Everyone wants to be discovered. It's that improbable stroke of fate-changing luck. All you need is looks, an innate charisma, and chance. When Rosario Dawson was discovered by Larry Clark at age 15 on a Lower East Side stoop, and cast in his controversial classic Kids, it could have been a one-off performance, a flicker of fame. But a year later, Dawson followed up with a role in Spike Lee's He Got Game--and we hate to use the cliche--but a star was born. She gave up aspirations of marine biology and engineering to pursue a full-time acting career. More than a decade later, Dawson is one of Hollywood's most sought-after actresses, with a to-die-for filmography that tipples between big time studio pics and admired indie fair. Most recently, the actress has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it role in the harrowing social drama Explicit Ills. Dawson plays a destitute single mother, struggling to find the means to care for her asthmatic son. Her role is minimal, but it breaks your heart. Here, the actress discusses why this movie matters, her acting tactics, and a drops little advice for L.A.'s newest resident, Conan O'Brien.

When celebrities rally to support important causes like curing world hunger, funding AIDS research, or in Rosario Dawson's case, fighting for the Latino vote, it’s logical to assume that questions in the realm of, “So, what’s your favorite Christmas present ever?” are probably off-limits. But then again, no one said it was logical to assume that logic is popular these days. At Kenneth Cole’s launch party for his new book, Awearness -- a compilation of 86 stories and essays by prominent media figures like Bill Clinton and Jon Bon Jovi -- a crowd almost uniformly clad in head-to-toe black (Kelly Cutrone would’ve been proud) lounged as journalists pressed belle of the ball and book contributor Rosario Dawson about what she likes to unwrap under the Christmas tree.