Read about Rita Moreno net worth, age, husband, children, height, family, parents, salary, movies and tv shows as well as other information you need to know.
Introduction
Rita Moreno is a Puerto Rican professional actress, dancer, and singer. She is famous for her work on stage and screen in a career spanning over seven decades. Among her numerous accolades, she is one of a few performers to have been awarded an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony (EGOT) and the Triple Crown of Acting, with individual competitive Academy, Emmy and Tony awards. She has also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004, the National Medal of Arts in 2009, and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2015.
Moreno’s work includes 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 the 1961 film West Side Story, which earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She made history by becoming the first Hispanic woman to win an Academy Award. She later portrayed Valentina in the 2021 remake directed by Steven Spielberg. Her other notable films include Popi (1969), Carnal Knowledge (1971), The Four Seasons (1981), I Like It Like That (1994) and the cult film Slums of Beverly Hills (1998).
She starred as Googie Gomez in the 1975 Terrence McNally musical The Ritz earning her the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She reprised her role in the 1976 film directed by Richard Lester which earned her a BAFTA Award for Best Actress nomination. She also acted in Lorraine Hansberry’s The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window in 1964 and in Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple in 1985.
Rita Moreno gained notoriety for her performances in children’s television series The Electric Company (1971-1977), and as Sister Peter Marie Reimondo on the HBO series Oz (1997-2003). She received two consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for her roles on The Muppet Show in 1977 and Rockford Files in 1978. She gained acclaim for her roles in Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? (1994-1999), The CW series Jane the Virgin (2015–2019), the Netflix revival of One Day at a Time (2017–2020). Her life was profiled in Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It (2021).
Early life
| Name | Rita Moreno |
| Net Worth | $10 million |
| Occupation | Actress, Singer, Dancer |
| Age | 91 years |
| Height | 1.57m |
Rita Moreno officially known as Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano was born on December 11, 1931 (age 91 years) in Humacao, Puerto Rico. She is the daughter of Rosa María (née Marcano), a seamstress, and Francisco José “Paco” Alverío, a farmer. She was nicknamed “Rosita”. Moreno, whose mother was 17 at the time of her birth, was raised in nearby Juncos. Her maternal grandparents were Justino Marcano (b. Puerto Rico) and Trinidad from Spain.
Moreno’s mother moved to New York City in 1936, taking her daughter, but not her son, Moreno’s younger brother, Francisco, whom Moreno would not see again until 2021. Moreno adopted the surname of her first stepfather, Edward Moreno, Rosa Maria’s second husband. She spent her teenage years living in the villages of Valley Stream on Long Island, part of the town of Hempstead bordering New York City.
Career
Rita Moreno began her first dancing lessons soon after arriving in New York with a Spanish dancer known as “Paco Cansino”, who was a paternal uncle of film star Rita Hayworth. When she was 11 years old, she lent her voice to Spanish-language versions of American films. She had her first Broadway role, as “Angelina” in Skydrift, by the age of 13, which caught the attention of Hollywood talent scouts. Moreno said she was raped by her agent while she was a teen actor.
Moreno’s film career began in the later years of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Moreno and her mother moved to a Culver City “cottage” within walking distance of MGM. She acted steadily in films throughout the 1950s, usually in small roles, including in The Toast of New Orleans (1950) In 1952, she appeared in Stanley Donen’s musical comedy film Singin’ in the Rain alongside Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor. In the film she played silent film star Zelda Zanders. She described having gotten the role by Gene Kelly “wanting her in the movie” and that she “seemed to fit the role for him”.
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She praised Kelly for casting her in a non-stereotypical Hispanic role-playing Zelda saying, “he never said ‘Oh she’s too Latina’, he just thought I’d be fine for it”. She called the experience working in the film as an “amazing experience” and a “privilege”. In March 1954, Moreno was featured on the cover of Life magazine with the caption “Rita Moreno: An Actress’s Catalog of Sex and Innocence”. She disliked most of her film work during this period, as she felt the roles she was given were very stereotypical. One exception was her supporting role in the film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I directed by Walter Lang.
