Rosie Perez: in a new documentary, the actress explores the meaning of all things Puerto Rican and finds plenty to be proud—and angry—about

In the '90s Rosie Perez became moviedom's go-to Latina spitfire. But Perez has always been too independent and brainy to tone down her Puerto Rican roots just to put others at ease. So her first feature as a director--Yo Soy Boricua, Pa' Que Tu Lo Sepas! ("I'm Boricua, Just So You Know!"), which is narrated by Jimmy Smits and airs on IFC June 12--is a documentary that hums with pride and defiance. Using personal recollections and clips of Puerto Rican history, Perez delves into material she's deeply passionate about--in 2000 she was arrested outside the U.N., protesting the United States' use of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques as an artillery range.

JIMMY SMITS: The movie mentions the sterilization program that was carried on in Puerto Rico until 1976.

ROSIE PEREZ: I heard about the sterilizations in college from a group of Puerto Rican-American kids--Jimmy, you know the type I mean--who hadn't been exposed to real Puerto Rican culture or Puerto Rican history. When they get to college, all of a sudden their accents get stronger, they drop in a few Spanish words here and there. I'm not criticizing, because they're on this thirsty quest to make a real connection.

JS: As much as we get into our music and go back to the island and go to the parade, sometimes it's a class in college that informs us about our cultural identity. The way I heard about the program is pretty similar: I found out during college courses. I'm just glad that you put things like that in the film.

RP: Well, first I went to a major studio and said, "Why don't we dramatize this story about the sterilization of Puerto Rican women?" And they came back to me with all these horrible things like, "Did it really happen?" and "You'd be accusing major American corporations of participating in this!" and "What would be your demographic?"

JS: I bet they didn't say that to the people who were making The Insider [1999].

RP: You know? I couldn't believe it, but I was younger then. This was the early '90s, and I used to have this horrible temper, believe it or not.

JS: [laughs] No!

RP: So then this guy I used to go out with--he's not Puerto Rican--used to make fun of my family. He goes, "Your family is always around. Good God." [Smits laughs] I bring them everywhere. 'Cause they're my best friends.

JS: That's great. Go ahead. Your boyfriend.

RP: Ex, ex, ex. Be clear. [laughs] Whenever he would call me during the Puerto Rican Day Parade he'd say, "1 can hear your people all the way in Brooklyn. Let me put the phone out the window. Hear 'em? Hear 'em?" And he would ask, "Why are your people so loud?" It was a running joke. One time I go, "'Cause we're proud." And it was a lightbulb. I called my agent and said, "All the studio heads say, 'Why does Rosie have such a chip on her shoulder? Why is she so Puerto Rican?' I'm gonna do a documentary. I'm gonna explain it all." But every time my partner, Rory Kennedy, put me on camera, I would cry hysterically. I didn't know how angry I was about how my aunt's intelligence was never recognized in this country; she was so smart, and she was so fun, but still she had to work three factory jobs.

JS: Is this the aunt Minguita that you dedicated the movie to?

RP: Yeah.

JS: That personalizing is the key, I think. The audience gets hooked with a familiar face--you--and there's humor and the parade, and then you start interweaving it with this historical stuff about sterilization and Vieques and the immigration process of the Puerto Rican community coming into the U.S. I give you serious props. You did a great job.

RP: Thanks, Jimmy. As part of my research I started seeing a lot of documentaries. Sometimes they're too boring or too preachy. You gotta ease back, you know? And that was the real challenge in questioning the other people in the film. When Rory began asking me questions, I hated the whole process, and I fought and fought and fought. Finally my sister Carmen was like, [mimics sister] "You're too cautious about everything. Just relax."

JS: How was your family in terms of your first getting involved in the arts?

RP: They were always excited for me. My aunt was supportive, but if I didn't get work, she'd say, "Why don't you ask for your old job back at the office?" I'm like, "Tia, I'm not going back to being an office manager at a law firm. It's not going to happen." She'd say, "But it was steady work."

JS: It all goes back to the thing of coming to the United States and bettering yourself--the whole American dream. Most of your relatives came over during Operation Bootstrap in the '50s, right?

RP: Yeah, they did.

JS: That's another thing in the film that's really powerful, and I think it relates to what's going on now with all these protests about immigration. When it needs something, the United States wants to open its arms to immigrants, and during that time they needed workers, basically. It's different for us because we have the commonwealth status, which provides citizenship, but that dynamic is very clear in the film--with the images of all those people in beach chairs in cargo planes.