NYSUT celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, with a new poster honoring Rita Moreno.
Born in Puerto Rico, Moreno is an actress, dancer, and singer whose stage and screen career spans over seven decades. One of the last remaining stars from the golden age of Hollywood, in 1961 Moreno became the first Latina to win an Academy Award for her role as Anita in West Side Story. She also appeared in the classic musical films Singin’ in the Rain and The King and I.
In 2021, Moreno appeared in a remake of West Side Story directed by Steven Spielberg; her life was also profiled that year in the documentary Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It.
Moreno is one of only 18 EGOT award winners — performers who have received Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards — and one of only 24 to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, winning Academy, Emmy and Tony Awards. Other honors include a Golden Globe Award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award and a Kennedy Center Honor Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award.
In 2000, the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actresses renamed their Award for Excellence in her honor to the HOLA Rita Moreno Award for Excellence.
The NYSUT poster is available for download in English-language and Spanish-language versions; limited quantities are free for NYSUT members and leaders at the statewide union’s online publications ordering catalog, nysut.org/publications.