In the film she played Tuptim, a slave brought from Burma to be one of the King’s junior wives. She starred alongside Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. The film was a critical and financial success. It received nine Academy Award nominations including five wins including Best Actor, Best Art Direction – Color, Best Costume Design – Color, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Recording. In 1959, Moreno appeared as Lola Montez in Season 3, Episode 23, of the TV western Tales of Wells Fargo, episode title “Lola Montez”.
In 1961, Rita Moreno landed the role of Anita in Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ film adaptation of Leonard Bernstein’s and Stephen Sondheim’s groundbreaking Broadway musical West Side Story, which had been played by Chita Rivera on Broadway. Moreno won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for that role. After winning the Oscar, Moreno thought she would be able to continue to perform less stereotypical film roles, but was disappointed: Ha, ha. I showed them. 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. The Conchitas and Lolitas in westerns. I was always barefoot. It was humiliating, embarrassing stuff. But I did it because there was nothing else. After West Side Story, it was pretty much the same thing. A lot of gang stories.
Rita Moreno had a major role in Summer and Smoke (1961), released soon after West Side Story. She did appear in one film during her self-imposed exile from Hollywood – Cry of Battle (1963) – although it had been filmed directly before and after she won the Academy Award. She made her return to film in The Night of the Following Day (1968) with Marlon Brando, and followed that with Popi (1969), and Marlowe (1969) with James Garner. Her Broadway credits include Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1969), the very short-lived musical Gantry (1970), and The Ritz, for which she won the 1975 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress.
Moreno appeared in the female version of The Odd Couple that ran in Chicago, for which she won the Sarah Siddons Award in 1985. From 1971 to 1977, Moreno was a main cast member on the PBS children’s series The Electric Company. She screamed the show’s opening line, “Hey, you guys!” Her roles on the show included Millie the Helper, the naughty little girl Pandora, and Otto, a very short-tempered director. Moreno also starred in Mike Nichols’ Carnal Knowledge (1971) alongside Jack Nicholson, Candice Bergen, Ann-Margret, and Art Garfunkel.
In the film, she plays a prostitute named Louise, whom Jack Nicholson plays cards with. The film was a critical success. In 1976 she starred as Googie Gomez in Richard Lester’s film adaptation of the comedy farce The Ritz alongside Jack Weston, Jerry Stiller, and F. Murray Abraham. Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film made the transition from the stage “surprisingly well, given the odds,” with “two of the most flamboyantly entertaining and skillful comedy performances of the year” by Jack Weston and Rita Moreno.
Her appearance on The Muppet Show earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program in 1977. As a result, she became the third person (after Richard Rodgers and Helen Hayes) to have won an Oscar (1962), a Grammy (1972), a Tony (1975), and an Emmy (1977), frequently referred to as an “EGOT”. She won another Emmy award the following year, 1978, this time a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress – Drama Series, for her portrayal of former call girl Rita Kapcovic on a three-episode arc on The Rockford Files.
Other projects
Rita Moreno starred as Lucille in Richard Benner’s comedy-drama film Happy Birthday, Gemini alongside Madeline Kahn in the 1980s. She was in Alan Alda’s The Four Seasons (1981) which was a financial and critical hit and starred Alda, Carol Burnett, Len Cariou, Sandy Dennis, and Jack Weston. She was a regular on the three-season network run of 9 to 5, a sitcom based on the film hit, during the early 1980s. Rita Moreno has made numerous guest appearances on television series in the 1980s, including The Love Boat, The Cosby Show, George Lopez, The Golden Girls, and Miami Vice.
In 1993, she was invited to perform at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration and later that month was asked to perform at the White House. During the mid-1990s, Moreno provided the voice of Carmen Sandiego on Fox’s animated series Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? In the franchise’s 2019 animated series, Moreno voices the character Cookie Booker. In the late 1990s, Moreno played Sister Pete, a nun trained as a psychologist in the popular HBO series Oz, for which she won several ALMA Awards. She made a guest appearance on The Nanny as Coach Stone, Maggie’s tyrannical gym teacher, whom Fran Fine also remembered from her school as Ms. Wickavich.
