Sonia Manzano
Manzano at the 2015 Library of Congress National Book Festival in Washington, DC
Born1950 (age 73–74)[1]
New York City, U.S.
EducationCarnegie Mellon University (BFA)
Occupations
  • Actress
  • screenwriter
  • author
  • speaker
Years active1971–present
Known forMaria on Sesame Street
Board member ofMarch of Dimes
George Foster Peabody Awards
Symphony Space
Project Sunshine Book Club
Children1
Awards15 Emmy Awards for writing, 2016 Lifetime Achievement Daytime Emmy Award
Websitewww.soniamanzano.com

Sonia Manzano (born 1950) is an American actress, screenwriter, and author. She is best known for playing Maria on Sesame Street from 1971 to 2015. She received a Lifetime Achievement Daytime Emmy Award in 2016.

Her memoir, Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx was published in 2015, and her works include the novel The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano as well as several children's books. She is the creator of the animated children's television series Alma's Way, from Fred Rogers Productions, and serves as an executive producer, writer and voice actor for the show.

Early life and education

Manzano was born and raised in the South Bronx in New York City.[2][3] Her parents came from Puerto Rico. Manzano attended the High School of Performing Arts, where she began her acting career. She attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh on a scholarship.[2][3][4] In her junior year, she came to New York to star in the original production of the off-Broadway show Godspell.[5]

Career

Manzano joined the production of Sesame Street in 1971, where she eventually began writing scripts for the series. On June 29, 2015, it was announced that Manzano would be retiring from the show after 44 years.[6][7][8] Manzano did, however, later reprise the role of Maria in the 2019 television special Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration.[9]

She has performed on the New York stage, in The Vagina Monologues and The Exonerated. She has written for the Peabody Award-winning children's series Little Bill, and has written a parenting column for the Sesame Workshop web site called "Talking Outloud".[10] She has also appeared in multiple films, including Death Wish, Firepower, Night Flowers, Wonder Woman in Cheetah on the Prowl, Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird, The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, The Guitar, Dumped!, Missing Grandma, and Godmothered, and television programs, including BJ and the Bear, Law & Order, and Law & Order: SVU.

Manzano is the author of a novel, children's books, and a memoir.[11] Her children's book No Dogs Allowed was published by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing in 2004. The book has been adapted as a stage play. She is also the author of the novel The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano (2014).[12][13] In 2015, her memoir, Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx, was published.[11][14] In 2022, her novel for children Coming Up Cuban was published, as part of a contract with Scholastic to publish two novels and two picture books for children.[15]

She has served on the March of Dimes Board; the board of the George Foster Peabody Awards;[16] and the board of a New York City theatrical institution, Symphony Space. She is a member of the board of advisors of the Project Sunshine Book Club. She was featured in the Learning Leaders (volunteers helping students succeed) poster, designed to encourage reading in NYC public schools.

In several episodes of the animated Nickelodeon series The Loud House, Manzano provides the voice of Bobby and Ronnie Anne Santiago's grandmother, Rosa Casagrande, a role she reprises in the spinoff The Casagrandes. She also portrays Judge Gloria Pepitone in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. She also provided the voice-over narration in several animated segments in the English version of the Swedish television show Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter.

On December 3, 2020, Deadline reported that Manzano would return to PBS to create a new animated children's television series titled Alma's Way.[17] In Alma's Way, which was launched by PBS in October 2021, she is the creator,[18] as well as an executive producer, writer, and voice actor.[19]

Honors and awards

Manzano was nominated twice for the Emmy Award as Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series.[20] As a writer for Sesame Street, Manzano won 15 Emmy Awards.[21][19]

In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Manzano's name and picture.[22] In 2004, she was added to the Bronx Walk of Fame.

Manzano has received awards from the Association of Hispanic Arts, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Committee for Hispanic Children and Families, the Hispanic Heritage Award for Education in 2003, and the "Groundbreaking Latina Lifetime Achievement" award from the National Association of Latina Leaders in 2005.[23] In 2005, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from University of Notre Dame.[24] The Dream Big Initiative of the Bronx Children's Museum honored Manzano in 2014.[25]

On May 1, 2016, she received the Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences presented to her by Rita Moreno and Mario Lopez, with a special introduction by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a retrospective of her career on Sesame Street featuring a montage of clips of her most iconic moments including Maria's classic Charlie Chaplin routine, her marriage to Luis, the birth of her daughter Gabi, coping with the death of Mr. Hooper, and appearances by fellow cast and guests including Emilio Delgado, Bob McGrath, Alan Muraoka, Loretta Long, Big Bird, Rosita, Elmo, and Sonia's real life friend Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.[26][27]

