The best Rita Moreno movies and TV shows include at least one musical that is considered among the greatest of all time and another that is beloved by millions. Moreno was born in Puerto Rico and moved to New York City with her mother when she was five and began taking dancing lessons before getting her first Broadway role when she was only 13. That led to a massively successful career on the stage, where she appeared in Guys and Dolls, The Odd Couple, and Sunset Boulevard, among others.
Moreno parlayed that success into movies and TV, and she has since become an EGOT recipient, winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award. In a 15-year span, Moreno won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar (1961), Best Album for Children Grammy (1973), Best Featured Actress in a Play Tony (1975), and Outstanding Outstanding Continuing or Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in Variety or Music Emmy (1977). As of 2023, Moreno was still acting in her 90s.
10 Fast X (2023)
Rita Moreno Played Abuelita Toretto
In 2023, Rita Moreno took on the role of Abuelita Toretto, the grandmother of Dom Toretto in Fast X in the Fast & Furious movie franchise. She didn’t have a big role in the film, but it was an important one as Dom was there to welcome his grandmother to his house and give her some time with her great-grandson Brian. However, it is unclear if Moreno will be able to return to the franchise for Fast 11, which is due out in 2026 and will kick off from the cliffhanger ending of Fast X.
Fast X sees a face from the past return, as Dante Reyes is the son of Hernan Reyes, the villain that Dom and Brian helped stop (and kill) in Fast Five, which is the first movie with Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs. In Fast X, Dante (Jason Momoa) wants revenge against everyone responsible for his dad’s death and starts a series of events that leads Dom and his “family” into a deadly trap, one that not all of them will make it out of alive.
9 Slums Of Beverly Hills (1998)
Rita Moreno Played Belle Abromowitz
In 1988, Rita Moreno joined the cast of the comedy-drama Slums of Beverly Hills. The film follows 14-year-old Vivian (Natasha Lyonne), a teen whose parents are broke nomads, moving from one cheap apartment to another in 1976 Beverly Hills to ensure that Vivian and her brothers can attend the good schools in the area. Alan Arkin stars as her father, Murray, while Rita Moreno stars as her wealthy Aunt Belle. The film is loosely based on director Tamara Jenkins’ own childhood experiences.
Critics loved the film, giving it an 81% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score.
The movie was a small indie release, but it barely made back its budget at the box office. However, critics loved the film, giving it an 81% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score for its humor and warmth. It also earned several nominations at the end of the year, including Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards and Funniest Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for Marisa Tomei.
8 Carnal Knowledge (1971)
Rita Moreno Played Louise
In 1971, Rita Moreno joined the cast of the comedy-drama Carnal Knowledge. Directed by Mike Nichols (The Graduate), the movie starred some faces who would end up as huge stars in the future. The plot takes place at a 1940s college where a student named Sandy (singer Arthur Garfunkel) begins dating a girl named Susan (Muphy Brown’s Candice Bergen). However, she is also pursued by a womanizer named Jonathan (Jack Nicholson), and after she chooses Sandy, the story jumps ahead a few years.
Rita Moreno stars in
Carnal Knowledge
as Louise, a sex worker who shows up at the end of the movie.
From here, the relationships become entangled, and dark secrets begin to unfold. Rita Moreno stars in Carnal Knowledge as Louise, a sex worker who shows up at the end of the movie in a humorous scene with Jonathan where each of them quotes from a script that Jonathan wrote, showing it is the only way he can find pleasure after his years of promiscuity. Rotten Tomatoes critics rated at 88% fresh, while Ann Margret earned an Oscar nomination. Margaret won a Golden Globe, while Nicholson and Garfunkel received nominations.
7 I Like It Like That (1994)
Rita Moreno Played Rosaria Linares
In 1994, Rita Moreno starred in the comedy-drama I Like it Like That, a film that follows a young Puerto Rican couple living in poverty in the South Bronx. Lauren Vélez stars as Lisette Linares, a mother of three who has to find a way to support her family when her husband is arrested for looting during a blackout. Lisette gets a job as a personal assistant to a major record label producer, Stephen Price (Griffin Dunne), but when her husband gets out of jail, things start to fall apart for their entire family.
The film received mostly positive reviews, sitting at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Rita Moreno stars as Rosaria Linares, Lisette’s mother. She appears in an important part of the movie when Lisette’s transgender sister Alexis goes to visit their parents and is only insulted by her mother and possibly assaulted by her father. The film received mostly positive reviews, sitting at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. It also finished on several best-of lists for the year, including at the Los Angeles Daily News and New York Times.
6 One Day At A Time (2017-2020)
Rita Moreno Played Lydia Riera
In 2017, Netflix released a surprisingly great re-imagining of a classic CBS sitcom. The sitcom was One Day at a Time, and the big change was that the family living in the apartment building was Latino rather than white. What resulted was a reboot that was even better than the original, thanks to its topical and smart writing and the willingness to tackle often difficult subject matter. The mother in the series is Penélope, an Army veteran with PTSD who moves her and her kids in with her Cuban mother.
