Hispanic+Essay+ICS16RAP

 **Overcoming Challenges**

 Many Hispanics have obstacles in the countries they were originally from and have hope in migrating from there to the United States. One person who came to the United States is Rita Moreno. She was an actor, singer, and dancer. She was born on December 11, 1931 in Humacao Puerto Rico. She was the only female entertainer to have won all four of the most prestigious show business awards: the Oscar for the role of Anita in the 1962 film West Side Story, the Tony for the role of Googie Gomez in the 1975 production of The Ritz, Emmy awards in 1977 and 1978 for appearances on The Muppet Show and The Rockford Files, and a Grammy for her 1972 performance on The Electric Company Album. She has made so many great accomplishments that she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1995. (Rita Moreno 1931)

She began her career in show business at an early age. She appeared on Broadway and in her first film role in her early teens. She also left school around that time. Moreno is best known for her work in West Side Story (1961), a modern musical inspired by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. She had to sing, dance, and remember very dramatic films. She won an award for best supporting actress for her portrayal of Anita, the tough but vulnerable girlfriend to the Shark's gang leader. She continues to appear in television shows, featured films, and sing and perform in theatrical productions. Some films and television shows she has been in are in //So young So Bad, The Toast of New Orleans, Pagan Love song, Cattle Town, and Untamed,// //Father Knows Best, Bourbon street Beat, Burke's Law, and// //Out to lunch. (Rita Moreno)//

In 1961, after many career struggles, she was the first Hispanic to win an Oscar- the best actress for her role in as Anita in West Side Story. It gave her the sense of self-worth she had lacked, a boost which, fortunately or not, left her with the courage to say no to the demeaning roles she was offered. When Rosa Dolores Alverío was 5, she and her mother left Puerto Rico and moved to Spanish Harlem, where they shared a tenement apartment with an aunt and other relatives she had. She was very poor. Her and her mother shared a bed. It was an old iron bed with a sagging mattress. Whenever you would turn on the lights, hundreds of cockroaches would scatter. For her entire career she has been fighting against stereotypes. This caused her not to get offered anymore movie interviews. The only movie interviews she could get were gang movies. (Rita Moreno Overcame)

In addition to her struggles in her professional life, she had to deal with struggles in her personal life. She stated that Elvis Presley was not a good lover. They dated for awhile, but when an opportunity was present to take the relationship further, he backed off. She didn't have a great love live at the time. She had relationships with other actors Anthony Quinn, Dennis Hopper, and theater critic Kenneth Tynan. She claims Tynan stocked her. On June 18, 1965, she got married to Leonard Gordon, a cardiologist who was her manager. They had one daughter, Fernanda Luisa Fisher, and two grandsons, Justin and Cameron Fisher. She once thought of leaving him, but she didn't want to break their family. He died on June 30, 2010 (Rita Moreno). She once thought of killing herself because she kept going back to Marlon Brando after all of the humiliations. One morning in Brando's house, when she was alone, she tried to kill herself by taking pills. She couldn't take the self-hatred anymore. She looked at herself in the mirror with the pills in her hand and swallowed them all. She didn't take them one at a time because she was scared she might change her mind. She remembers saying, "See, that wasn't so hard." After that, she went to bed to die. Brando's assistant found her and took her to the hospital. (Rita Moreno Still)

As you can see she is an inspiration to many Latino's. She overcame adversity by coming to the United states and originally being somewhere with nothing, to a high society, and making right decisions and doing what is best for her. She showed many people that even when you're going through a hard time, there is always a way to get through it. Many people look up to her for her great accomplishments and change in the world. She has inspired me and I am sure many other people to follow your dreams. She started out as a young girl one day in New York City, in 1937. She began her professional career there before meeting adolescence. She got her first movie experience at age 11 dubbing Spanish language versions of US films. Before her 14 birthday she got her first Broadway debut in the play "Skydrift." After that, she didn't appear on Broadway in two decades. She followed her dreams and had great passion in her work, that she became an inspiration to many people and is a great influence in our world today. (Biography)


 * Work Cited:**

"Biography." //IMDb//. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 04 May 2016. .


 * This is a good source because I continue to find some of the same facts that are on Miami Herald

"Rita Moreno." //Bio.com//. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2016. .


 * This is a good source because I continue to find some of the same facts that are on Miami Herald

"Rita Moreno 1931." //Brief Biographies//. Net Industries, n.d. Web. .


 * This is a good source because I continue to find some of the same facts that is on Miami Herald

"Rita Moreno Overcame Hispanic Stereotypes to Achieve Stardom." //Rita Moreno Overcame Hispanic Stereotypes to Achieve Stardom//. The Miami Herald, n.d. Web. 26 Apr. 2016. .


 * This is a good source because you can assume they would not publish something inaccurate because they are a huge newspaper company

"RitaMoreno: Still Sizzling." //CBSNews//. CBS Interactive, n.d. Web. 04 May 2016. .
 * This is a reliable source because the TV station made it

<span class="citation_text">"Rita Moreno." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Moreno>.


 * <span class="citation_text">This is a good source because it was approved by my teacher