Sesame Street’s Maria Says Goodbye

Sonia Manzano has announced that she is leaving Sesame Street after 44 years.  She was 22 years old when she auditioned for the brand new series that would revolutionize children’s programming. She became Maria, one of the first Latina characters on national television. Her warmth and good humor in dealing with both human and puppet characters made her instantly relatable. Maria and her husband Luis run a fix-it shop, which gave the characters a lot of opportunities to interact, and to show that problems can be solved and that it is okay to ask for help.

Her memoir, Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx will be released next month.

We will miss her!