Rita Moreno stars as Lydia Riera, Penélope’s mother, with whom she moves in. She ran from Cuba when Fidel Castro took power and was a dancer in her younger days. The series ran for three seasons, but Netflix canceled it despite its critical praise. However, Paramount picked it up, and the show ran for one more season on Pop TV. The series has an overall 99% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with 89% from the audience. It won Primetime Emmy Awards in 2019 and 2020.
5 Oz (1997-2003)
Rita Moreno Played Sister Peter Marie Reimondo
Oz was one of HBO’s critically acclaimed series that ran in the late 90s and early 2000s. The prison drama followed the lives of inmates and guards at the Oswald State Correctional Facility, nicknamed Oz. The series was hugely popular but was also a mature audience-only series, as the violence, sexual assaults, and brutality on hand were often pushing boundaries during its run. Several big names were on the series, from Ernie Hudson and J.K. Simmons to Christopher Meloni and Luke Perry.
There was only one woman in the main cast for the entire series’ run: Rita Moreno as Sister Peter Marie Reimondo.
However, there was only one woman in the main cast for the entire series run: Rita Moreno as Sister Peter Marie Reimondo. She was a nun who was the prison’s main drug counselor and psychologist. She served as a main character for all six seasons of the show. Critics loved it, with a 93% fresh Rotten Tomatoes score and 95% from the audience rating. It also earned two Emmy nominations, although it didn’t win either of them.
4 West Side Story (1961)
Rita Moreno Played Anita
Rita Moreno is best known for her roles in musicals. One of her most successful roles came in the 1961 Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins movie adaptation of West Side Story. The story is inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and follows the story of two teenage gangs who fight each other for control of the Upper West Side in New York City. The police want to shut both gangs down, but the violence continues. When a guy from one gang falls in love with the sister of someone in the rival gang, tragedy befalls them.
Rita Moreno won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar as Anita
Richard Beymer stars as Tony, a member of the Jets who falls in love with Natalie Wood’s Maria, whose brother Bernardo is in the Sharks. Rita Moreno stars as Anita, Bernardo’s girlfriend and Maria’s closest friend. West Side Story has a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score and is considered one of the greatest musical movies of all time. It was nominated for 12 Oscars and won 11 of them, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress for Rita Moreno.
3 The King And I (1956)
Rita Moreno Played Tuptim
In 1956, Rita Moreno took on the role of Tuptim in the movie adaptation of the 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I. Made only five years after the musical began, this was one of the first and easily the best adaptation of the stage play on the big screen. Directed by Walter Lang (There’s No Business Like Show Business), the film tells the story of a widowed school teacher who goes to Bangkok with her young son to tutor children there. She lives at the palace, and constantly butts head with the King.
The King and I
is a tragedy, and it is Tuptim’s story that hits the hardest.
Deborah Kerr stars as the widowed school teacher, while Yul Brynner is King Mongkut of Siam. Rita Moreno stars as Tuptim, one of the King’s wives and someone unhappy with her role in his life, wishing to find real love herself. The King and I is a tragedy, and it is Tuptim’s story that hits the hardest. Rotten Tomatoes critics awarded the film a 93% fresh rating, and it won five Oscars out of nine nominations.
2 West Side Story (2021)
Rita Moreno Played Valentina
While many fans consider the 1961 version of West Side Story to be one of the best musical movies of all time, there is a lot that Steven Spidlberg’s version does that makes it stand above the previous release. The biggest improvement on the original was Spielberg’s success in eliminating many of the racial stereotypes that existed in the original while adding some incredible dance choreography and dazzling cinematography to create a true masterpiece.
Rita Moreno was also a connection to the original. While she played Anita in the first film, and won an Oscar for it, here Moreno played a newly created character made just for her, Valentina, a shop owner who takes a protective stance over Tony in the film. Critics praised the movie, awarding it a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score. West Side Story earned seven Oscar nominations, with Ariana DeBose winning for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Anita.
1 Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
Rita Moreno Played Zelda Zanders
Rita Moreno had only been acting in movies for two years when she landed a role in the musical Singin’ in the Rain. This was a huge opportunity for her, and it helped set up her continued role as one of the best musical actors of her generation for years to come. Singin’ in the Rain is a romantic musical comedy about Hollywood in the 1920s as the industry moved on from silent films to talkies. Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds headlined the cast.
It has a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating.
Rita Moreno stars as Zelda Zanders, the “Zip Girl” and Lina’s (Jean Hagen) friend. It has secured its legacy in Hollywood history, and many critics call it not only the best musical movie ever made but one of the best films ever made, regardless of genre. It has a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating, a 95% according to the audience score, and an almost perfect 99 out of 100 on Metacritic. It only had two Oscar nominations, but its legacy proves the Oscars dropped the ball on this masterpiece.
