Rosie Perez first burst into the public consciousness as one of the stars of Spike Lee's seminal 1989 film Do the Right Thing. Perez earned raves playing Lee's disgruntled Puerto Rican girlfriend Tina, a part that could have easily led her down a path of fiery Latina roles. Instead, Perez has built a career that defies categorization--from wildly comedic turns in films like White Men Can't Jump and It Can Happen to You to acclaimed dramatic performances in projects like King of the Jungle, A Brother's Kiss and Peter Weir's Fearless, in which her work as a plane crash survivor earned her an Academy Award nomination. Recently, she's turned her attention to the stage, with References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot at the Public (which earned her a Theatre World Award) and now as Edie Falco's replacement in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. Perez recently chatted with Broadway.com about this exciting new phase in an already-stellar career.

I saw you in the show the other night--you were incredible. How do you feel?
Man, I am over the moon over this whole thing. I mean, I know this will sound weird but Spike Lee discovered me and I started movies… I like doing movies but I haven't done a lot cause I have to be passionate about what I'm doing. I'm very picky. I know I'm gonna sound like a ham, but when I stepped on the stage of the Hammerstein Ballroom for The Vagina Monologues, I got it. I suddenly got why actors were so annoying--how they live and breathe to act. I fell in love with theater immediately, and I purposely put the film stuff on the side.

So you started looking for stage work?
I took my baby steps. I respect Broadway so much. They offered me Chicago, Rocky Horror and Grease! and I was like, "No, I'm not ready. You're just offering it to me cause I have a name. That's not right." They were shocked. I said, "I just did Shakespeare, and I was so bad. There were no-name actors that blew me off the stage!"

I had no idea you did Shakespeare! Where?
In Los Angeles. I didn't know what I was doing. I was like, "I gotta get this right." And George Wolfe called me--he asked me to do Angels in America years before--and he said, "I hear you're dong theater now. Can we do something together?" But I told him that I still needed more practice cause I didn't want to mess up my chances with George Wolfe! Please! So I purposely paced myself--getting the offer to do Frankie and Johnny directly from Joe Mantello was the biggest reward.

So starring on Broadway is all you thought it would be?
I'm really at a loss for words about it. It's so difficult, too. My friends are like, "Let's go out" and I'm like, "I'm going to bed!" This takes everything out of me. It's so funny 'cause I see other Broadway actors now when I have a matinee day, 'cause everyone goes to the same spots. Suddenly, I get how theater actors dress! I used to see them, and I thought it was just a style. You know, in the summer time, they have the scarf around the neck and in the winter it's layers and layers and hats…I always thought it was just a style, but it's a necessity! I'm right with them now. It's thrilling. My heart is filled with so much appreciation, humility, joy… It's a humbling experience, you know? It's such a privilege.

When I was younger, we had a class trip to Broadway for underprivileged kids. We went to see The Wiz. I never wanted to act before, but seeing Stephanie Mills--someone of color and a story that I could relate to… I was a very angry, introverted young person and that experience opened me up. I started to be who I really was, you know? My sense of humor started coming out. And I'll never forget that play. My goodness, my first day rehearsing in the theater [for Frankie and Johnny], I couldn't get out of the car.

Why not? What happened?
I saw my name and my picture up on the theater and I couldn't get out. My driver Volario--he's Dominican and the best guy. He was like, "Get out, Miss Rosie… Go, go..." He had to pull me out of the car. I walked into the theater and I walked onstage and Joe Mantello said, "Are you okay?" "Uh huh, excuse me!" And the tears came down and I ran to the bathroom and just hurled. And the stage manager came in and got me. [When I walked back out], Joe said to me, "Oh, you're gonna be wonderful now. You did the same thing at Vagina Monologues. You started crying, you threw up and then you killed."

Your take on Frankie is quite different from Edie Falco's performance. The whole show seems a little lighter, with more laughs up front.
When I sat down and read the play, I called up Joe Mantello and said, "This lady is funny. I didn't see that when I saw it." And he said, "Yeah, really? I thought Edie was funny." And I said, "No, this woman is hysterical, even when she doesn't know she's being funny." The situations are funny cause it's so sad. And Joe Mantello said, "I really want you to sit down and find how sad she is. Carry the sadness but never play it." That was the biggest challenge for me. I really see Frankie as vulnerable, and she uses humor to deflect her sadness. She reminds me a lot of girls that I grew up with. I had a lot of friends whose dreams did not come to pass. Who were extraordinarily talented and gifted and intelligent but fear of trying trapped them. Somebody along the way beat it out of them, emotionally or physically. I told Joe and he said, "Exactly. Use it, use it." And he said that he knew someone like Frankie, too--an extraordinarily talented actress who was just so fearful of rejection. It really brought me back to my girlfriends from high school. Seeing them trapped like that just breaks my heart.

How else did Mantello help shape your performance?
I got flabby. My ass is so flabby--it's disgusting. It has its own movements. My ass is having a conversation with itself when I walk. I stand still and I'm like, "It's still moving!" It's gross. But it works for the show. Even my posture is different--I usually stand erect and fit. Now everything is, "Cover up, cover up…" I'm always fidgeting with my robe. I hate Joe Mantello for making me a flabby mess, but I thank him for everything else!

Well, you look great from the audience no matter what you say. I know that everyone asks you about the nudity, and I won't be any different. The thing is, you've been naked in movies before…
I never liked doing it in movies.

