Winning one award is an accomplishment in itself, but only 10 people have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony — and one of them is Rita Moreno. Best known for her turns in West Side Story and The Electric Company, the triple threat is a legend in film, on stage, and on the small screen.
Like many other Latinas in Hollywood, Moreno initially struggled to find roles that didn't fall into "exotic" cliches and sexpot stereotypes. Even in West Side Story, she was frustrated, as she told NPR's Terry Gross:
"They made me use an accent, which I wasn't thrilled about because a lot of us, obviously, don't have them. The thing that really bothered me the most is that they put the same very muddy, dark-colored makeup on every Shark girl and boy, and that really made me very upset. I tried to get that changed, and I said, 'Look at us. We're all many, many different colors. Some of us are very white, some of us are olive-skinned, some of us actually have black blood, some of us are Taino Indian,' which is the original Puerto Rican. And nobody paid attention, and that was that. I had no choice in the matter, but I was not happy."
As opinionated as she is attractive, Moreno continues to act, appearing on shows such as Oz and Law & Order. We love her for her talent, and for proving that aging gracefully is a beautiful thing.
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Wow, she is such a timeless beauty!
1gorgeous and talented!
2I adore Rita Moreno!
3love her!
4She's the best! Love her.
5Great Bella Donna choice, as usual. And a really uplifting article!
6Lovely!
7Gorgeous inside and out!
8Thank you for featuring Rita Moreno and that quote is excellent...the same applies to women and men from the Dominican Republic and Cuba. The tainos and caribes were native americans like the Mic Macs or any other Native American on the mainland and we have Black blood from slavery and white ancestry from european settlers which why you'll find that Puerto Ricans a long with Dominicans and Cubans to have such a variety lookswise...those names (Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban) just refer to nationality and obviously once your born in the US you are an american and we luckily have the looks that the mainstream media Blonde haired blue eyed, "african americans" and so called "biracial americans" don't get we've had all along in our islands.
Latinas and Latinos are so beautiful due to their diversity and it's nice to have it recognized.
9Love her. Makes me proud to be a Puerto Rican. Beautiful, talented and smart.
10LOVE Rita! She's beautiful, multi-talented, intelligent, and outspoken.
Anonymous #9, settlers are to slaves as Europeans are to Africans. The black blood you speak of comes from Africans who were used as slaves, but slaves is not an ethnicity, nationality or race.
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