New York born and bred beauty Rosario Dawson landed her first film role in Larry Clark’s controversial “Kids” (1995) after being discovered by the director while hanging out near her East Village tenement home. The unseasoned performer played Ruby in the film, a free-speaking sexually promiscuous teen who gets tested for HIV after engaging in extensive risky behavior. “Kids” was both praised and derided for its depiction of American urban youth, and the controversy resulted in the young actress winning a much larger audience for her acting bow than was expected. Her turn was appropriately chilling, although it was the dark-haired, wide-eyed fifteen-year-old’s uncommonly striking and unsettlingly attractive appearance that would separate her from the rest of the cast.
Dawson made the most of her opportunity in “Kids” and pursued an acting career. Her next major role was that of Lala in Spike Lee’s “He Got Game” (1998). Here she played a bewitching but opportunistic girlfriend to uncommonly talented basketball player Jesus (Ray Allen), eager to get her share of his potential fame and wealth. Dawson could also be seen that year in the episodic comedy “Side Streets”, playing a Puerto Rican Bronx native with relationship problems in this New York City-set feature looking at people in each of the city’s five boroughs. In 1999, Dawson teamed up with Prince for his timely re-release of his 1980s hit “1999″. This remixed version featured the actress in an introductory voiceover, offering commentary on the state of the world in the titular year. Later in 1999, she was featured in the New York City high school hostage drama “Light It Up”, playing a brainy, cool-headed student encouraging moderation in the explosive situation. 2000 saw her with a supporting role as flaky party girl Lana in the disappointing romantic comedy “Down to You”.
