Rosie Perez Is Tired of Hearing "New York Is Over"
“I hate being away from home,” says Rosie Perez. It’s the trudging through airports, marching through security. “I hate the whole process,” she says. It’s ironic, then, that Perez plays a flight attendant on HBO Max’s new series The Flight Attendant, when the actress is an utter homebody.
Home, for Perez, has always been Brooklyn. “When the pandemic hit, there were so many people saying ‘New York is over, I’m fleeing New York, you gotta get out,’ ” she recalls over a Zoom call from her home in the borough’s Clinton Hill neighborhood, her loose curls perfectly framing her dimples. But Perez and her husband stayed put.
“They said that when I was a little kid, in the ’70s, during the post-Vietnam era, and during the crack epidemic, during the AIDS epidemic, 9/11—same thing. This pandemic hit, and it has hit us hard, no doubt, but I still have faith in New York. I still believe in this place, because this place is my home.”
You’re an iconic New York figure for so many people, but what represents the city for you?
That small town feel that still exists. That really personifies New York, outside of the glitz and glamour, the Rockettes, the Empire State Building, Radio City Music Hall, or the Apollo, all those iconic wonderful things. It’s really the boroughs to me. It’s the people of the boroughs, where you say hello to people that walk down your block, where you can go next door and say, “Can I have a cup of sugar?”
Growing up in Brooklyn, did you always want to live in Clinton Hill?
I always loved to take really long walks, by myself, whether it was in upstate New York or whether it was in Brooklyn. I remember, when I was around 12 years old I discovered Clinton Hill. I remember telling my really good friend way back when—Cookie Gonzalez was his name—I told him and his mom, “I’m gonna own a house here.”
You recently recorded a public service announcement to be played on the New York City subway encouraging people to wear a mask. How do you think it went?
I can’t believe I got the opportunity to do this. For a born and bred Brooklyn girl it was incredible, and I just feel sorry for those passengers that have to hear my voice every eight minutes! I was so nervous. I just didn’t want to mess it up, but I guess it worked. I told them, “What about rotating voices? Maybe that would be good. Why don’t you call John Leguizamo? He’s bilingual, let him do it.”
How do you feel about your accent?
I never knew there was a problem [with my voice] until I did movies and people told me they had a problem with my voice. I don’t have a problem with my voice. If someone has a problem with my voice, I’m sorry. That’s all I can say. It’s me. It’s who I am.
You came of age in 1980s New York City. What was it like being in the city then?
It served me well, not only in my career but also in my personal and social life. I had a ball, and I was never tired! I was the Energizer Bunny out there. I remember the other kids would start taking naps in the clubs around one o’clock in the morning, but I didn’t get tired until around three or four.
Where do you think that stamina came from?
It was the excitement. I loved the nightlife in New York in the ’80s. It was a fantastic, magical time. When Giuliani took away the cabaret licenses, it changed New York forever and invited the stupid bottle service club scene. But back then it never got boring: Let’s all meet at the Palladium. Great. And then we’re going to go to the Loft. And then we’re going to go to Wild Pitch. That would be one night.
What memory stands out from that time for you now?
One time I ran a nightclub. [DJ] Bobbito Garcia had said to me, “We’re always up in the club. You’re always dancing. You’re always inviting people to make the club hot. Why don’t we just do it ourselves?” I had an idea: that if you kiss at the door, you could get in for free before 10. The club was off the hook. The word got out, and the line was down the block. This girl, I forgot her name, she comes over to me and she is so pissed off. “We have to cut this kissing thing off.” I go, “Why?” She goes, “It’s quarter to 10, and the club is packed, and we have not made a freaking dime.”
Thirty years after Do the Right Thing, you worked with Spike Lee again, on an episode of She’s Gotta Have It. How had he changed, and how had you?
When we got on set, we were two different people. We were two grownups. We’re still close to this day. If he needs me, I come running. I always joke with Tonya [Lewis Lee]: “Spike can’t stand that me and you are better friends than me and him now.” I love him. He changed my life. That man changed my life, and for it all to happen in Brooklyn… Can you get any sweeter?
Photographs by Dana Scruggs
Styled by Alexander-Julian Gibbson
Hair by Johnny Lavoy for Save Me from Hair Repair + Scalp Care. Makeup by Karen Dupiche, Emmy-winning makeup artist. Tailoring by Clara Rubio at Lars Nord. Set design by Hans Maharawal at the Wall Group. Production by Sasha Corban Production Services. Shot on location at the Empire State Building Observatory.
This story appears in the December 2020 / January 2021 issue of Town & Country.
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