Rosario Dawson Reveals ‘Ahsoka’ Prep Time Took Over 90 Minutes Each Day!

Actress Rosario Dawson is opening up on how much time she sits on the make-up chair for her role as Ahsoka Tano… and it’s a lot!

When she first appeared in live-action, it took to actress over three hours to finish looking like the Jedi Padawan. However, after appearing in “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett,” the process has now become more streamlined.

In fact, it took only ninety minutes each day to prepare the actress for her role in the new live-action Disney+ series “Ahsoka.”

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike, Rosario Dawson admitted that it used to take a lot of time to prepare her costume, her striped head tails (known as lekku), and orange skin. Dawson said that the makeup department was “very proud” of their ability to reduce her time from three hours in the chair to only around ninety minutes.

"We timed ourselves every single day. Depending on how much skin was showing, sometimes it would go up to two hours,” she continued. “And that's tough: We were going in at 4 in the morning every day so that we could be ready when the crew is there at 6. We'd have a full day, and then it would still take at least half an hour to take it all off."

There were also complications regarding different shades of face paint, as some looked better in natural sunlight versus the bright glow of the Volume, which is a new LED technology used to project realistic backgrounds on set. "It was like, 'Okay, I look really good in the light, but I'm neon now,'" she recalled.

She also revealed that her live-action costume has made a few changes since she first appeared in “The Mandalorian.” She said that her montrals are longer, referring to the horn-like appendages on top of her head tails. "It's all 3D-printed, and it moves completely differently. It's lighter,” she explained. “That technology literally didn't exist when we were first doing the character in Mando, so it's been really cool to see how it keeps evolving."

In a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly that also took place before the SAG-AFTRA strike, she revealed that creator Dave Filoni drew parallels to Gandalf’s journey from Gandalf the Grey to Gandalf the White in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” to her “Ahsoka” character.

“In the animation, you saw her go to the white, but what I loved is the idea that there was even another level to her,” Dawson explained. “Dave and I talked a lot about Gandalf the Gray and Gandalf the White — talking about that transition and how she’s someone very capable and excellent and looked up to as a leader, but she still has levels of development to go.”

“That push for more, that desire for more, that challenge that she pushes herself to is okay — and it’s actually remarkable and important,” she continued. “That’s one of the reasons I’ve been drawn to her over the years, the fact that even with her excellence, she continues to push further.”

Ahsoka Tano first appeared in the animated series "The Clone Wars" and "Rebels." Dawson admitted that the character has changed a great deal since that time. “She seems very lone wolf, and we kind of felt that coming off of Rebels, where she works with all of these different folks, but she’s really on her own in a lot of ways,” Dawson added. “What I really liked about this [show] is that we get to flesh that out a little bit more.”

She went on to say, “We get to see what that’s like for her in this position and the path she’s choosing as a sort of ronin, just this warrior on her own. And I really loved that we get to rekindle some of these relationships that she’s had from her past.”

The first few episodes of "Ahsoka" are now available to stream on Disney+.