Rita Moreno facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal family name is Alverío and the second or maternal family name is Marcano.

Quick facts for kids Rita Moreno
Moreno in 2019
Born	Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano (1931-12-11) December 11, 1931 (age 93) Humacao, Puerto Rico
Occupation	Actress singer dancer
Years active	1943–present
Works	Full list
Spouse(s)	Leonard Gordon (m. 1965; died 2010)
Children	1
Awards	Full list

Rita Moreno (born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano; December 11, 1931) is a famous actress, dancer, and singer from Puerto Rico. Her career has lasted for over 80 years! She is known for her amazing roles in movies and on stage. Rita Moreno is one of the last stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood, a special time in movie history.

She has won many awards, including an EGOT. This means she has won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. Not many people have achieved this! She also won the Triple Crown of Acting, which means she won an Oscar, Emmy, and Tony specifically for acting.

Rita Moreno has received many other important honors. These include the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004 and the National Medal of Arts in 2009. She also received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2013 and a Kennedy Center Honor in 2015. In 2019, she was given a Peabody Award.

Moreno's early movie roles included supporting parts in musicals like Singin' in the Rain (1952) and The King and I (1956). Her big breakthrough came when she played Anita in West Side Story (1961). For this role, she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was the first Hispanic woman to win an Oscar. She also appeared in the 2021 remake of West Side Story, directed by Steven Spielberg. Other films she starred in include Popi (1969), Carnal ... (1971), The Four Seasons (1981), and Fast X (2023).

On stage, she played Googie Gomez in the 1975 musical The Ritz. This role earned her a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She also appeared in the 1976 movie version of The Ritz.

On television, she was a cast member of The Electric Company (1971–1977). She won an Emmy for her work on this show in 1972. She also played Sister Peter Marie Reimondo in the HBO series Oz (1997–2003). She won two more Emmy Awards for her roles in The Muppet Show (1977) and The Rockford Files (1978). She lent her voice to Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? (1994–1999) and appeared in Jane the Virgin (2015–2019) and One Day at a Time (2017–2020). Her life story was featured in the 2021 documentary Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It.

Early Life and Beginnings
Career Highlights
Personal Life
Awards and Honors
See also

Early Life and Beginnings

Rita Moreno was born Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano on December 11, 1931. She was born in a hospital in Humacao, Puerto Rico. Her mother, Rosa María, was a seamstress, and her father, Francisco José "Paco" Alverío, was a farmer. She was called "Rosita" when she was little and grew up in a town nearby called Juncos.

In 1936, Rita's mother moved to New York City and took Rita with her. Rita's younger brother, Francisco, stayed in Puerto Rico. Rita did not see him again until 2021. Rita later took the last name of her first stepfather, Edward Moreno. She spent her teenage years living in Valley Stream, New York, a suburb on Long Island.

Career Highlights

Starting Out: Theater and Early Movies (1945–1959)

Rita Moreno in 1954

Rita Moreno started taking dance lessons soon after she arrived in New York. Her teacher was "Paco Cansino," who was the uncle of famous movie star Rita Hayworth. When she was 11, she started doing voice-overs for American movies in Spanish.

At 13, she got her first role on Broadway in a play called Skydrift. This role caught the attention of people in Hollywood who look for new talent.

Rita Moreno's movie career began during the later years of the Golden Age of Hollywood. She and her mother moved to Culver City, California, close to the MGM movie studio. She worked steadily in movies throughout the 1950s, often in small roles. In 1952, she appeared in the musical comedy Singin' in the Rain. She played Zelda Zanders, a silent film star, alongside Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds. Rita said Gene Kelly wanted her in the movie because she "seemed to fit the role." She praised Kelly for casting her in a role that was not a typical stereotype for Hispanic actresses. She called working on the film an "amazing experience."

In March 1954, Rita Moreno was featured on the cover of Life magazine. She did not like most of her movie roles during this time because she felt they were very stereotypical. One role she did like was in The King and I (1956). She played Tuptim, a slave from Burma. The movie was very successful and won many awards. In 1959, Moreno appeared in the TV western Tales of Wells Fargo.

West Side Story and Beyond (1960–1969)

Moreno as Anita in West Side Story

In 1961, Rita Moreno got the role of Anita in the movie West Side Story. This movie was based on a popular Broadway musical. Critics praised her performance. The New York Times called her performance "spitfire." Variety said she gave a "fiery characterization." The film won ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Rita Moreno won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role.

After winning the Oscar, Moreno hoped she would get more varied roles. However, she was disappointed. She said, "I didn't make another movie for seven years after winning the Oscar.... Before West Side Story, I was always offered the stereotypical Latina roles. After West Side Story, it was pretty much the same thing."

