Rita Moreno Discusses Finding Self-Worth and Never Giving Up

NEW YORK - Rita Moreno emigrated with her mother from Puerto Rico at age five. By six, she was dancing at Greenwich Village nightclubs. By 16, she was working full time. By 20, she was performing in "Singin' in the Rain."

"I can't think of anyone I've ever met in the business who lived the American dream more than Rita Moreno," Norman Lear says in the documentary "Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It." In the decades that followed, Moreno has won a Tony, a Grammy, an Emmy and Oscar, for "West Side Story." (Her entire acceptance speech: "I don't believe it.") With seemingly infinite spiritedness, she has epitomized the best of show business while also being a victim to its cruelties. That has made Moreno, who co-stars in Steven Spielberg's upcoming "West Side Story" remake, a heroic figure to Latinos, and to others. "I have never given up," she said in a recent interview by Zoom from her home in Berkeley, California. The reason for the conversation was Mariem Pérez Riera's intimate and invigorating documentary, which opens in theaters Friday after playing virtually at the Sundance Film Festival and at an outdoor premiere at the Tribeca Festival. The film opens with Moreno preparing a Cuban themed party for her 87th birthday. "And I demand costumes," the screen legend says with a smile.