Rosario Dawson on her elaborate Ahsoka makeup: 'We timed ourselves every single day'

Sometimes, bringing a character from animation into live-action is easy. For a human, that could be as simple as fitting an actor with the right wig or locking down the perfect costume. But for a nonhuman character like Star Wars' Ahsoka Tano, things get much, much more complicated — especially when alien prosthetics are involved.

Rosario Dawson stars in Ahsoka (out Aug. 23), reprising her role as the lightsaber-wielding Togruta warrior. With her striped head tails (a.k.a. lekku) and her glowing orange skin, Ahsoka is one of the most striking alien characters in all of the Star Wars galaxy, and series creator Dave Filoni wanted to preserve her iconic look from the animated Clone Wars. For Dawson, that meant spending hours in the makeup chair each day.

In an interview conducted prior to the start of the SAG-AFTRA strike, Dawson told EW that when she first played Ahsoka in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, the makeup process alone took upwards of three hours. Since then, it's been streamlined to a more manageable 90 minutes.

Lucasfilm Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano on 'The Mandalorian'

"We were very proud!" Dawson says. "We timed ourselves every single day. Depending on how much skin was showing, sometimes it would go up to two hours. 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."

Not only did Dawson need to be hand-painted with makeup, but the transformation process also required her to don custom-fitted head tails and icy blue contact lenses. Even with the lengthy time commitment, the actress says she was fascinated by the process and how the makeup team adapted and made tweaks over time. Early on, for example, the crew noticed that certain shades of face paint looked different whether Dawson was filming in natural sunlight or in the bright glow of the Volume (the groundbreaking 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 recalls with a laugh. As a result, the color had to be carefully adjusted for each scene to maintain consistency throughout.

Dawson also notes that prosthetic technology has improved dramatically, even in the few years since she first joined The Mandalorian.

"The montrals are longer," she explains, referring to the short, almost horn-like appendages on top of Ahsoka's head tails. "It's all 3D-printed, and it moves completely differently. It's lighter. 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."

For more from Dawson, listen to the latest episode of EW's Dagobah Dispatch podcast. Ahsoka will debut Aug. 23 on Disney+.

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