From the Lower East Side Girls Club to VDay (a global movement to end violence against women) to Voto Latino, Dawson is not afraid to get her hands a little dirty and get involved, and her interests reach far and wide.

Although Dawson’s non-profit organization Voto Latino was founded in 2004 in response to the news that Latinos were officially the largest “minority” group in the country, yet we’re not being represented at the voting booths, the effort has expanded to include environmental and educational initiatives. The organization¿s latest initiative is a big push for Latino involvement in the 2010 US Census.

We talked to the actress about what motivates her to advocate around issues affecting the Latino community.

“I’m proud to be a citizen of the United States of America and I want to give back in every way I can,” she says of her passion to get involved.

“I was raised community-based. I grew up in a spot in the lower east side where it was really obvious how poverty and low-down neighborhoods can affect people-not being able to have access to education and how that just sets people up for life to have less and less of choices.”

Education is also of utmost importance to the Voto Latino mission and to Dawson, who knows first-hand what it means to miss out on school. The actress, who broke into the industry in high school, never had a chance to go to college.

“I started working at 15, I graduated high school and I made the choice to not go to college because I thought: I could take a shot at this career, and possibly pay for my brother to go to school and maybe I can go to school later.

But if I go to school right now, I could lose this opportunity that I had to be in this industry which could be very lucrative for my family.”

Although Dawson may have forgone a formal college education, she makes sure to learn about the issues she is passionate about and may even head back to school later on in life.

“I have a lot of great teachers around the world and I feel really blessed, she says. ‘But I have family members who started college in their 40′s and 50′s so maybe I’ll do that when Hollywood stops giving me roles!”

Currently, Dawson is focusing on a campaign to encourage Latinos to participate in the 2010 US Census. Although some Latino leaders had encouraged our community to boycott the census, Dawson says, “I would be very weary of anyone telling you not to fill out a census.

It’s imperative to do so and most likely they’re saying that because they don’t want districts to be redrawn and certain politicians to loose their seat and unfortunately, that includes Latinos. People are afraid of change in a lot of ways. They don’t know what’s coming around the corner, they like how things are right now.”

As far as Voto Latino is concerned, Dawson isn’t interested in taking sides. “All that Voto Latino is trying to do is give folks as much clear information as possible to empower themselves.

It’s unbelievable the overwhelming response that’s there’s been. It’s there, it’s ready, it’s seething. People, young people especially, want change, serious change.”

From Terra

Latina actress Rosario Dawson seems like the perfect choice to play Greek goddess Persephone in a new fantasy adventure, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

We visited the set in Vancouver to find out how she enjoyed shooting a film with a cast including Uma Thurman, Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean and Steve Coogan who, as Hades, makes her his queen in the Underworld.

In costume as Persephone, she is in a low cut, black and purple lace dress with a bodice, bustle and high-heeled boots.

Rosario said: “My chest is out there, the lust is out there, it’s just dripping with sensuality and aggression.

“It has been really fun playing a goddess, I have to say. She’s wild. It is full-on flirtatiousness.”

This depiction of Hell is sumptuous, decadent and dark, all candlelight and high ceilings full of Gothic detail. In Greek mythology, Persephone is abducted by Hades and tricked into becoming his wife and Queen of the Underworld .

She is also the goddess of springtime and Rosario first thought of wearing robes and flowers. But the actress wanted to go for a modern look with “chipped nail polish and lace” rather than a T-shirt and mini skirt.

Instead, she wears a bustle and corset. She said: “It’s a little darker and grungier, a gothic image that I think is quite fascinating.

“It is fun to reinterpret the myths surrounding her and try to imagine her and place her in this world.

“She’s very bitter and angry. She is violent and aggressive and it’s fascinating because she also has innocence and sweetness and childlike qualities when she’s not being completely bitter.

“She is also very lustful.”

Which is good news to comedian and actor Steve Coogan, who has lucked out again as Hades.

Rosario, who has starred in Sin City, Death Proof, Men in Black II and Descent, giggles.

“This is the perfect Hollywood relationship – an ageing rocker living with an overly glamorous woman and they are having a caustic, crazy, narcissistic relationship.

“It is just hysterical.”

“He’s impotent, she’s horny and the emotions are extreme.

