Part girl next door, part Hollywood glamour, Rosario Dawson is no stranger to going after the unexpected roles, from the gun-wielding vixen of an alternate reality in Sin City to a visor-wearing franchise restaurant manager in Clerks II. She not only reads comic books, she also writes them—then sells the concept to the SciFi Network and signs on as executive producer. And she’s lent her voice to tracks by OutKast and Prince, even dabbled in musicals with the film version of Rent. She has more film work on its way to the big screen this year, including the political thriller Eagle Eye and Seven Pounds, where she plays an expectant mother with HIV/AIDS. But Rosario isn’t just tackling tough issues on screen. She also performed in V ToThe Tenth in New Orleans in April to celebrate a decade of combating violence against women and to honor the women of New Orleans. But the role that’s got her most hyped in ’08 is being co-founder of Voto Latino, which uses text messaging and MySpace to capture the attention of young Latinos and increase their voter registration. Here, Flyer catches up with Dawson’s personal campaign to help the Latino community find its political voice.

Q&A

You’re Puerto Rican, Afro-Cuban, Irish and Native American—and a woman. How does your personal heritage affect your choices?
I very much identify with being American, so I think I ultimately look at things in that way: who’s going to represent America and the quality of life I feel is unique in this country. My background influences some of the things that I care about, obviously, so I’m very concerned about housing for people and poverty, women’s rights, abuse against children. I’m very concerned about HIV/AIDS health. There are all these different things that influence my life and the people that I care about.

The American Latino population is very diverse. You have Latinos from Jessica Alba to Jennifer Lopez to Bill Richardson ...
Things are changing right now, and we need to reassess over and over and over again, and we have to ask, “Why didn’t I think of hiring that person for that role?” Well, mostly because we haven’t seen anyone like that person in that role for a very long time. When an audience is changing, naturally the performer in front of them has to, and that’s what we’re seeing now.

You’re an avid comic book fan. Besides starring in Sin City (its sequel is due out in 2010), you co-created the comic book miniseries Occult Crimes Taskforce in 2007. How did you get started in that?
When I first brought it to my agent, they said, “I don’t get this. What is this? You’re an actress.” We’ve seen a lot of directors and writers segue into the comic book world, but not so many actors, or if they do, it’s usually to be writers or directors on it, or artists. This is an exciting opportunity, and I’m glad we get to say we kind of were the first. And it’s my first opportunity as a writer, which was a joy. I produced, I’ve acted, but this is my first foray into writing. It was an incredible exercise in myself. I might not be actually trained in story, but I do know story from experience.

You have a tendency toward grittier parts, from your start in 1995’s Kids to Grindhouse and Sin City a decade later. What draws you to characters that aren’t exactly spending hours in hair and makeup?
It’s limiting, I think, representing the idea that women are really concerned with their appearance. It’s a dated idea. I feel like I’ve always tried to play all [the roles]. It’s an interesting thing to get into being the wife of Alexander the Great in Alexander, to get into being a girl who is a single mother and kind of bitter about it—and a little off-key—in Grindhouse: Death Proof.

Is there any common ground in your choices for roles?
I think, ultimately, I play women who are not just sitting there and taking it as it comes. They’re not necessarily women you are seeing at their worst, but maybe at their reaction point, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t have that down point as well. And that’s what I think is fascinating, trying to represent all of that in an hour and a half. There’s so many different types of women out there. I’m so many different types of women from day to day, hour to hour, year to year, so I’m really just trying to key into that.

You’ve become a voice for Hispanics. How did you get involved with Voto Latino?
Phil Colón came up with the idea. I’ve been friends with him since I was 16 years old, and he asked me to come on board. It was just something that really made sense.

What are your personal goals for the future of Voto Latino?
I’ve worked with a number of organizations over the years, but this one is really my baby. I’m a complex person; I struggle with different ideas about what my history is and where I want to go with it. [My ancestors] struggled or fought or left wherever they were before to come here to have a future for themselves, and that’s what my history is. I’m really happy to have been born here and to know that these are what my rights are. There are things that are still tremendous issues around the world that I already have because people before me already fought for them. I just want to appreciate that and continue in those footsteps.

Voto Latino posted numbers in 2006 as high as 38,000 newly registered in one month. Are the numbers ramping up as the ’08 election approaches?
Latinos are the fastest group to be registering. Their numbers are jumping up; they’re registering six times faster than other [demographic groups]. There are 50,000 Latinos turning 18 every month, and that number is going to continue to rise. But it still is only a marginal percentage of the people who live here [that are registered]. You go to other countries and 86 percent of the population, 93 percent of the population is voting, and we’re down in the 40s. That’s why I’m involved with the Latino vote.

What power does the Latino community have that it may not be exercising yet?
They need to be participating and representing their voice, and not just being tapped in the market to sell things and buy things—the whole Latin Wave idea. Their buying potential is very well understood in the business market, but I think it’s severely undertapped in the political market.

What’s the significance of having the first woman and first black candidates?
They’re not even president yet—they’re senators—but they’re people in our history already. No matter what happens in the election, already history has changed.

And what about the unharnessed power of the rest of the population?
I’ll have kids coming in to visit the set of the films ... and automatically I’ll ask, “How do you feel about your state [primary] going this way?” and they’re like, “What?” So even as much as we have these hot-trigger things engaging and this is such an exciting election ... there are still a lot of people who are not at all paying attention to it. You’ve got a lot more people voting for American Idol than we’ve got voting for our next president. It’s more in the place of what they’re thinking about, and we’re trying to figure out how to make the bridge between the two. You can participate in both. [Being engaged with the right to vote] doesn’t have to be this drag, or “my parents do it.” Watching the news these days is just as entertaining as watching TMZ or whatever people are paying
attention to.

What’s up next for Voto Latino?
We can’t just keep talking about the Latino vote. We need to bring them into the conversation and let them talk for themselves. We’re going to have embedded reporters at the RNC and the DNC—they don’t have to be actual reporters; people are sending in videos of themselves and saying what they want to do.

What’s the one thing you’re most passionate about telling the not-yet-registered voting public these days?
It’s your country; represent. Don’t let your silence ring louder than your vote.