# Sonia Manzano
**Sonia Manzano** (born 1950 in New York City) is an American actress and writer best known for playing Maria on the children's television series *Sesame Street* from 1971 until her retirement in 2015, a run of 44 years.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0544448/) • [2](https://news.wttw.com/2025/05/15/sonia-manzano-sesame-street-early-childhood-education-and-sharing-puerto-rican-culture) A first-generation American of Puerto Rican descent raised in the [South Bronx](https://www.edgepedia.org/south-bronx), she also won 15 [Emmy Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/emmy-awards) as a writer for the show, authored children's books and a memoir, and created the PBS KIDS animated series *Alma's Way*.[3](https://sesameworkshop.org/about-us/press-room/sonia-manzano-maria/) • [4](https://www.pbssocal.org/education/families/sonia-manzano-on-how-sesame-street-her-childhood-and-heritage-shaped-almas-way)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1950, New York City[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0544448/) |
| Signature role | Maria on *Sesame Street*, 1971 to 2015, 44 years[2](https://news.wttw.com/2025/05/15/sonia-manzano-sesame-street-early-childhood-education-and-sharing-puerto-rican-culture) |
| Writing Emmys | 15 Emmy Awards as part of the *Sesame Street* writing staff; wrote for the program starting in 1981[3](https://sesameworkshop.org/about-us/press-room/sonia-manzano-maria/) • [5](https://time.com/3944289/sesame-street-maria-sonia-manzano/) |
| Training | High School of Performing Arts; Carnegie Mellon University on scholarship, left in her junior year for the original off-Broadway *Godspell*[6](https://soniamanzano.com/bio/) |
| Books | *No Dogs Allowed!* (2004), *A Box Full of Kittens* (2007), *The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano* (2012, Pura Belpré Honor), *Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx* (2015)[3](https://sesameworkshop.org/about-us/press-room/sonia-manzano-maria/) |
| Later television | Creator of *Alma's Way* (PBS KIDS, 2021), produced with Fred Rogers Productions[4](https://www.pbssocal.org/education/families/sonia-manzano-on-how-sesame-street-her-childhood-and-heritage-shaped-almas-way) |
| Major honors | Lifetime Achievement Daytime Emmy (May 2016); Hispanic Heritage Award for Education (2003); Bronx Hall of Fame (2004)[3](https://sesameworkshop.org/about-us/press-room/sonia-manzano-maria/) |
## Early life and training
Manzano was raised in the South Bronx, where teachers encouraged her to audition for Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts; she was accepted and began her career as an actress there.[6](https://soniamanzano.com/bio/) A scholarship enabled her enrollment at [Carnegie Mellon University](https://www.edgepedia.org/carnegie-mellon-university) in Pittsburgh, and during her junior year she traveled to New York, where she starred in the original cast of the off-Broadway show *Godspell*.[6](https://soniamanzano.com/bio/) She has described her childhood television viewing as an escape from difficult circumstances, and has said she never saw people like herself reflected on the screen.[7](https://www.wlrn.org/light/arts-culture/2026-04-09/sesame-street-smart-sonia-manzano-maria)
## Sesame Street, 1971 to 2015
Within a year of *Godspell*, Manzano joined the production of *Sesame Street* in 1971, playing Maria, a human resident of the neighborhood.[6](https://soniamanzano.com/bio/) • [3](https://sesameworkshop.org/about-us/press-room/sonia-manzano-maria/) She later recalled that she "simply got cast" and did not realize the role would continue for years.[2](https://news.wttw.com/2025/05/15/sonia-manzano-sesame-street-early-childhood-education-and-sharing-puerto-rican-culture) Maria eventually became a wife, mother, and Fix-It Shop owner, and Manzano earned two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for the role.[5](https://time.com/3944289/sesame-street-maria-sonia-manzano/)
**Writing for the show.** Manzano began writing scripts for the series in 1981 and won 15 Emmy Awards as part of its writing staff.[5](https://time.com/3944289/sesame-street-maria-sonia-manzano/) • [3](https://sesameworkshop.org/about-us/press-room/sonia-manzano-maria/) In a 2021 interview she said she had been a writer for at least 25 of her 44 years on the show.[4](https://www.pbssocal.org/education/families/sonia-manzano-on-how-sesame-street-her-childhood-and-heritage-shaped-almas-way) She helped write the story lines for Maria's marriage to Luis, played by Emilio Delgado, and for the birth of Maria's baby, who was played for a while by Manzano's real-life daughter Gabriela.