Rita Moreno released an eponymous album of nightclub songs in 2000 on the Varèse Sarabande label, with liner notes by Michael Feinstein. In 2006, she portrayed Amanda Wingfield in Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s revival of The Glass Menagerie. She had a recurring role on Law & Order: Criminal Intent as the dying mother of Detective Robert Goren. She played the family matriarch on the short-lived 2007 TV series Cane, which starred Jimmy Smits and Hector Elizondo. She played the mother of Fran Drescher’s character in the 2011–13 TV sitcom Happily Divorced.
Moreno has continued to work in film, including a small voice role in the 2014 film Rio 2, perhaps her most commercially successful film. In September 2011, Moreno began performing a solo au tobiographical show at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Rita Moreno: Life Without Makeup written by the theatre’s artistic director Tony Taccone after hours of interviews with Moreno. In 2014, Moreno appeared in the NBC television film Old Soul, alongside Natasha Lyonne, Fred Willard and Ellen Burstyn. The film was intended as a pilot for a television series, but it was not picked up.
She plays the matriarch of a Cuban-American family in the Netflix sitcom One Day at a Time, a remake produced by Norman Lear of Lear’s 1975–84 sitcom. The first season premiered in January 2017. Critics overall praised the show, and especially the performances of Moreno and the series’ star, Justina Machado. Also that year, Moreno and others contributed to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s single “Almost Like Praying” where proceeds from the song went to the Hispanic Federation’s UNIDOS Disaster Relief program to benefit those affected by Hurricane Maria that devastated the island of Puerto Rico.
In 2020–21, Moreno starred in and executive-produced the Steven Spielberg–directed adaptation of West Side Story. Moreno plays a newly created character, Valentina; she famously won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing Anita in the 1961 original movie. The film was released on December 10, 2021. Justin Chang of NPR wrote, “Sixty years later, Moreno is an executive producer on Spielberg’s West Side Story. She also gives a poignant performance in the new role of Valentina, the widow of Doc, the drugstore owner. By her presence, Moreno teaches us how to approach this movie, as both an affectionate tribute and a gentle corrective.”
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On August 29, 2021, Moreno took part in the “Wicked in Concert” special on PBS, PBS.org and the PBS Video App, performing “The Wizard and I”. Moreno’s life was profiled in the feature documentary entitled Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It which was produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and received positive reviews. The Guardian declared, “Overall, she emerges just as vampish, feisty and fun as you’d expect, and as a gracious giver of speeches at ceremonies where she collects endless lifetime achievement awards”.
In 2023 Rita Moreno starred in the sports comedy 80 for Brady about four elderly women who travel to see Tom Brady and the New England Patriots play at Super Bowl LI. Moreno co-starred alongside Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Sally Field. Also in 2023, she is set to play Abuela Toretto, the grandmother of Dom (Vin Diesel), Jakob (John Cena), and Mia (Jordana Brewster) in the Fast and the Furious film Fast X.
Relationship
Rita Moreno was in an on-and-off relationship with Marlon Brando from 1954 to 1962. She revealed in her memoir that she became pregnant by Brando and he arranged for an abortion. The abortion was botched, she went home and bled as the fetus died inside her and she had to be rushed to the hospital to have it surgically removed. Soon after, Brando fell in love with his co-star on Mutiny on the Bounty, yet returned to her; Moreno attempted suicide by overdosing on Brando’s sleeping pills.
Husband
Rita Moreno married was married to Leonard Gordon from 1965 until his death in 2010. Her husband was a cardiologist and internist who became her manager after he retired from medicine. In 1995, they relocated to Berkeley, California. The couple remained together until her husband’s died in 2010. Moreno and then-husband Gordon have one daughter, Fernanda Gordon Fisher, and two grandsons. Moreno said she once considered leaving her husband, but did not to avoid breaking up the family.
Rita Moreno net worth
How much is Rita Moreno worth? Rita Moreno net worth is estimated at around $10 million. Her main source of income is from her primary work as an actress, dancer, and singer. Rita Moreno’s salary per month and other career earnings are over $1.2 million dollars annually. She is one of the richest and most influential actresses in the United States. Her remarkable achievements have earned her some luxurious lifestyles and some fancy car trips. She stands at an appealing height of 1.57m and has a good body weight which suits her personality.