Rosa María "Rosie" Pérez (born September 6, 1964, in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York) is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, director and community activist. Pérez was born in the Brooklyn, New York, neighborhood of Bushwick to Afro-Puerto Rican parents. Her mother, Lydia Pérez (née Fontañez), a singer, was married to Ventura Pérez at the time of Rosie's birth. However, Rosie's biological father is Ismael Serrano, a merchant seaman with whom her mother had an affair. Much of her young life was spent in foster care. She attended Grover Cleveland High School, which is located in Ridgewood, in the New York City borough of Queens, and Los Angeles City College in Los Angeles, California. Pérez was first noticed in a dance club by Spike Lee in 1988, who hired her for her first major acting role in Do the Right Thing. Pérez started her career in the late 1980s as a dancer on Soul Train and later choreographed music videos by Janet Jackson, Bobby Brown, Diana Ross, LL Cool J and The Boys. She was the choreographer for the dancing group the Fly Girls who were featured on the Fox television comedy program In Living Color.