN HIS FACE, and I'll never forget Robert really didn't like that. He really didn't like me getting in his face. I remember we got the scene. Ditto was happy. And as soon as we called cut, Robert came over and said "Don't touch me in my face." I was like "oh my god, I'm going to get pushed off this roof right now!" But I refused to back down, I stayed tough, even though I was completely nervous, but it was really great, and Robert was really pleased with the result. He's not a shy kind of guy. He doesn't dial it in as an actor. So he appreciated it, but he wasn't expecting it.

So if you ever work with Robert Downy Jr, make sure you get permission to touch his face.

I'm looking out for you. Haha!

You are involved in many charities and campaigns aimed to make the world a better place. Which one do you feel most passionate about and why?

I'm really passionate about all of them, for very different reasons. I'm actually in the process of creating a foundation, specifically so I can have an umbrella of all the organizations i work with so I can fundraise for them all in one place, because I'm at the point where I pass someone with a clipboard on the street, I can guarantee I'm doing something to an organization they advocate for. I'm finally at the point of saying no to stuff, because I care about ALL Of it, and I always want to do my part in some way, shape or form - it's seamless, it's not that difficult to advocate and be active. And technology makes it even easier. So I'm looking forward to being able to do more with the foundation - i just wanted to have one place, because when I'm talking about voting, or the lower east side girl's club, or ways for water, or air with care and helping families with terminal children, or V-day, and One Billion Rising - people's eyes glaze over as i start talking about Global Green or the Environmental Media Association or the Wellbody Alliance - and I can see people being baffled by all of it, so I wanted to create one space, one place - where people could give. That this would be a great way for me to help channel that, to establish that I work with some top, very highly vetted organizations whom I guarantee are doing great work on the ground, and spending the money to be effective in those communities - I see sometimes with Voto Latino - people ask me about running for office, and it's a very different conversation to say "Vote for Me" - but what i have established is vote for what you care about. Hopefully I will be launching this foundation soon, and I can help you help others.

My fashion line right now that I've started with my friend, Studio One Eighty Nine, we do education on the ground. It was inspired after a trip to the Congo with V-day. I was there with my friend Abrima Rwiah, and we've been friends since we were teenagers, and she comes from a luxury background, and we decided after that trip to create a company because we wanted to give back not do handouts. One of the ways to do that is to help these artisans establish a connection to a greater market so they can sell their wares and have funds to take care of their communities, so it's a social impact company. It's based on a symbol that says "Help me so I can help you." People like buying beautiful clothes, and luxury and things that are made well, this is affordable luxury that is handmade to order done beautifully and with incredible skills, and we are hoping to uplift the community by showing that something made in Africa is just as viable as something made in Italy or other places.

So this is something close to my heart right now. I'm excited about it. If we all felt that passionate about what we did - my friends and family and my community, our communities - it would transform the world. So i'm excited about that.

What's your drink of choice?

i love water. I've become big onto sparkling water. I will drink Kombucha and all that kind of stuff, but going to Burning Man every year, I have a tremendous appreciation for water in a way that i always had, but on a whole other level now. And I try to be fancy about my water at Burning Man, so I bring my soda-making machine thing, and I can make sparkling water. And when you're on the playa, and you're dirty and exhausted, and all of a sudden you have nice sparkling water with some ice. I never felt fancier than when I'm having cold, homemade sparkling water on the playa at Burning Man.

It's the best.

Hi Rosario, huge fan! Love Sin City!

In Top Five you have a pretty sick wardrobe. Who made your blue floral print dress, your blue booties and your jewelry shown in the trailer?

Um, oh I'm terrible. I can't remember who the actual designer is for that stuff. But I can say, though, that the costume designer is an amazing woman and we had a lot of fun putting the outfits together. I was channeling my friend Abbie Goodman, who I think is the awesome quintessential New York journalist, she is funky and beautiful and cool and just has the sickest wardrobe and is so modern and retro at the same time. She was my inspiration. And I have to say THANK YOU to Gabrielle Union because I love her so much, and she is not only stunning and incredibly insightful and thoughtful and funny and beautiful and smart, but she's also bunglingly gorgeous - I can't believe she is 42, can I have some of those genes please, and she plays ball, she's basically perfect - and she inspired me to wear "double bootie" panties. I had to wear 2, and specifically sewn to fit my tiny little booty - my booty would not break the internet, even a tiny little bit - and when I heard she was cast in this movie, I knew i had to wear some bootie panties, because there is no amount of squats that can help me. I had to bring the bootie somehow. So Gabrielle inspired me to wear 2 pairs of bootie panties.

Hi Rosario, Loved you Occult Crime Taskforce sereis, will you doing more with it? another volume or bring to TV or film?

That is the hope and the dream. I'd love to make it into a video game. And i have a subscription box that i do with Quarter.ly, and for this last box, I did a "top 5" themed box about the top things I love about the holidays, and I put in OCT related items that people will really love. https://quarterly.co/products/rosario-dawson