Selected works

Books

  • No Dogs Allowed! (2004)[28]
  • A Box Full of Kittens (2007)[29]
  • The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano (2014)[30]
  • Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx (2015)[31]
  • Miracle on 133rd Street (2015)[32]
  • A World Together (2020)[33]
  • Coming Up Cuban (2022)[34]

References

  1. ↑ Graeber, Laurel (October 3, 2021). "In 'Alma's Way,' a Young Latina Thinks for Herself, Like Her Creator". The New York Times.
  2. 1 2 "'Sesame Street's' Maria, Sonia Manzano, is retiring". Telegram & Gazette. Archived from the original on July 3, 2015. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Lindsey Bever (July 2, 2015). "'Maria,' surely the most-loved person on TV, is leaving 'Sesame Street'". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Sesame Street's Sonia Manzano gets political with new novel". NBC Latino. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Sonia Manzano, who played Maria on 'Sesame Street,' retiring after 44 years". Southern California Public Radio. July 2, 2015. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  6. ↑ "44 years after joining the show, Sesame Street's Maria is retiring". The A.V. Club. July 2015. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Sonia Manzano, Maria on 'Sesame Street,' to Retire After 44 Years". ArtsBeat - New York Times Blog. July 2, 2015.
  8. ↑ American Libraries [@amlibraries] (June 29, 2015). "After 45 years on Sesame Street, @SoniaMManzano will no longer appear on the next season. #alaac15" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. ↑ "Who is the 'Sesame Street' 50th anniversary special actually for?". Los Angeles Times. November 9, 2019. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  10. ↑ "Season 43 - Cast Bios - Sonia Manzano". Sesame Workshop. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  11. 1 2 Gustines, George Gene (September 1, 2015). "Maria on 'Sesame Street,' Sonia Manzano, Tells of Her Own Childhood". The New York Times. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  12. ↑ "The We're the People Summer Reading List, Part II: Middle Grade Books". Times Union. June 9, 2015. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  13. ↑ Steven Lane (September 10, 2014). "'Sesame Street' actor, writer discusses complexity of parenting in fundraising talk for YWCA". The Columbian. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  14. ↑ "In New Memoir, Maria Tells Us How She Got, How She Got To 'Sesame Street'". NPR. August 24, 2015. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  15. ↑ López, Kaitlin (May 11, 2021). "Cover Reveal: 'Coming Up Cuban' by Sonia Manzano". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  16. ↑ "The Peabody Awards". Peabody Award. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  17. ↑ Del Rosario, Alexandria (December 3, 2020). "'Alma's Way': PBS Kids Announces New Animated Series From Sonia Manzano & Fred Rogers Productions". Retrieved December 16, 2020.
  18. ↑ Nelson, Adiba (October 5, 2021). "With 'Alma's Way' on PBS Kids, Afro-Latino children finally have characters they can relate to". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
  19. 1 2 Graeber, Laurel (October 3, 2021). "In 'Alma's Way,' a Young Latina Thinks for Herself, Like Her Creator". The New York Times. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  20. ↑ Mackie, Drew (July 1, 2015). "After 44 Years, 'Sesame Street' 's Maria Is Retiring". People. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
  21. ↑ Cruz, Gilbert (July 2, 2015). "Sonia Manzano, Maria on 'Sesame Street,' to Retire After 44 Years". The New York Times.
  22. ↑ Wulf, Steve (March 23, 2015). "Supersisters: Original Roster". ESPN. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  23. ↑ "Emmy® winner and author Sonia Manzano opens Joint Conference of Librarians of Color" (Press release). American Library Association. March 1, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  24. ↑ "The 2005 honorary degree recipients". Notre Dame Magazine. University of Notre Dame. Summer 2005. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  25. ↑ "Bronx Children's Museum". Retrieved July 2, 2015.
  26. ↑ Hennes, Joe (May 5, 2016). "Watch Sonia Manzano Receive Her Lifetime Achievement Emmy". ToughPigs. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  27. ↑ Gonzalez, David (August 2, 2015). "2 Proud Daughters of the Bronx Share More Than a Name". The New York Times. Retrieved December 12, 2022.
  28. ↑ Reviews of No Dogs Allowed!
  29. ↑ Reviews of A Box Full of Kittens
  30. ↑ Reviews of The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano
  31. ↑ Reviews of Becoming Maria
  32. ↑ Reviews of Miracle on 133rd Street
  33. ↑ Review of A World Together
  34. ↑ Reviews of Coming Up Cuban
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