Rita Moreno

She is considered a living legend by many — including the Library of Congress, which bestowed its Living Legends award on her in 2000. The Puerto Rican actress, singer, and dancer is also the first Latina to win an EGOT — that is, an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award — and the list doesn’t end there. She has earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Golden Globe, a Peabody Award, and a National Medal of Arts, as well as receiving the Kennedy Center Honor and induction into the California Hall of Fame.Moreno came to New York from Puerto Rico with her mother when she was a young child, and her talent was clear from the start. She began doing voice-over work at age 11 and landed her first role on Broadway at 13 as Angelina in Skydrift. Her story is an immigrant story, but unlike many starlets who came before her (including her idol, Rita Hayworth), she didn’t lean away from Latina roles or her identity as Puerto Rican.Instead, the triple threat broke barriers for Hispanic actresses in Hollywood, codifying her breakthrough when she became the first Latina to win an Academy Award, taking home Best Supporting Actress for her role as Anita in the 1961 film West Side Story (an adaptation of the 1957 Broadway musical). Remarkably, she did not appear in a movie for seven years after that, because all the roles she was offered were what she called “island girl” parts — objectified, uneducated women with little backstory or purpose beyond the sexual gratification of the leading men.When respectable Hollywood roles dried up, Moreno found success once again on the Broadway stage,  and in television. Her voice (“Hey, you guys!”) was as well known as her presence on The Electric Company, a show created by Jim Henson. She played roles that subverted expectations on HBO’s Oz (1997-2003) and the beloved 2017 reboot of Norman Lear’s 1970s sitcom One Day at a Time.But it’s not just her triumphant career that makes Moreno a legend. She overcame decades of racism, sexism, mental health struggles, and near-constant undermining of her talent due to her stunning looks and ethnicity. She developed an unwavering self-respect, exceptional savvy, and a strategic tack of waiting — waiting for the right part, the right person to help her, the right moment.