Born in Puerto Rico as Rosa Delores Alverio, Moreno and her mother moved to the USA when she was a toddler. Almost immediately, the youngster began a performing career, appearing in shows at Macy's. By the time she was a teenager, Moreno was acting on Broadway (1945's "Skydrift"). Four years later, she was spotted by a Hollywood casting agent at a dance recital and whisked to Tinseltown with an MGM contract in hand. As the film industry rarely knew what to do with talented non-white performers, Moreno was relegated to a playing stereotypical Latina spitfires and Indian maidens in a spate of B-movies. A rare opportunity came when she was chosen to tango with Gene Kelly in the now classic "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) but her first major break came when she landed the role of Tuptim, the rebellious concubine of the Siamese monarch in "The King and I" (1956). Encouraged by co-star Yul Brynner, she studied with an acting coach and her hard work finally paid off with 1961's "West Side Story". As the fiery Anita, who sings and dances the show-stopping "America", Moreno blazed across the screen netting that year's Best Supporting Actress Academy Award.

Her post-Oscar films, though, proved unspectacular and hardly challenged this gifted player. Instead, Moreno turned to the stage, making her London debut in "She Loves Me" and appearing on Broadway in "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's