i'm with actress, writer, maria, sonia manzano. to imagine yourself on the stage, imagine people paying to come see you, you have to kind of project yourself into that world from an apartment in the bronx. you have to hurl yourself into a college where they'll teach you how to do the things you need to know. you did it. are you sometimes amazed that you did it? >> i can't believe i did it. if someone had suggested that this was gonna be my future, i would have suggested that they commit themselves to the nearest insane asylum. that's how foreign-- i-- my biggest dream was to be a secretary and have my own apartment. and it was some-- i've had lousy teachers, but i've had some very good ones, who said-- saw something in me and helped me get into the high school of performing arts and then carnegie mellon university. but it was a real struggle because i was an a student in the south bronx. phone it in. just show up and you're a student. to a middle class school, the high school of performing arts where i became a c student. and it wa

. >> this week on talk to al jazeera - sonia manzano, otherwise known as maria on 'sesame street'. >> i can't believe i did it. if someone had suggested that this was gonna be my future, i would have suggested that they commit themselves to the nearest insane asylum. >> manzano also wrote for the children's television series and would share in 15 emmy awards. she was a trailblazer - the first leading latina on american television. but after 44 years, >>nzano is retired.