Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Sonia Manzano to retire after 44 years on Sesame Street

LOS ANGELES — Sesame Street is losing one of its most recognisable faces.

Sesame Street's Maria, Sonia Manzano is retiring after 44 years. Photo: PBS

Sesame Street's Maria, Sonia Manzano is retiring after 44 years. Photo: PBS

LOS ANGELES — Sesame Street is losing one of its most recognisable faces.

Sonia Manzano, who played Maria on the long-running PBS children's show, is retiring 44 years after joining the series, she said at the American Library Association Annual Conference.

Manzano first appeared on Sesame Street in 1971, and was upped to a series regular in 1974. Manzano, with TV-husband Luis, are known to Sesame Street viewers for running the Fix-It Shop, which specialises in toaster repair.

Along with acting on the show, Manzano also served as a writer. She won 15 Emmys for her writing work on the show, and was nominated twice for her acting. Manzano also has a memoir releasing soon, Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx.

While the show has yet to make an official announcement of her departure, Manzano has been actively responding to fans lamenting her exit on Twitter, reassuring them that all will still be well for Big Bird and the gang with her gone. VARIETY.COM/REUTERS

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.