Rene Moreno was born on May 25, 1959, in Dallas, to Finees Moreno and Myriam Garza Moreno. He attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where he studied theater, dance, and music. Moreno's exceptional talents as an actor, director, and musician were evident from an early age.
In the 1980s, he relocated to New York, working in regional theater and on and off-Broadway productions. He became a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and held positions as an Artistic Associate with Shakespeare Dallas and an Affiliated Artist with the Oklahoma City Repertory Theatre.
Throughout his career, Moreno staged numerous plays at major professional theaters and smaller venues throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He directed productions for WaterTower Theatre, Stage West, Contemporary Theatre of Dallas, Theatre Three, Dallas Theater Center, Shakespeare Dallas, WingSpan, and many other organizations.
Moreno's work was widely recognized, earning him numerous awards from the Dallas-Fort Worth Theater Critics Forum. He was frequently honored with Best Director awards and taught classes and workshops at various colleges, universities, and high schools.
Tragedy struck in 1991, when Moreno fell five floors from a hotel window while performing in Federico García Lorca's Yerma at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. The accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. He returned to Dallas for rehabilitation and went on to earn his Master of Fine Arts in directing from Southern Methodist University in 2001.
In 2017, Moreno underwent surgery on March 20, followed by a weekend of rehabilitation, during which he experienced heart trouble, kidney failure, and liver failure. Sadly, he passed away from heart failure on [date] at the age of 57 at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, Texas.
