Rita Moreno will receive SAG-AFTRA's Life Achievement Award at the 2014 SAG Awards, the union announced today.
Moreno, 81, will be the 50th recipient of the award designed to recognize career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment.
The honor is given annually to an actor who fosters the "finest ideals of the acting profession."
Ken Howard, SAG-AFTRA co-president said of Moreno in a statement: "She is an extraordinarily versatile, talented and generous actor whose career is notable for its courageous choices and for the breadth, depth and quality of her many demanding and commanding roles. She is a magnificent actor, and I am honored to join all SAG-AFTRA members in recognizing the incomparable Rita Moreno."
Roberta Reardon, SAG-AFTRA co-president added in a statement, "No one is more deserving of this honor than the fabulous and accomplished Rita Moreno, an iconic talent whose excellent work includes hit movies, highly-rated television series, landmark public television programs and award-winning recordings. She is emblematic of the broad reach and diverse coverage of our new, merged union. She is an inspiration in every effort, but never more so than with her civil rights activism, promoting equality and diversity while ushering in a more representative depiction of the American scene on screen."
The Puerto Rico-born Moreno won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Anita in the 1961 movie West Side Story. She's also won two Emmys, a Tony, a Grammy, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of the Arts. She also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1995.
She's one of just 11 artists and the only Hispanic performer to get the coveted E.G.O.T. combination of an Emmy, Oscar, Grammy and Tony.
She also starred in the long-running PBS children's series The Electric Company. More recently, she's had roles in the TV series Oz and TV Land's Happily Divorced in which she plays the mother of Fran Drescher's character.
The 20th Annual SAG Awards will be broadcast live on TNT and TBS on January 18, 2014.
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