Sonia Manzano's debut

[BEAR]

Can anyone here tell me about Sonia Manzano's debut? I'm not exactly sure how old she was but I know that Maria was a teenager at the time she moved to the Street. What was she like in that first season. Feel free to share any thoughts or memories. Sonia Manzano is so wonderful!!

 

[mikebennidict]

I told BEAR she was not a teen. she was 21 years old and all I know from seeing 1 of the episodes from the 1971-72 season when she came on her hair was a little bit longer. interesting fact isn't it?

 

[Censored]

The Sesame Street Unpaved book describes the early Maria as a "somewhat hippie-ish teen." Remember, we're talking about the character, not the actress. Just because Sonia Manzano was in her twenties, doesn't mean she couldn't have been playing a teenager.

 

[superfan]

It was also mentioned in the SS Biography (either by her or Harry Smith).
And it showed a clip of her showing BigBird the letter M ("for Maria") . I heard somewhere that that was one of her first appearances...

 

[Censored]

It was also mentioned in the SS Biography (either by her or Harry Smith).
And it showed a clip of her showing BigBird the letter M ("for Maria") . I heard somewhere that that was one of her first appearances...

I wonder if that was thefirst one with Maria.

 

[BooberFraggless]

I told BEAR she was not a teen. she was 21 years old and all I know from seeing 1 of the episodes from the 1971-72 season when she came on her hair was a little bit longer. interesting fact isn't it?

Iv'e seen people as old as 25 who have played teenagers in movies and TV shows. Also the actor and actress who play Gabi and Miles are now in their early 20's, but on the show theyr'e still teenagers and are still in High School. I wonder how long theyr'e gonna keep them that way?

 

[Censored]

Iv'e seen people as old as 25 who have played teenagers in movies and TV shows. Also the actor and actress who play Gabi and Miles are now in their early 20's, but on the show theyr'e still teenagers and are still in High School. I wonder how long theyr'e gonna keep them that way?

Yeah, it's interesting how they do that. David was probably supposed to be a teenager too. Other examples of that are shows like Happy Days and movies like Grease. Sometimes they really stretched the imagination.

 

[BEAR]

Yes, Sonia Manzano said herself (in the A&E Biography) that she played Maria as a teenager when she joined the show. Also I believe there was an episode in the late 70s where Maria has a 21st birthday. Well, 21 minus the number of years she was on the show before this episode makes the CHARACTER Maria in her late teens. There ya go, Mr. Mikebenidict. Boo-yaa! I've been wanting to throw that back at you for a while now but wanted to wait til the opportunity arose. Haha!!!

 

[BEAR]

Yeah, it's interesting how they do that. David was probably supposed to be a teenager too. Other examples of that are shows like Happy Days and movies like Grease. Sometimes they really stretched the imagination.

Yeah, and although the characters on Sesame Street are still around the same age as the actors playing them, it doesn't mean they can't be a few years off. Of course it is never really discussed how old say Bob or Luis are, but we can fairly say they are playing their own age unless specified like in Maria's case.

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

It's not uncommon for people in their 20s to play teens on TV. Melissa Joan Hart was 20 something when she started playing Sabrina who was 16 at the time. Another example was Stacey Dash from "Clueless."