[6](https://soniamanzano.com/bio/) The 1988 onscreen wedding was widely watched; Manzano later wrote that at a time when Latinos on television were often the butt of a joke, the storyline presented "flesh-and-blood Latinos wanting the same things out of life as other Americans," and that viewers' affection for the couple was so strong that some believed the actors had really married.[8](https://time.com/6158342/sonia-manzano-sesame-street-emilio-delgado/) She also wrote the research and script for the 1983 episode "Farewell, Mr. Hooper," which addressed the death of the character after actor Will Lee died.[9](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/sonia-manzano)
**Departure.** Manzano announced her retirement at the American Library Association Annual Conference in July 2015, and retired after 44 years as Maria.[5](https://time.com/3944289/sesame-street-maria-sonia-manzano/) • [2](https://news.wttw.com/2025/05/15/sonia-manzano-sesame-street-early-childhood-education-and-sharing-puerto-rican-culture) She briefly reprised the role in 2019 for the television special *Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration*.[2](https://news.wttw.com/2025/05/15/sonia-manzano-sesame-street-early-childhood-education-and-sharing-puerto-rican-culture)
## Representation on television
Manzano's casting carried particular weight because of the scarcity of Latina performers in regular television roles at the time. A 2026 account of her career describes her as the first Latina to appear in a regular TV series, and a PBS profile describes Maria as the first Latina character on the popular children's show.[10](https://www.the74million.org/zero2eight/new-documentary-traces-groundbreaking-career-of-sesame-street-star/) • [11](https://video.kpbs.org/video/sonia-manzano-OZS0w1/) In her 2004 Television Academy oral history interview, she discussed her prominence as a role model for Latinos on television and the difficulty Hispanic actors faced in finding non-stereotypical roles.[9](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/sonia-manzano) In May 2016 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the 43rd Annual Daytime Emmys, cited for her role as a pioneer in the representation of Latinos on television and for 44 years of portraying Maria.[3](https://sesameworkshop.org/about-us/press-room/sonia-manzano-maria/)
## Books
Manzano's children's book *No Dogs Allowed!* was published by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing in 2004; in 2005 [General Mills](https://www.edgepedia.org/general-mills) selected it for its Spoonfuls of Stories series, and over one million copies were given away in cereal boxes.[6](https://soniamanzano.com/bio/) Her second book, *A Box Full of Kittens*, appeared in 2007. Her first young adult novel, *The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano*, published by Scholastic in 2012, draws on her own youth during a period when, as the publisher put it, young Latinos took control of their destinies, and was chosen as a Pura Belpré Honor Book.[3](https://sesameworkshop.org/about-us/press-room/sonia-manzano-maria/) • [12](https://www.scholastic.com/internationalsales/int_sales_092812/Fall%202012%20Trade.pdf) In 2015 she published the memoir *Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx*, which was named a New York Times Notable Children's Book of 2015 and a Kirkus Best Teen Book of 2015, along with the Christmas picture book *Miracle on 133rd Street*.[3](https://sesameworkshop.org/about-us/press-room/sonia-manzano-maria/) • [13](https://soniamanzano.com/awards/) Her picture book *A World Together* ([National Geographic Kids](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-geographic-kids), 2020) uses photographs to introduce young readers to global similarities and differences.[14](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/sonia-manzano/a-world-together/)
## Alma's Way and later work
After retiring from *Sesame Street*, Manzano created *Alma's Way*, an animated PBS KIDS series produced with Fred Rogers Productions that follows Alma Rivera, a Bronx-born Puerto Rican girl who solves problems using her signature "Think Throughs."[4](https://www.pbssocal.org/education/families/sonia-manzano-on-how-sesame-street-her-childhood-and-heritage-shaped-almas-way) • [15](https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/thinking-it-through-the-real-life-inspiration-behind-almas-way) The idea came from Linda Simensky at PBS KIDS, who asked Manzano to create a show centered on a Latino family; Manzano said she had been content writing books and had not planned to create another children's series.[4](https://www.pbssocal.org/education/families/sonia-manzano-on-how-sesame-street-her-childhood-and-heritage-shaped-almas-way) The show is aimed at children ages 4 to 8, and its videos and games are available in English and Spanish across PBS KIDS platforms.[16](https://foundation.pbs.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/b3277c3048_PBSAnnualDEIReport2022.pdf) Manzano serves as executive producer, writer, and voice actor on the series, in which she voices Granny Isa.[17](https://current.org/2025/11/new-documentary-examines-life-of-sesame-street-trailblazer-sonia-manzano/) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0544448/) A third season was in production for release in 2026, with planned episodes on topics including Black cowboys, different hair textures, and grieving.[17](https://current.org/2025/11/new-documentary-examines-life-of-sesame-street-trailblazer-sonia-manzano/)
