Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno made history at the. 34th Academy Awards as the first Latina to win an. Oscar (Best Supporting Actress) for her take as the no- nonsense Anita in 'West Side Story.
Moreno's early work included supporting roles in the classic musical films Singin' in the Rain (1952) and The King and I (1956), before her breakout role as Anita in West Side Story (1961), which earned her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first Latin American woman to win an Academy Award.
The West Side Story star shares daughter Fernanda Luisa Gordon with her late husband Leonard Gordon. Moreno and Leonard, a former doctor who later managed Moreno's career, got married in 1965 and welcomed Fernanda a year later.
"I didn't like the name Rita but they chose it because I liked the actress Rita Hayworth. Moreno was my stepfather's last name so I took that." There is no chance she would ever change it now, she says.
Given the nickname “Rosita,” when she was young, Moreno's birth name was Rosa Dolores Alverío. She spent much of her childhood on a Puerto Rican farm until she was five years old. Her mother saved enough money for them to move to New York, but Moreno's little brother Francisco had to be left behind.
Rita Moreno does not currently have a husband. Her late husband, her only husband, was Leonard Gordon. Gordon was a cardiologist and internist before retiring from medicine to become his wife's manager.
Moreno was a guest star on the George Lopez Show in 2007, playing his mother, Luisa Diaz. Which is the first place she met Mayan, who is now 26. “It's a wonderful set. Everybody seems to be like a family, which is the best thing you can say for a cast on a comedy show.
Around the age of 6, Moreno began taking Spanish dance lessons from Paco Cansino, the teacher and uncle of Rita Hayworth. At the age of 9, Moreno had her first performance dancing at a nightclub in Greenwich Village. Throughout her early teens, she would perform at clubs around New York, often going by herself.
Rita Moreno, (born December 11, 1931, Humacao, Puerto Rico), Puerto Rican-born American actress, dancer, and singer who accomplished the rare feat of winning the four major North American entertainment awards (EGOT): Emmy (1977, 1978), Grammy (1972), Oscar (1962), and Tony (1975).
At 91, Hollywood legend Rita Moreno is working as much as she ever has, with prominent roles in films like the recent 80 For Brady and the upcoming Fast X.
Rita's professional career began before she reached adolescence. From the age of nine, she performed as a professional dancer in New York night clubs. At age 11, she landed her first movie experience, dubbing Spanish-language versions of US films.
With a career spanning nearly 80 years in the entertainment industry, Moreno is one of a few individuals to have won the four major annual American entertainment awards: an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony.
Born into poverty on a Puerto Rican farm, Moreno and her seamstress mother immigrated to New York City when Moreno was five years old. After studying dance and performing on Broadway, Moreno was cast as any ethnic minority the Hollywood studios needed filled: Polynesian, Native American, Egyptian and more.
Born in Puerto Rico in the early 30's, she came to the United States when she was five. She and her mother arrived in NYC during the depression to a very segregated city that tried to teach Rita that she had no value. Rita acknowledged that these challenges scarred her permanently, despite her very successful career.
