Rosie Perez, Academy Award-, Golden Globe- and Emmy-nominated actress and choreographer, served as grand marshal at Sunday’s AAA 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway.
Petite, perky and proud of her Puerto Rican roots, Perez was raised in Brooklyn, made her film debut in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” starred in Ron Shelton’s “White Men Can’t Jump,” and earned her Academy Award nomination in Peter Weir’s “Fearless.” Originally a dancer, Perez, 51, earned three Emmy nominations for her work as a choreographer on the television series “In Living Color” and recently co-hosted “The View,” alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O’Donnell and Nicolle Wallace.
She received critical acclaim for her directorial debut, “Yo Soy Boricua Pa’que Tu Lo Sepas,” a documentary which celebrates Puerto Rican pride, and in the past year has appeared on Broadway with Larry David in “Fish in the Dark,” and in the film drama “Five Nights in Maine.”
Hours before giving the command for drivers to “start their engines,” Perez spoke with the NASCAR Wire Service on a wide range of topics.
Question: How would you assess your knowledge of NASCAR racing? Are you a NASCAR fan?
Answer: The knowledge is miniscule but the fandom is huge. I started getting into NASCAR about 17 years ago. My friend Eric Johnson, the photographer — every time I went over to his studio he was watching it. I said, ‘I don’t get it,’ and he started breaking it down for me. I was like, ‘Wow,’ this is a fascinating sport.’ My husband (Eric Haze) is a NASCAR freak. We spend most of our time watching either boxing or NASCAR or Moto GP.
Q: So NASCAR Sundays are a big deal in your house.
A: My husband’s birthday is tomorrow, so (coming to Dover) was my birthday surprise for him. There’s not a word for his fandom. The good thing is he married a sports fanatic as well. When NASCAR is on, not a lot of conversation is allowed – and I totally get that. But he breaks down each and every driver for me: ‘Oh, did you see how he held that apex’ or ‘did you see how he held that curve.’ He’s fanatic.
Q: Do you have a favorite driver in the family?
A: I usually root for Dale Jr. or Jeff Gordon. He only roots for Dale Jr. He met Dale (Earnhardt) Sr. in the Poconos, years back, and he has a lovely photo of him in the stands with Dale Sr.’s car in the back.
Q: I understand you just got to experience a pace car ride around the Monster Mile in Dover. What was that like?
A: I was hoping that I wasn’t going to hurl. It was so fast. I didn’t understand how fast ‘fast’ can be until I got into that car. It felt like a roller-coaster ride, really. You don’t get it until you’re on that track. I have no words. It was funny because it brought me to hysterics. I was laughing and screaming at the same time.
Q: Do you have an appreciation for stunt car drivers and have you ever performed your own stunts?
A: I did a movie for Spain which had driving stunts in it and I actually had to perform one of my own, driving on the side of a cliff. It wasn’t safe. It wasn’t a U.S. union job to say the least. We were driving in Mexico and that was pretty insane. When I got out of the car, after the first take, I said, ‘I’m not a professional. I’m out. Slap a wig on that guy in the corner over there. I’m not doing it anymore.’ … But they used my take. I don’t know (how good it was), but it worked.
Q: Do you ever get nervous on-stage, in front of a camera, or in front of 50,000 people giving a command to “start your engines?”
A: I’m nervous all the time in regard to being in performance mode, on stage, in front of a camera, even when I was at “The View.” That nervousness usually goes away pretty quickly, but you need that because it means you’re in the moment and alive. … There are no retakes today. There’s only one shot. I’ve been thinking about it all night, actually.
Q: You are heavily involved in art-integrated education through the Urban Arts Partnership. Why is that so important to you?
A: I helped co-found the charity about 20-plus years ago. It’s an arts-integrated curricula that we service out to over 100 public schools in New York and over 25 in Los Angeles. In New York City alone we service about 12,000 kids a year. We integrate the arts into the academic curriculum. On the East Coast, you can’t graduate high school without passing the Regents Exam – a high-level, basic competency test. (Many) kids fail it three to five times and (that makes them) feel subpar. We come in and teach a three-week program in which we break the exam into hip-hop songs, R&B songs, country music songs, interactive games — and, after three weeks, they pass. The arts make a difference because there are different ways to learn, different ways to comprehend the academics. We don’t have to do it the antiquated way.
Q: Do you see yourself as a voice for the Latin community?
A: I don’t see myself as that, but I find myself as (that) and I don’t take it lightly. I definitely see myself as a spokesman for human rights, whatever the cultural background may be, it doesn’t matter. We’re all human beings. When it comes to kids and education, I feel that education is our last civil rights issue. If we can give the same, high-level education to all kids, America will be even that much greater.
Q: Were you aware of NASCAR’s recent series in recognition of National Hispanic Heritage Month or do you have a sense of the history of Hispanic drivers in NASCAR?
A: I have to admit, I don’t. I’m a novice at this. My husband could probably roll the names off his (tongue) in a hot second. But that’s fantastic. NASCAR has changed, evolved and grown and it’s truly an international sport.
Q: Tell us about your recent projects. You’ve been on Broadway and in the recently-released film “Five Nights in Maine.” What were the coolest aspects of these projects?
A: We just closed on Broadway last month. It was an extensive run with Larry David. … Every night, that man is hilarious. What you see is what you get with Larry (and) it was two Brooklynites on the stage. … “Five Nights in Maine” has really good acting with Dianne Wiest and David Oyelowo giving top, top, top performances. It’s a very serious drama – a really moving piece.
Q: What did co-hosting “The View” with Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O’Donnell do for your career, in terms of exposing you to a wider audience?
A: I think it expanded my audience, mainly with younger people. The younger audience, millennials specifically, started to find out about my choreography career, and my touring career, and my contributions to hip-hop music. … It’s very strange when you have a 15-year-old boy with saggy pants coming up to you and saying: ‘I love you. I love all you did for hip-hop.’ It’s mind blowing.
Q: Would you ever go back to ‘The View?’ Will we ever see ‘The Rosie Show,’ with you solo-hosting a talk show?
A: No. It’s a grind. It’s a different muscle that needs to be exercised in a proper way. Because I was on Broadway at the same time I was doing “The View,” that was a little too much. So, I had to choose. “The View” was an experience. It wasn’t something for me to do forever. It was time to move on. When I decided to quit it wasn’t an easy decision. But Whoopi texted me the other day and I’m still cool with everybody.
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