We still have some Oscar fever left from last week’s Academy Awards, so we looked back at the historic wins for Latinos in the film industry. Specifically, we want to highlight the work of Rita Moreno—the first Hispanic woman to win an Oscar—throughout her 77-year long (and counting!) career.
Rosa Dolores Alverío was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico, in 1931. When she was 5, she moved with her mother to New York City, where she grew up. Passionate for performing, she was cast in a Broadway show at 13. Four years into her career, they advised her to change her name and since then has been known as Rita Moreno (Moreno was her stepfather’s surname).
Rita Moreno’s Latinidad limited the breadth of her career for many years. In a 2008 interview with The Miami Herald, Moreno told Lydia Martin, “What is interesting to me is having the vision so early and yet feeling so inferior to everybody else in the business for years and years because I believed I had to be subservient to anybody who wasn’t Latino. Before West Side Story I was always offered the stereotypical Latina roles. The Conchitas and Lolitas in westerns. I was always barefoot. It was humiliating, embarrassing stuff. But I did it because there was nothing else.”
She was cast as Anita for the film adaptation of the musical West Side Story that premiered in 1961; Moreno won an Oscar for her performance in the supporting role category. This achievement secured her spot as the first Latina to ever win an Oscar. Before her, two Latinos—José Ferrer and Anthony Quinn—had achieved the same recognition.
After winning the Oscar, Rita thought she would get cast in roles that transcended stereotypes. However, she told The Miami Herald, “After West Side Story, it was pretty much the same thing. A lot of gang stories.” For that reason, she did not act in a movie for the next seven years.
Throughout her career, she has been presented with multiple awards. For starters, in 1977, she became the third person ever to win all four Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards (also known for the acronym EGOT). Furthermore, she has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush, the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award, and the Peabody Award, among many others.
Today’s Latino and Hispanic performers are standing on the shoulders of trailblazers such as Rita Moreno. After joining the cast of ‘Ugly Betty’ for an episode, Moreno gifted America Ferrera a picture of herself winning the Oscar with a note that read, “Just hold on to your vision. Don’t let anyone distract you.”
And though Latinos have gained more territory in performing arts since Moreno’s career began, our community is still fighting to represent our versatile stories in entertainment. As so happens, last year, Moreno was among the group that called for funding for her show One Day at a Time.
Decades after Norman Lear’s sitcom One Day at a Time told the story of a divorced mother in Indiana raising two daughters, an adaptation of the plot brought to light the life of a Cuban-American family. After three seasons, Netflix canceled the show, and the One Day at a Time staff, cast, and fans mobilized to get it picked up by another network. The fourth season will premiere on March 24 on Pop TV.
In December of this year, Rita Moreno will return to the big screen in a Steven Spielberg adaptation of West Side Story. This time, she will also be executive producing the film, coming full circle after almost 60 years.