“We are so volatile in a comedically abusive way. I guess that is the way to put it. It is hilarious.”

Alan Partridge and Saxondale star Coogan clearly made an impression with his 30-year-old co-star.

Rosario admits she had fun in their scenes in the Underworld, which in the film is in Los Angeles, under the Hollywood sign.

“It is so fantastic working with Steve,” Rosario insisted.

“The scene could be dark, mean and ugly, because we are fighting, but he brings so much humour to it. We’ve invested a lot of playfulness into this scene.

“It’s almost like watching those dysfunctional family TV shows that I grew up with, where the situations are realistic and couples are having fights and talking to each other in an awful way, but at the same time it’s really funny.”

And what about having Hell in Hollywood? As someone who came from New York, was discovered at 16 and starred as Ruby in controversial teen sex and HIV movie Kids in 1995, does she get the idea of Tinseltown’s allure with its dark underbelly?

“I live in Venice in Los Angeles and I love living in California,” said Rosario, who is dating DJ Mathieu Schreyer.

“But I think it’s interesting that they would locate hell under Los Angeles.

“It’s quite poignant to see these two people – gods – struggling, hating and fighting and have it look like a disastrous Hollywood marriage.

“That’s how Hell is depicted. Honestly, if I had to spend eternity listening to those people arguing all the time, I’d kill myself over and over again.”

She added: “It would just be awful. I think that’s where you feel the descent into Hell, listening to these two people.”

The film is based on the best-selling book by Rick Riordan, who has now written five books about Percy, a “halfblood” who discovers he has a mortal mum but a god (Poseidon, played by Trainspotting’s Kevin McKidd) as a dad.

In the film, Percy (Logan Lerman) has to prove his innocence in the world of the gods when Zeus (Sean Bean) is convinced he stole his lightning bolt.

His mum has also disappeared. The powerful supporting cast includes Uma Thurman as Medusa, Catherine Keener as Percy’s mother Sally, Pierce Brosnan as Chiron the Centaur, Ray Winstone as Ares and Joe Pantoliano as Percy’s stepfather, Gabe.

Percy’s young friends on his journey are Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth and Brandon T. Jackson as Grover.

The film’s director Chris Columbus, who directed Home Alone and the first two Harry Potter films, only wanted Rosario to play Persephone.

She said: “Chris wrote to me and said, ‘I can’t imagine anyone else playing this part but you’ and of course I was so excited to hear that.

“I love that Persephone was not portrayed as a pale actor in predictably Goth-like make-up, ghoulish and white.”

Currently reading the third book in the series, which is tipped to succeed Harry Potter and Twilight as Hollywood’s big franchise, she admits the novels have made Greek mythology come alive.

She said: “The story is fascinating to me and it’s been really fun remembering everything I learned about the myths and the different gods and goddesses, the trouble that they got into all the time.

“Playing Persephone has made it come alive to me.

“As for the modern twist of the book, I love the fact that it really allows kids and teenagers to be in positions of strength and have the ability to figure out tough situations and understand how to navigate very tricky waters.”

Always considered one of the hottest young actors of her generation, she started to feel her age on the film.

“Interestingly, this is the first time I’ve ever felt old on a set,” she confessed.

“I just turned 30 before we started shooting and I’m working with these kids and it is great, they are teaching us a lot.”

Rosario grew up in a squat in the Lower East Side of New York with younger brother Clay.

Her parents, who were just 15 when she was born, moved into an abandoned building when she was six.

Her dad, Greg, worked in construction while her mum, Isabel, learned plumbing and electrical work.

She found life amid the grinding poverty was tough, but good. Her early years inspired her to push on in her career and be thankful for what she has.

She added: “I grew up with the idea that if you want something done, you do it yourself and you can do anything that you want to do.

“We were living in Manhattan and not paying rent and having a good life, even though we were poorer than all the friends I went to school with.

“I feel that if you can survive in Manhattan, you can survive anywhere in the world.

“There’s every type of accent and every type of language there – Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and all of those different types of foods and cultures are within a five-block radius.

“I just feel really lucky that I grew up in a place that made me curious and stoked my imagination. I’m lucky that I grew up as a yes person and someone who wasn’t afraid to take risks, that’s how I was raised.”