I was just watching Do the Right Thing and you were definitely naked.
Didn't my breasts look wonderful? They were so plump and firm! God, those were the days.

So it wasn't a body double…
No! I will take credit for that in a heartbeat. At the time I was like, "Oh no! Everyone's gonna see my breasts." Ten years later, I'm like, "Oh! I looked good! Look at my tits! I'm a C-plus cup!"

You're playing a woman who is actually older than you! Most actresses like to do the opposite, you know…
It's funny. When we sign autographs at the stage door, some of the people say, "You look younger than 41!" And I say, "I'm not 41! I'm not even 38, which is what the papers report." And of course they say, "Oh, yeah? So how old are you?" I just say, "It's not important."

Any other theater credits lurking in your childhood that I don't know about?
I did an elementary school play. I was Lucy in A Charlie Brown Christmas. I couldn't stand it. I wanted to be Linus! Of course they said, "Linus is a boy!" I wonder what that says about me--that I wanted to play a boy. I mean, Linus gets to stand on stage, suck his thumb and make wise comments. That's the role! But that was my only play. Oh, I was also in a tap dance group. I remember my first show--my pigtail came out during my dance to "Candy Man." I was crying onstage--but I kept dancing!

Speaking of dancing, I've read that Spike Lee discovered you while you were dancing at a club called Funky Reggae…
I was yelling at him from a speaker and they told me to get down. I thought they were gonna throw me out, but they brought me over to meet him. I didn't know who he was.

Why were you yelling at him?
Well, I was yelling at the stage. He was having a butt contest to find the black girl with the biggest ass. I was yelling at the girls, "Don't do this! Maintain your dignity. This is sexist!" When they brought me over to him I started yelling at him. I said, "This is a free country. I am justified." He just kept laughing at me and it enraged me. He turned to his producer and said, "This is fate." And he handed me his number and I threw it down. My girlfriend picked it up and said, "Remember that movie we saw at school, She's Gotta Have It?" I was like, "Yeah. I like that film." And she said, "Well, he made it!" I was like, "That's him?!?"

So when did you finally hook up with him?
I didn't want to call him, so my girlfriend called but Spike said to her, "I want to talk to the girl with the accent." He asked me if I ever thought about being an actress and I said, "No." So he just said, "Alright." A month later, he called again to tell me he was going to Brooklyn. I said, "I'm going to Brooklyn, too, to visit my sister in Bed-Stuy." He was like, "Oh God, this is fate!" But he wouldn't tell me anymore. Then he took me out to lunch and met my family--they couldn't stand him. He handed me the script and told me that he wanted me to audition for the movie. I said, "I'm not an actress" and he said, "I think you are. This is what you should be doing."

Wow. I've seen footage of the making of Do the Right Thing and you're very outspoken…
I can't watch that stuff. I didn't know what I was saying. I was just expressing my opinions. I was this militant, nerdy college student. You know how you go to college and all the political issues come into view and you start reading Proust… College is great cause it opens your mind, but it also opens your mouth and you become extremely opinionated about everything. And you know everything. Oh, God. I was so stupid.

I also love the opening dance sequence that you perform in Do the Right Thing. You really got your start as a dancer and choreographer. Do you miss it?
Yeah, I do. I really think I did the world a disservice by developing the Fly Girls [on the TV-show In Living Color]. Those girls didn't know what hip-hop was and they didn't know how to do it. There was one girl, Josie, who had braids that came in the third season--she knew how to dance hip-hop. The rest were these corny girls. Or beautifully trained dancers in modern jazz or ballet. I kept telling [creator] Keenan [Ivory Wayans] that it was like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. So what I wound up doing was creating something that was a little hip-hop and a lot of Las Vegas showgirl. And it worked. But what happened is that the world perceived what we were doing as real hip-hop. Hard core hip-hop dancers were angry at me! Hence now you have Britney Spears. She's like Ann-Margret doing hip-hop. And it's not her. Even J.Lo, all those girls… It's like Viva Las Vegas meets hip-hop. For me, it's like, if you're gonna be Ann-Margret, do it. If you're gonna do hip-hop, do it. So I just got out of it. If the right opportunity comes along, I would do it.

Do you still dance at all?
No. Well, I dance in my house every single day. My niece says I'm weird. And I sing in the house every day, too!

With your brief singing in the show, you're officially singing on Broadway, too! You should do a musical.
Oh, that'd be great. The Puerto Rican Ethel Merman! Actually, [Frankie standby/assistant director] Lisa Leguillou helped me a lot with the singing. I didn't know I had that voice. I always wanted that voice! It was just simple breathing techniques. She helped me a lot. Lisa Leguillou kicks ass. In Hollywood, they're like, who? Then some celebrity comes and takes a job from these brilliant stage actors. It's just not right. But we live in a pop culture-driven world so I get it.

You've had quite a diverse career in Hollywood, and seem to always look for roles that break the mold of Latino stereotypes. What's your take on Latinos in Hollywood today?
It's been wonderful. And in saying that, I also think we're putting ourselves in a hole. The Latino community is so fearful of being stereotyped. A lot of actors are starting to become white-washed and it's kind of gross. I guess it's happened with every nationality, every culture. That's why I loved My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It was like, good for you! It proved a point--we're all the same. We're all Puerto Rican, we're all Greek, we're all Italian, we're all Jewish… What is not the norm is the WASP and that's the truth! So it scares me a bit to see the Latino community fearful of playing characters that are bad or ugly. That's what people are about. I don't care whether or not you like the character I play--I only care that it moves you.