Belita Moreno

Moreno majored in Theatre at Southern Methodist University.[http://smu.edu/meadows/theatre/alumni.asp SMU Theatre Department Alumni] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025034255/http://smu.edu/meadows/theatre/alumni.asp |date=2008-10-25 }} at [http://smu.edu Southern Methodist University official website] She continued her acting studies at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, California, where she appeared in the musical Once Upon a Mattress.[http://www.pcpa.org/Default.asp?Page=50 PCPA Theaterfest History][http://www.ccalac.org/files/Education/Symposium/BELITA%20MORENO%20biography.pdf Belita Moreno Biography] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721115111/http://www.ccalac.org/files/Education/Symposium/BELITA%20MORENO%20biography.pdf |date=July 21, 2011 }} from [http://www.ccalac.org Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County] official website Moreno is married to Joel Rudnick, a talent agent. The couple have two children.{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}}

Soon after Moreno arrived in Hollywood, California, to pursue her acting career, she met director Robert Altman,{{Citation needed |date=May 2024}} and landed roles in three of his films: 3 Women, A Wedding, and A Perfect Couple. She appeared in many other films, including Mommie Dearest, Swing Shift, Oh, God! You Devil, Nobody's Fool, Men Don't Leave, Clear and Present Danger and Grosse Pointe Blank.

Moreno was a regular on the long-running ABC sitcom Perfect Strangers from 1986 to 1992. Her work on television includes appearances in television movies, such as Crazy From the Heart and Death Benefit, the miniseries Tales of the City, and in numerous sitcoms and dramatic series, including The Golden Girls, Family Ties, Valerie and Melrose Place. Moreno played Benny Lopez, George Lopez's mother, on George Lopez (2002–07).

During the 1980s, Moreno was a favorite of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Beth Henley. Moreno performed in at least four premieres of Henley's plays. Henley created several roles specifically for Moreno: "Popeye" in The Miss Firecracker Contest, some dialogue of which was based on a true story told to the playwright by Moreno,[http://www.dsq-sds.org/article/view/433/610 Disability Studies Quarterly], "Enlightened by Our Afflictions" by M. Beth Meszaros, Vol 23, No 3/4 (2003) and "Lacey Rollins" in the two-act play The Lucky Spot. Moreno performed in Firecracker at the Victory Theater in Burbank, California in 1980, and in Lucky Spot off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 1987.

Moreno also appeared in Henley's 1982 Broadway premiere at the Eugene O'Neill Theater of The Wake of Jamey Foster as "Katty Foster", directed by Ulu Grosbard, and in the 1989 world premiere of Abundance, as "Macon" at the South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California.[https://books.google.com/books?id=6qhGX-xAFFgC&q=%22the+plays+of+beth+henley:+a+critical+study%22 The Plays Of Beth Henley: A Critical Study] by Gene A. Plunka. McFarland & Company: 2005

Since the early 1990s, Moreno has served as an acting coach and advisor on numerous films,[https://www.variety.com/profiles/people/Credits/741760/%20.html?dataSet=1 Belita Moreno credits at Variety.com] such as Jerry Maguire, Rush Hour 2, Almost Famous, Parent Trap, The Family Man, Crossroads and 17 Again.[http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/1438196/Belita_Moreno_Credits Moreno acting credits at Hollywood.com] She also appeared on Wizards of Waverly Place on Disney Desperate Housewives on ABC, and Fairly Legal on USA Network.

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• {{IMDb name|0603890|Belita Moreno}}
• [http://www.starpulse.com/Actresses/Moreno,_Belita Belita Moreno profile at Starpulse.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619002634/http://www.starpulse.com/Actresses/Moreno,_Belita/ |date=2013-06-19 }}
• [http://www.familytreelegends.com/records/20902?last=Moreno&SubmitSearch=Submit&SubmitSearch.x=59&14=DALLAS&4=F&spelling=Exact&c=search&SubmitSearch.y=15&11_day=0&11_month=0&offset=20 Date of birth of Belita Moreno confirmed as November 1, 1949 at Texas Births, 1926-1995. Family Tree Legends Records Collection (Online Database). Pearl Street Software, 2004-2005]

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Category:Living people

Category:1949 births

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American film actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:Actresses from Dallas

Category:Southern Methodist University alumni

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:21st-century American actresses