Documentary tells the story of actress Sonia Manzano — Maria from 'Sesame Street'

Sesame Street made its TV debut in late 1969. It of course featured puppets and humans; one of them was a young actress named Sonia Manzano. But you probably know her by her character’s name: Maria from “Sesame Street.”

She’s the subject of a documentary called “Street Smart: Lessons from a TV Icon." Its director, Ernie Bustamante — who’s mostly a TV writer — says when he first met Manzano a decade ago, he originally wanted to create a sitcom based on her memoir of growing up in the South Bronx. He describes it as a fish out of water kind of story, with Manzano attending a prestigious performing arts high school in Manhattan.

But the idea evolved over time into a documentary, which showed at the 2026 Phoenix Film Festival. When The Show spoke with Bustamante recently, he talked about what it is about Manzano's story that speaks so much to him.

Full conversation

ERNIE BUSTAMANTE: You know it was a very personal project for me in the sense that when I grew up in the 1980s watching “Sesame Street,” I really saw and identified with Sonia Manzano as Maria, Emilio Delgado as Luis — Puerto Rican and Mexican-American couple — because I’m Mexican and Puerto Rican as well. And so I really identified with them, and I saw my parents.

MARK BRODIE: So in the documentary, Sonia talks about the fact that when she was cast on the show, like other than her seeing “West Side Story” as a kid, she hadn’t really seen someone who looked like her on TV.

It sounds like what you’re saying is up until this time you hadn’t really seen anyone who looked like your parents or maybe your family on TV.

ERNIE BUSTAMANTE: No, not at all and especially with comedy. It wasn’t until I got older, entered the industry as a writer, that I realized that that depiction of a Latino couple — Sonia Manzano, Emilio Delgado as Luis and Maria — were not stereotyped, they were not caricatures, they were fully developed characters really grounded and human.

And especially in comedy Latinos are often relegated to caricatures, stereotypes, you name it. And so it wasn’t until I started writing and working on shows and developing my own shows I really saw how much of an impact they made because their presence was so real, it was so grounded.

And not only their portrayal but how long they lasted on the show. They were on that show for decades, which is unheard of in mainstream television. And so the impact that Sonia Manzano had and she continues to have — when we screen it, you can really see it from the audience.

STREET SMART

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MARK BRODIE: Why I wonder if in addition to the impact that she and Emilio Delgado had based on their accurate portrayals of actual human beings, the fact that they were on a children’s show, that kids were watching this and then growing up sort of not thinking anything unusual about seeing two humans who are like these people they watched on TV.

ERNIE BUSTAMANTE: Right, yeah, that definitely was a factor and it’s really interesting because as I made this documentary, I would meet people who would say that Sonia Manzano was the first Latina that they ever saw, that they ever knew.

And back then, “Sesame Street” was also doing lessons about culture, lessons about language, teaching Spanish. And so she not only was the first introduction of a Latino person to audiences but also to the language of Spanish.

MARK BRODIE: Well so growing up also in the ’80s as you did, folks like Maria and Luis and Mr. Hooper and Big Bird, like those were pretty formative parts of my childhood.

I wonder what kinds of things you hear from viewers as you show this movie around the country and if they have the chance to to meet Sonia and maybe what you hear from people, maybe what you see on their faces as they watch some of the old clips from “Sesame Street.”

ERNIE BUSTAMANTE: I mean, I got to tell you it’s overwhelming. It’s overwhelming because people in the screenings that Sonia attends and even before the documentary, while we were filming the documentary. Sonia is an author, and I remember one time accompanying her to a book signing, and people were in line to meet her to have their book signed. And many would burst into tears.

I remember us when we were working on the TV project, an executive on Zoom burst into tears saying how much of an impact Sonia had growing up, how her story from her memoir resonated so much with her. And so I see it in these screenings, and it’s amazing because her impact is felt by people across generations.

MARK BRODIE: Well so, when “Sesame Street” went on the air, it was a pretty innovative approach at the time for children’s programming and very different from what kids had been given on TV before. I’m wondering what Sonia had to say about sort of where her thought was, what her thought process was starting off doing this kind of radical departure.

ERNIE BUSTAMANTE: Yeah, and especially when Sonia gets cast on “Sesame Street,” she’s 21 years old. It’s her first television role. And at the time — and you’ll learn this in the documentary — she was in the original production of “Godspell” off-Broadway.

And one of the challenges that she faced was the character because the character wasn’t fully formed, and so she’s just trying to get her bearings and her experience. And she’s new to this. She’s new to working with puppets. That’s overwhelming for her as you’ll see in the documentary.

All of these challenges she overcomes, and she eventually excels and she really succeeds.

“Street Smart”

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MARK BRODIE: What does Sonia see as her legacy from all of those years being on this world-renowned television show?

ERNIE BUSTAMANTE: There’s a lot of lessons that you can take away from Sonia Manzano’s career, from her work, from her advocacy, from her comedy. I remember when I started making the film, she didn’t really tell me much in terms of the direction or have any notes, the only thing she told me was “Make it funny.”

MARK BRODIE: Which is I think maybe kind of an unusual thing to hear from somebody who, like she wasn’t delivering punchlines on “Sesame Street.”

ERNIE BUSTAMANTE: Yeah, but she also was a very she also was part of this amazing comedic duo with Oscar the Grouch. And she played opposite him for many years and even when “Sesame Street” did the movie “Follow That Bird,” when “Sesame Street” went from TV to film, they paired Maria and Oscar together on that and they were kind of this unlikely comedy duo.

MARK BRODIE: It’s like Abbott and Costello or something.

ERNIE BUSTAMANTE: Absolutely. And when I went back into looking at the footage, I really saw it. You ask her, who’s your favorite character, and she says, "Oscar the Grouch."

And I remember Caroll Spinney was doing a Q&A as Oscar, and they asked Oscar who’s your best friend on “Sesame Street”? And Oscar says, “Well, if I guess it was anyone, it has to be Maria.”

And so that to me is what permeates throughout her legacy for me — because a lot of people will say, you know her legacy was inspiring teachers, her legacy was teaching language, there’s so many lessons people are going to take away. And I don’t think her legacy is one thing or another. But for me personally, her legacy is comedy through an absolutely grounded and real lens.

Because everything she’s done in entertainment on television has been through the lens of comedy. And I think that’s why she’s been able to have such a great impact was because the approach was always through comedy, always through making people laugh.

Street Smart

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