- - Rosie Perez Says Jennifer Grey ‘Changed My Entire Life’ with One Kind Gesture 35 Years Ago

Meredith Wilshere, Raven BrunnerFebruary 8, 2026 at 12:30 AM

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Rosie Perez

Mike Coppola/Getty for TCM

Rosie Perez's whole career changed when she met Jennifer Grey

After firing her agent, Perez was left to find roles for herself

While filming Criminal Justice together, Grey helped Perez find representation, and the rest is history

Rosie Perez credits one actress for changing the course of her career: Jennifer Grey.

During a conversation with Eddie Muller on Jan. 31, Perez explained that before she met the Dirty Dancing actress, 65, she was having problems with her agent, who allegedly told her she needed to change her accent, nose, hair color and more.

“I remember the first agent that told me that, I just looked at and I went, ‘You’re fired.' And I just got up and I left," the 61-year-old recalled at the TCM Classic Film Festival New York Pop-up x 92NY event.

Perez decided she would just go back to school, thinking, "I don't need this."

Rosie Perez and Eddie Muller

Mike Coppola/Getty for TCM

The Brooklyn native was studying biochemistry at Los Angeles City College, wanting to be a marine biologist, when she was cast in 1989's Do the Right Thing.

Despite not having an agent, Perez kept auditioning for roles on her own. After seeing an ad in Backstage Magazine, she auditioned for a role in the 1990 TV movie Criminal Justice.

She ended up landing the role alongside Grey, Forest Whitaker, Anthony LaPaglia and Tony Todd.

"There was this wonderful actress, Jennifer Grey," Perez said, calling the Ferris Bueller's Day Off star "a sweetheart."

“And she said, ‘Who's your agent?’ I said, ‘I don't have one.’ She said, ‘Who's your manager?’ ‘I don't have one.’ ‘Who's your publicist?’ I said, ‘Lady, I have nothing!'" Perez recalled.

"She said, ‘You're kidding.’ Then I told her the story," she continued. "We were in her hotel room and she says, ‘Hang on.’ She picks up the phone and calls CAA. She goes, ‘You need to sign this girl right now.' It changed my entire life.' "

Jennifer Grey

Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Perez reflected on the same moment at Variety's Power of Women event in New York in April 2023, explaining how she struggled to find work for two years after the success of Do the Right Thing.

She said that when she and Grey met on the set of Criminal Justice, they "clicked" and "mutual respect was expressed instantly."

"She asked why I hadn't done anything since Spike [Lee's] groundbreaking film, and I told her, 'Well, you know what, honey, whether you know it or not, it's difficult for women who look and sound like me,'" Perez recalled.

With one call from Grey, Perez was "instantly represented" and "seen on a whole different level."

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”