Awarded: April 2000
(b. Dec. 11, 1931)

Rita Moreno began her career as a dancer, coming to Broadway at age 13 and then on to Hollywood at the age of 14. Her work on the stage and screen won her an Oscar in 1962 for Best Supporting Actress in “West Side Story,” the only Hispanic actress to win an Academy Award. She has also been awarded two Grammys and a Tony.

Related Library Resources

• View a history of Puerto Rican/Cuban immigration to the United States.
• View the Leonard Bernstein Collection at the Library of Congress.
• View "Hispano Music and Culture of the Northern Rio Grande: The Juan B. Rael Collection."