Perez began her stage career as a dancer on Soul Train in the late 1980s. She also choreographed music videos for top artists such as LL Cool J, Bobby Brown, Diana Ross, and more. She choreographed The Fly Girls dance crew on the comedy television series, In Living Color and helped launch the careers of singer Jennifer Lopez and choreographer Carrie Ann Inaba through the show.

Director Spike Lee discovered her talents in 1989, and quickly cast her in Do The Right Thing, also the debut of Martin Lawrence in film.

Rosie Perez is an activist who is fighting for Puerto Rican rights from America. Her directorial debut was the documentary [[Yo Soy Boricua! Pa' Que Tu Lo Sepas!]] in an effort to publicize the rights, culture, and traditions of growing up as a Puerto Rican in Brooklyn and the hardships and triumphs of her childhood.

• "As an actor, you may do things that aren't politically correct. Unless you're an actor who only does things for political reasons. I believe if we don't do the good, bad, and the ugly, we're not going to progress."

• "As far as a Latin explosion, I'm sorry, I'm the only Latino who's going to say it, but there is no Latin explosion. I'm sorry. Four or five top box office people do not make it an explosion, and it's disgusting to me that people will perceive it that way."

• "The biggest struggle I had was having people recognize I was an intelligent human being. They thought that since I had an accent, I must be stupid."