Trailblazing Actress Rita Moreno Featured on Cover of "AARP The Magazine"
29 Aug 2018
An award-winning actress, popular speaker and immigrant from Puerto Rico, Rita Moreno has been breaking down barriers throughout her entire career. As part of a special “Latino American Dream” edition, AARP The Magazine featured Moreno on the cover of the August/September issue.
In her interview with AARP, Moreno discussed her firsthand experiences with racism, finding her way in Hollywood as a Hispanic actress and the culture shock she experienced when she immigrated to the United States. Moreno is one of only 12 people who can claim to hold an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony). Said Moreno, “Who could imagine that even after I won the Oscar, those who could employ me would continue to cast me as a Spanish spitfire. I was still only offered those dusky maiden roles. I decided that I would never do one of those roles again: ‘Ha, ha, I’ll show them!’ But they showed me—I didn’t do a film for seven years after West Side Story. It broke my heart. I couldn’t understand it. I still don’t understand. And there you have it, Hollywood’s mindset at the time.”
A vibrant speaker with compelling personal stories about everything from Hollywood to family, health and more, Moreno inspires with her energy and positive life outlook: “I expect wonderful things to happen. That’s my outlook, and it’s a good one. It seems odd – it’s as though I’ve needed to get older to have more success.”