Born Uruguay. Parents moved to the USA when the boy was young. His father was a sculptor who shaped Mora's early art training. Becoming an illustrator in the late 1800s, Mora handled illustration assignments for major magazine titles: Collier's, Sunday Magazine, Ladies' Home Journal, Century, Harper's, as well as books. Comfortable in any medium, from watercolor to oil to pencils, in any size from miniatures to murals. His portrait of President Harding is displayed in the White House.