Puerto Rican singer, dancer, and actress Rita Moreno lives in the collective memory of moviegoers as Anita, dancing up a storm and singing "I like to be in America, all right with me in America" in the 1961 screen version of West Side Story. She won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance, the first Hispanic actress to do so but, more significantly, the film brought this uniquely dynamic, fiery, and talented performer wide recognition in America and abroad, and led to a greater awareness of the talent that existed in the Hispanic community.

Born Rosita Dolores Alverio in Humacao, Puerto Rico, in 1931, Moreno was raised in a New York City tenement by her divorced mother, a seamstress, and despite not having much money the child was able to take dance lessons with Paco Cansino, uncle of Rita Hayworth, who soon had her performing...