Rosario Salazar

Rosario Inés Consuelo Yolanda Salazar (previously McFarland; also known as "Rosie" and "Ro-Ro") is a fictional character on the American television sitcom Will & Grace, portrayed by actress Shelley Morrison.^[2][3] Originally due to appear just once, her popularity caused her to be a semi-regular character.

Fictional character history

Early life

A native of El Salvador, Rosario was a school teacher who received a bachelor's degree in clinical psychology from the University of Texas and who almost got a master's degree (three credits short); she, at some point, also attended business school. At some point, she moved to The Bronx, presumably while studying business, however, Karen makes a comment, that she bought Rosario from Rosario's parents, and another comment made by Jack is that she smuggles staff from Latin America, namely Mexico and probably El Salvador as well. While there, she also performed with a then-unknown Jennifer Lopez, including a production of "Tea for Two" at the Shalom Retirement Center. At one point, she was also paid to tape pornographic videos for Tommy Lee.

One of Rosario's brothers is a political prisoner, and remarks made by Karen suggests she has children, but they are possibly still in El Salvador.

Series overview

Although she had been mentioned by Karen since the pilot episode, Rosario's first appearance was in the season-one finale, "Object of My Rejection." Due to Karen's patronizing tone, we're made to think she doesn't speak English well. Rosario actually speaks English fluently albeit with a thick accent, but is an illegal alien. To keep her in the country, Karen has her marry Jack McFarland, her gay friend, to get her green card. The marriage was later terminated at the end of season two, when Rosario asked for a divorce to pursue other romantic interests. However, she maintained a close relationship with Jack after (often echoing hers with Karen) and claimed to still think of him as family.

Rosario was one of few people with whom Stan remained in contact after he faked his death (at the end of season five). When Karen learned that Rosario had kept this news from her (in season eight), she fired her. Rosario worked as a bar attendant until Karen ultimately took her back.

During a live episode, it is revealed by Karen that Rosario earns $350,000 per year.

In the show's series finale, Rosario was shown to have lived with Karen and Jack in the years after the show ended, growing older with them and possibly still working for them despite being in a wheelchair (though she states that she is only in the wheelchair due to a sprained ankle).

Rosario typically is seen wearing a Members Only jacket on top of her maid's uniform. She has a particular fondness for sandwiches from Subway.

Morrison was a guest star in the first two seasons, but from season three until the show's end she was listed as a main cast member in the episodes she appeared.

Relationship with Karen Walker

In 1985, Rosario met Karen Walker at a club, while working as a cigarette lady, and went to work for her as a maid, which was where she was working when the series began in 1998. Rosario and Karen are very close, but their relationship is love-hate. They are notorious for swapping insults back and forth. Rosario is just as feisty as Karen, and is one of the few people that manages to go toe-to-toe with her. In earlier episodes, they would often yell and argue at each other at the same time. However, many of those fights ended with an emotional embrace or light-hearted exchange between the two, which makes it clear that, deep down, they really do care about each other. Examples of this include the season 3 episode "My Uncle, The Car," where Karen becomes sad at almost losing Rosario in a bet to her rival Beverley Leslie, and the season 7 episode "Partners," where Karen ignores the plight of a very sick Rosario because she is afraid of losing her. Rosario also mentions in season 4's "The Third Wheel Gets The Grace" that, for their 15-year anniversary, all she wanted to do was spend time with Karen.

References