Rosario Dawson Just Shared How She Stayed Energized While Filming ‘Star Wars: Ahsoka’

Rosario Dawson is best known for her role as Ahsoka Tano in the Star Wars franchise series The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. And in this exclusive interview with the actor, we learn how she’s able to keep up her energy while on set.

Most recently, she’s been spreading the word about the benefits of regenerative farming, composting and making sustainable shifts to combat climate change through the film Common Ground, a documentary sequel to Kiss the Ground. Dawson tells EatingWell that the hopeful message Common Ground provides helps it stand out from other environmental features, and she has helped by not only voicing the changes to be made for Earth to thrive, but also setting the example by taking action.

Learn more about Dawson, the healthy lifestyle habits she maintains in her routine and her philosophy on “eating well” below.

EatingWell: While on the set of hit series like Ahsoka and The Mandalorian, how are you able to stay energized on long workdays? 

Dawson: The thing I'm probably most renowned for is my energy levels. Especially after that lunch slump, I'm definitely the hype woman. I'm a New Yorker, I’m very enthused and very passionate about what I do. And I'm really big on getting some good sleep and hydrating. I have caffeine, I'll have a little bit of green tea or coffee here or there, but I don't try to rely on that too much. 

My No. 1 thing that I always do on set, on my off time when I don't have a proper schedule, is I meditate every lunch. And my meditation teacher, Light Watkins, says when you have a really good meditation, a 20-minute meditation can feel like two hours of sleep. So I close my eyes and I just re-ground again because I get very stimulated. I only found out a year ago I have ADHD, so if I don't have that quiet time, I really suffer. I need to recharge, and as much as it seems like I get my energy from being around a lot of people, I really get that energy back when I meditate and I'm quiet and I'm still again.

EatingWell: What’s a sustainable practice that you have incorporated into your own life? 

Dawson: Composting is, for me, one of the easiest, simplest things. I do it differently in different places. Here in LA, I'm able to put the scraps in a little bin that they've given us and it just goes out with the green trash bin. When I'm in New York, I put them in the freezer. I have a little bag that I put my scraps in, and then I give them to my aunt because she's got chickens. I give her the scraps; we get eggs!

EatingWell: For those that have yet to view Common Ground, what’s a message from the film that you want to emphasize?

Dawson: There is hope, there are things that we can all do collectively to make an impact and a difference. Our government and our systems can shift in a way that can be impactful for generations to come. Regenerative farming is something that has been in existence for millennia, and the conventional farming that we've gone to has been something we've been able to actually really look at and study and see the effects of. The pollution that it is causing and the ripple effect that is happening is irrefutable. We can see it; we understand what terminator seeds and chemicals and all of these forever chemicals have done. We've been able to do that research and we've been able to also research what it is to switch to regenerative farming: how much more yield you get, how much money you save, how much healthier it is, how much better for the environment and how much biodiversity it gets. 

It's beautiful to see that we can make a very positive change and that we can reverse climate change, we can capture more carbon that is in the air, we can capture more than the carbon that is in the air just by focusing on our soil. That's why I think it's just very hopeful. I think it's a film that is very inspiring. It is very educational. It's very infuriating to see how we got here, but I think unlike a lot of “doomsday" films, this one leaves you feeling very excited about what the possibilities are.

EatingWell: What does “eating well” mean to you?

Dawson: It's having a relationship with your body and knowing what it wants and what it needs. I didn't eat the same thing every day when I had a battle versus a day where it was just a dialogue scene. My body needed different levels of protein when I was healing, when I was building muscle, all of these different things. And then once I was finished filming, eating that heavily didn't make any sense, and so I had to change it. I think it's just really trying to be in tune with where your body is. I also prefer to eat seasonally. I think that it's really helpful to eat what is appropriate for that time frame, it’s really helpful psychologically and emotionally for me because otherwise the years just become a blur.