Rita Moreno opens up about overcoming being typecast as the 'native girl'

Rita Moreno is the first and only Latino woman to E.G.O.T. — i.e. to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony — however, the road to that highly sought after achievement wasn’t without its struggles. Along the way, she had fight through a rigid Hollywood system that refused to see her as more than one thing.

“It’s something that you don’t readily see for what it is. You just get this bad feeling about yourself, and that’s when you really helpless,” says the Puerto Rican actress. “You see a script and you say, ‘Oh, I can play the heck out of that,’ talk to your agent and he says they don’t want to see you. That’s heartbreaking.”

But, then West Side Story came along and the role of Anita changed her life. “Anita had size and presence and dignity, and she became my role model, by the way. Isn’t that interesting? It took that long for me to find a role model,” says the One Day at Time star, adding that she has to remind herself that all of the awards she’s won don’t define her worth. “It just makes me a lucky person that one time in that year.”