She has also written for the Peabody Award-winning children's series *Little Bill*, performed on the New York stage in *The Vagina Monologues*, *The Exonerated*, and *Love, Loss, and What I Wore*, and appeared in the films *Follow That Bird* (1985) and *[The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-adventures-of-elmo-in-grouchland)* (1999).[3](https://sesameworkshop.org/about-us/press-room/sonia-manzano-maria/) • [6](https://soniamanzano.com/bio/)
## Documentary
The documentary *Street Smart: Lessons from a TV Icon*, directed by television writer Ernie Bustamante, premiered on November 16, 2025 as part of the DOC NYC film festival.[18](https://www.womansworld.com/entertainment/celebrities/sonia-manzano-talks-her-legendary-44-year-run-as-maria-on-sesame-street) The film grew out of Bustamante's response to Manzano's memoir, which he first imagined as a sitcom before pivoting to documentary form, and combines interviews, archival footage, original animation, and staged dramatizations of scenes from her life.[17](https://current.org/2025/11/new-documentary-examines-life-of-sesame-street-trailblazer-sonia-manzano/)
## References
1. [Sonia Manzano, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0544448/)
2. [Sonia Manzano on 'Sesame Street,' Early Childhood Education and Sharing Puerto Rican Culture, WTTW News (May 15, 2025)](https://news.wttw.com/2025/05/15/sonia-manzano-sesame-street-early-childhood-education-and-sharing-puerto-rican-culture)
3. [Sonia Manzano — "Maria", Sesame Workshop](https://sesameworkshop.org/about-us/press-room/sonia-manzano-maria/)
4. [Sonia Manzano on How 'Sesame Street,' Her Childhood and Heritage Shaped 'Alma's Way', PBS SoCal (October 4, 2021)](https://www.pbssocal.org/education/families/sonia-manzano-on-how-sesame-street-her-childhood-and-heritage-shaped-almas-way)
5. [Sesame Street's Maria Is Departing After More Than 40 Years, Time (July 2, 2015)](https://time.com/3944289/sesame-street-maria-sonia-manzano/)
6. [Bio, Sonia Manzano official website](https://soniamanzano.com/bio/)
7. [From the South Bronx to Sesame Street: The evolution of Sonia Manzano, WLRN (April 9, 2026)](https://www.wlrn.org/light/arts-culture/2026-04-09/sesame-street-smart-sonia-manzano-maria)
8. [Sesame Street's Sonia Manzano Pays Tribute to Her On-Screen Husband, Emilio Delgado, Time (March 17, 2022)](https://time.com/6158342/sonia-manzano-sesame-street-emilio-delgado/)
9. [Sonia Manzano, Television Academy Interviews](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/sonia-manzano)
10. [New Documentary Traces Groundbreaking Career of 'Sesame Street' Star, The 74 (May 29, 2026)](https://www.the74million.org/zero2eight/new-documentary-traces-groundbreaking-career-of-sesame-street-star/)
11. [She Was First | Sonia Manzano, KPBS](https://video.kpbs.org/video/sonia-manzano-OZS0w1/)
12. [One of America's most influential Hispanics—'Maria' on Sesame Street—presents a powerful new novel, Scholastic Fall 2012 catalog](https://www.scholastic.com/internationalsales/int_sales_092812/Fall%202012%20Trade.pdf)
13. [Awards & Honors, Sonia Manzano official website](https://soniamanzano.com/awards/)
14. [A World Together, Kirkus Reviews (May 2020)](https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/sonia-manzano/a-world-together/)
15. [Thinking It Through: The Real-Life Inspiration Behind "Alma's Way", PBS KIDS for Parents (September 8, 2021)](https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/thinking-it-through-the-real-life-inspiration-behind-almas-way)
16. [PBS Foundation Annual DEI Report 2022](https://foundation.pbs.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/b3277c3048_PBSAnnualDEIReport2022.pdf)
17. [New documentary examines life of 'Sesame Street' trailblazer Sonia Manzano, Current (November 19, 2025)](https://current.org/2025/11/new-documentary-examines-life-of-sesame-street-trailblazer-sonia-manzano/)
18. [Sonia Manzano Talks Her Legendary 44-Year Run as Maria on 'Sesame Street', Woman's World (November 15, 2025)](https://www.womansworld.com/entertainment/celebrities/sonia-manzano-talks-her-legendary-44-year-run-as-maria-on-sesame-street)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames M to Ma*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license