Actress Rosie Perez recently revealed that she had a mortifying audition for 1999 sci-fi classic The Matrix that resulted in her being laughed out of the room.
While making a guest appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday to promote new Apple TV+ drama Before, Perez reflected on the embarrassing Matrix audition.
Around the 3:25 mark of the video below, Fallon asked if Perez ever had a "bad audition," and she shared her experience auditioning for the Wachowski siblings' flick.
"Yeah. So, it was for 'The Matrix' and it was for the supporting lead. And I was so excited. And I went in there and it was the worst audition of my life," the 60-year-old shared. "It was so bad that the casting director was laughing during my audition."
Denying that she auditioned for the major roles of Neo (Keanu Reeves) or Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), Perez added that the "problem" was that she "didn't really understand the script."
"You know, the blue pill, I was like, 'What the hell are they talking about?' Right? And people, like, hooked up with tubes in their body, and I just didn't get it," she continued.
"And so I was trying to fake my way through the audition and everything, and it was bad. And then they were like, 'Do you know martial arts?' I said, 'Yeah, I know kung fu.'"
But despite the Brooklyn native's kung fu knowledge, she was "so nervous" that she "messed up my entire routine."
"And they were dying laughing," Perez said of the producers. 'I'm just gonna leave. I'm just gonna leave.' And I started walking out the door and I turned to the casting director. "I go, 'Thank you.' And she couldn't stop laughing. She didn't even say goodbye. And I get in my car. I'm crying hysterically."
Thankfully, Perez was able to unwind from the humiliating audition during a smoke session with a friend she called "Pothead Julie."
Earlier in the interview, Perez shared that she had another embarrassing moment involving former President Barack Obama when he was a senator.
"So, he was like a rock star," she said around the 2:15 mark. "He was like Michael Jackson. And everybody was screaming to meet him. And there was this long-ass line, and I was like, 'I'm not going to stand on this long-ass line.'"
She continued, "So I cut the line and I was like, 'Senator, Senator, Senator, hi. I'm a big fan of yours.' And he goes, 'I'm a big fan of yours, too.' I said, 'You know who I am?' He goes, 'Yeah. Michelle and I, our first date, we saw 'Do the Right Thing.' I went, "Oh, my God, you saw my shit?'"
She said she was "so embarrassed" but that the interaction eventually led her to serve on Obama's Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.
"We created the first national AIDS strategy ever in the nation," Perez said proudly.
The fourth episode of Perez's new show Before drops Friday on Apple TV+.
