Moreno's early work included supporting roles in the classic musical films Singin' in the Rain and The King and I , before her breakout role as Anita in West Side Story , which earned her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress , becoming the first Latin American woman to win an Academy Award.
She was nicknamed "Rosita" and raised in nearby Juncos. Puerto Rico and Trinidad from Spain. Moreno began her first dancing lessons soon after arriving in New York with a Spanish dancer known as "Paco Cansino", who was a paternal uncle of film star Rita Hayworth. She had her first Broadway role, as "Angelina" in the production of Skydrift , by the age of 13, which caught the attention of Hollywood talent scouts.
Moreno said she was raped by her agent while she was a teen actor. Moreno's film career began in the later years of the Golden Age of Hollywood. In the film she played silent film star Zelda Zanders. She described having gotten the role by Gene Kelly "wanting her in the movie" and that she "seemed to fit the role for him".
Moreno praised Kelly for casting her in a non-stereotypical Hispanic role playing Zelda saying, "he never said 'Oh she's too Latina', he just thought I'd be fine for it". She called the experience working in the film as an "amazing experience" and a "privilege". In the film she played Tuptim, a slave brought from Burma to be one of the King's junior wives. The film was a critical and financial success. Moreno earned acclaim for her performance. After winning the Oscar, Moreno thought she would be able to continue to perform less stereotypical film roles, but was disappointed:.
Ha, ha. I showed them. I didn't make another movie for seven years after winning the Oscar The Conchitas and Lolitas in westerns. I was always barefoot. It was humiliating, embarrassing stuff. But I did it because there was nothing else. After West Side Story , it was pretty much the same thing. A lot of gang stories. She did appear in one film during her self-imposed exile from Hollywood β Cry of Battle β although it had been filmed directly before and after she won the Academy Award.
