Film and television star, Elizabeth Peña died Tuesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She was 55 and had recently wrapped her work on El Rey Network’s Matador.
While details are sketchy, her nephew, Latino Review writer Mario-Francisco Robles, broke the news with a poignant obituary.
“Elizabeth is a friend to so many of us in Hollywood, to say we are shocked and saddened is an understatement,” said Bel Hernandez, Publisher and CEO of Latin Heat Entertainment. “We have lost one of the finest actors of our generation.”
She was unforgettable La Bamba. Broke our hearts in John Sayles’ Lone Star. And, in Dennis Leoni’s Resurrection Blvd.,” she owned her role as Bibi Corrales. And she was the voice of Mirage in the 2004 animation hit, The Incredibles. Her other film credits include: Down, Out in Beverly Hills, How The Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer, Nothing Like The Holidays, and Tortilla Soup. On TV, her credits date back to 1979, and has guest starred in some of the most popular weekly dramas and sitcoms. However, she is best remembered on ABC’s I Married Dora. Recently, Pena guest-starred on Modern Family as Gloria’s (Sofia Vergara) mother.
“Elizabeth Peña,” says Dennis Leoni, creator of Resurrection Blvd, “was a rare and special talent and a rare and special person – warm, sweet, funny, sexy and smart. She took the craft of acting very seriously, giving all that she had in each and every role she ever played. She was never one to just walk through the words on the page. I speak for myself, my family and the entire Resurrection Blvd. family when I say she will be dearly missed. We will remember her and hold her in our hearts until the end of our days.”
Elizabeth Peña is survived by her husband Hans, two teenage children, her mother, sister and a beloved nephew.
Comments