The Rocky Horror Picture Show was a “tremendous influence” in her life and says she was inspired to act by the film’s star Tim Curry.

As well as working as an actress, she has also kept in with the music world.

Her voice was used by Prince in a re-release of his famous single 1999 and she starred in the film version of musical Rent.

She sang on West Ryder Silver Bullet from Kasabian’s current album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum.

And she has appeared on OutKast album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below as well as starring in The Chemical Brothers’ video for Out of Control. She said: “I loved multi-talented artists like Grace Jones and David Bowie, who did music and producing and acting, all of it.”

Rosario is always in demand. As well as Percy Jackson she has thriller Unstoppable with Denzel Washington and Top Gun director Tony Scott coming up. Then there’s comedy The Zookeeper, which uses the voices of Sylvester Stallone and Adam Sandler.

Her family always supported her desire to become an actress since she realised she loved performing, aged just five.

“What is so remarkable is how supportive they’ve always been of me since I was really young and how they’re so great about giving and creating and existing with very little,” she said.

“I also think that imagination is something that’s been really important to me. Our family has always had wonderful conversations. I’ve had great conversations with my mom and with my grandmother since I was really little.

“They would call me ‘walkie talkie’ because I talked too much.

“It’s an incredible thing to have grown up with a family who really encouraged me. They’re always very loving and say, ‘As long as you’re happy, we’re happy.’ I’ve always wanted to make them proud of me.”

For whatever reasons, it seems everyone is in love with Rosario.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is out on February 12.

From the Daily Record

Based on the best selling and highly praised novel by Rick Riordan, the movie sets off when Zeus’ master lightning bolt was stolen and is convinced that Percy Jackson (played by newcomer Logan Lerman) is the thief. Percy, being the son of Poseidon, is then summoned by the gods to a perilous quest to prove his innocence. He must retrieve the master bolt from the god of the underworld, where Persephone is trapped in a loveless marriage with Hades.

Following is an interview with Dawson, who brings delicious humor along with an enticing, sexy allure to her portrayal of the Greek goddess Persephone.

How do you envision your character, Persephone?

APersephone is the goddess of springtime as well as being Queen of the Underworld. I originally thought of her in old Greek robes and flowers but in the end I really liked the modern interpretation of Persephone with chipped nail polish and lace. It is interesting to think of her in a loveless marriage with Hades (who abducted her) and what that must have felt like for her. She is violent and aggressive and it’s fascinating because she also has innocence and sweetness and childlike qualities when she’s not being completely bitter. So she is not one-dimensional.

Are you familiar with the books?

I’m on already on book three now, I am reading the whole series. There is a lot of banter between my character and my husband (Hades) since he is madly in love with me and I can’t stand him. The story is fascinating to me and it’s been really fun remembering everything I learned about the myths and the different gods & goddesses and the trouble that they got into all the time.

What did you find interesting about the Percy Jackson stories?

I find it interesting that we have nine year olds with cell phones and kids are becoming mature at a younger age and the correlation with the increasing number of kids getting diagnosed with conditions like ADD (attention deficit disorder). So here is Percy Jackson who has been told he is dyslexic because his brain is actually hardwired for Greek, so he can’t cope with the English language. I think it is a shame that today’s kids have these words and diagnoses thrown at them and are told there is something wrong with them. Instead, in this story, Percy learns that disabilities can be seen as something positive, actually an advantage.

So you see the film as inspiring?

I do. I think it’s empowering for a kid to think he or she can be clever enough to “fool a god.” That’s actually what makes it fun. It’s not just the sword fighting; it’s not just the costumes; it’s the idea that we’re investing in kids to be our leaders and perhaps even save the day. These kids are our heroes. I think it will be fun for adults too because there’s definitely enough mayhem to raise an eyebrow or two.”

How do you think your upbringing contributed to your career?

Well I’m a New Yorker. I grew up in a squat in the Lower Eastside. My parents moved into an abandoned building when I was six. I think tenacity runs in my family. My dad worked in construction and was an electrician and my mom learned how to do plumbing and electrical work, because my dad was in the building trade. I grew up with the idea that if you want something done, you do it yourself and you can do anything that you want to do.

From Malaya