She did appear in Cry of Battle (1963), which was filmed around the time she won her Oscar. She returned to film in The Night of the Following Day (1968) with Marlon Brando. She also starred in Popi (1969) and Marlowe (1969). On Broadway, she appeared in Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1969) and The Ritz (1975), for which she won a Tony Award.

Becoming an Established Star (1970–1999)

Moreno in The Ritz in 1975

From 1971 to 1977, Moreno was a main cast member on the PBS children's TV show The Electric Company. She was famous for screaming the show's opening line, "Hey, you guys!" She played characters like Millie the Helper and Pandora. Moreno also starred in the movie Carnal ... (1971) with Jack Nicholson. In 1976, she played Googie Gomez in the movie version of The Ritz.

Her appearance on The Muppet Show earned her an Emmy Award in 1977. This made her one of the first people to win an Oscar, a Grammy, a Tony, and an Emmy (an EGOT). She won another Emmy in 1978 for her role on The Rockford Files.

In the 1980s, Moreno starred in the comedy-drama film Happy Birthday, Gemini. She was also in Alan Alda's movie The Four Seasons (1981), which was very popular. She was a regular on the TV show 9 to 5. Rita Moreno also made many guest appearances on TV shows like The Love Boat, The Cosby Show, The Golden Girls, and Miami Vice.

In 1993, Moreno was invited to perform for President Bill Clinton's inauguration and later at the White House. In the mid-1990s, Moreno voiced Carmen Sandiego in the animated series Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?. She also voiced Cookie Booker in the 2019 animated series. In the late 1990s, Moreno played Sister Pete, a nun who was also a psychologist, in the HBO series Oz.

Recent Work (2000s–Present)

Moreno in 2014

In 2000, she released an album of nightclub songs. In 2006, she performed in a play called The Glass Menagerie. She had a recurring role on Law & Order: Criminal Intent as the mother of Detective Robert Goren. She played the family matriarch in the 2007 TV series Cane. She also played the mother of Fran Drescher's character in the TV sitcom Happily Divorced (2011–2013).

She continued to work in movies, including a voice role in the 2014 film Rio 2. In 2011, Moreno started performing a solo show about her life called Rita Moreno: Life Without Makeup. In 2014, she appeared in the TV film Old Soul.

Moreno plays the grandmother of a Cuban-American family in the Netflix sitcom One Day at a Time. The show started in January 2017 and was praised by critics, especially for Moreno's performance. In 2017, Moreno also helped with Lin-Manuel Miranda's song "Almost Like Praying". The money from the song went to help people affected by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

In 2020–21, Moreno starred in and helped produce Steven Spielberg's movie version of West Side Story. She played a new character named Valentina. The film was released on December 10, 2021. Critics praised her performance.

Moreno at the Walk of Fame ceremony in 2022

On August 29, 2021, Moreno performed in a special concert for the musical Wicked on PBS.

A documentary about Moreno's life, Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It, was produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received positive reviews.

In 2023, Moreno starred in the comedy 80 for Brady about four elderly women who travel to see a football game. Moreno also played Abuelita Toretto, the grandmother of Dom (Vin Diesel), in Fast X, the tenth movie in the Fast & Furious series. She also played Angelica in Family Switch.

Personal Life

In 1965, Rita Moreno married Leonard Gordon, a heart doctor. He later became her manager. In 1995, they moved to Berkeley, California. They were married until he passed away in 2010. Rita Moreno and Leonard Gordon have one daughter, Fernanda Gordon Fisher, and two grandsons.

Awards and Honors

Moreno with President Bush in 2004, before receiving the Medal of Freedom

Rita Moreno has achieved the Triple Crown of Acting, meaning she has won individual competitive Academy, Emmy and Tony awards for acting. She is also an EGOT winner.

In 1962, she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for West Side Story. When Ariana DeBose won Best Supporting Actress for the same role in the 2021 movie, Moreno and DeBose became the third pair of actors to win separate acting Oscars for playing the same character. In 1972, she received a Grammy Award for Best Children's Album for The Electric Company. In 1975, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for The Ritz. She won her Primetime Emmy Awards in 1977 and 1978 for her performances in The Muppet Show and The Rockford Files.

She has also received a Golden Globe Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2007, she was inducted into the California Hall of Fame. In 2013, she received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award, presented by Morgan Freeman.

She has won many other honors, including various lifetime achievement awards. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is America's highest civilian honor. In 2009, President Barack Obama gave her the National Medal of Arts. In 2015, she received a Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award for her contributions to American culture through performing arts. She was also awarded the Peabody Career Achievement Award in 2019.