Rosie Perez has certainly had a long lasting and varied career. She is perhaps best known for her acting work, but is also a professional choreographer, activist, author, and talk show host. Clearly a woman of many talents, Perez has been a fixture in the entertainment industry since the '80s. If you can't think of exactly where you've seen her, you'll probably recognize her from the film White Men Can't Jump, or as a regular host on The View.
Perez published an autobiography titled "Handbook for an Unpredictable Life: How I Survived Sister Renata and My Crazy Mother, and Still Came Out Smiling" in which she shares details of the abuse she went through during childhood. She was abused by her mentally ill mother, as well as nuns from a group home she lived in.