Shelley Morrison (born October 26, 1936 in New York City) is an American actress. Born Rachel Mitrani and sometimes credited early in her career as Rachel DomÃnguez, Morrison has been a theater and television actress since the early 1960s. She was a regular performer on the sitcom The Flying Nun playing "Sister Sixto", and she continued in television guest roles until securing a recurring role in the soap opera General Hospital in 1982.
Although she has played a variety of stereotypical Hispanic roles going all the way back to her days as "Sister Sixto" on The Flying Nun, "Juanita" on Sisters (television series), and continuing on to her role as Salvadoran maid Rosario Inés Consuela Yolanda Salazar on Will & Grace, Shelley Morrison was actually raised in the Bronx, New York, the only daughter of Sephardic Jewish parents.
Her father, Maurice Morris (né Mitrani), was a clothing manufacturer who died when she was only 10, and shortly before his death he and his wife, Shelley's mother, Hortense, had relocated to Los Angeles.
Morrison went on to study acting at Los Angeles City College and landed early film roles in Divorce American Style and How to Save a Marriage (And Ruin Your Life).
A bout with breast cancer in 1988 forced her to undergoing a lumpectomy, and when the cancer recurred in 1998 she underwent a full mastectomy. She also has battled lung cancer and underwent surgery which removed the upper third of her right lung. She lives with her husband of many years, Walter DomÃnguez, a Mexican-American, in a three-story apartment in Los Angeles; the same apartment in which her father had settled the family into five decades earlier. Morrison and Dominguez have no children of their own.
Her most widely recognisable recent role has been as the Salvadoran maid Rosario Salazar in the NBC comedy television series Will & Grace which she played from 1999 to 2006. The role was originally created for a brief one-episode appearance, but Rosario was so popular with viewers that the character became a regular. In addition to sparring with her libertine and very spoiled employer, Karen Walker, played by Megan Mullally, the Rosario storyline has also allowed her to marry the gay Jack McFarland, played by Sean Hayes, in a marriage of convenience designed to prevent her impending deportation.
In approximately 25 film appearances and 35 television appearances, Morrison has portrayed a maid or housekeeper on 32 separate occasions (including on Columbo and the film Troop Beverly Hills). Morrison had just recently informed her agent not to offer her any more "maid parts" when the call for Will & Grace came in.
Morrison revealed that she was diagnosed with lung cancer in recent years, but that she is now in remission, however her breast cancer, for which she was treated in 1988 and 1998 has returned.
Morrison was charged with shoplifting from Robinsons-May, a California department store, in 2003, but the charges have since been dropped.
