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Moreno, now using the surname of her stepfather Edward Moreno, shortened her nickname Rosita to “Rita” at the request of MGM. Mayer and she signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1949 at the age of seventeen. Then, in the true Hollywood tradition, a talent scout arranged a meeting for Moreno with Louis B. At age 13, she had her Broadway debut in the role of Angelina in Harry Kleiner’s Skydrift and dropped out of school a year later to concentrate on her show business career. The following year she began taking dance lessons, and it wasn’t long before she was performing in the children’s theater at Macy’s Department Store and at weddings and bar mitzvahs.
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A year later, five-year-old Moreno joined her mother. She left home to work as a seamstress in New York City, leaving young Moreno in the care of relatives. In the 1930s the pressures of the Depression and the side effects of the island’s rapid industrialization forced Rosa to look toward the United States for sustenance. Her mother, Rosa Maria Marcano, married Paco Alverio, a small independent farmer when she was just a teenager, but the marriage ended in divorce. Moreno was born Rosa Dolores Alverio on December 11, 1932, in Humacao, Puerto Rico. For theater, she is best known for her role as Googie Gomez in The Ritz. She voiced the titular role of Carmen Sandiego in Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? from 1994 to 1999. 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). Her vast work includes supporting roles in the musical films Singin’ in the Rain (1952), The King and I (1956), and West Side Story (1961), as well as a 1971 to 1977 stint on the children’s television series The Electric Company, and a supporting role as Sister Peter Marie Reimondo on the HBO series Oz from 1997 to 2003. Rita Moreno (born December 11, 1931) is a Puerto Rico-born American actress, dancer, and singer. Known for her notable work across different areas of the entertainment industry, she has appeared in numerous film, television, and theater projects throughout her extensive career spanning over 70 years.