One of America’s most well-known Hispanic actress Elizabeth Pena breathed her last on Tuesday following a brief illness. According to her manager, Pena died of natural causes at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The 55-year-old actress recently finished her assignment on Matador which will be telecast on the El Rey Network. Writer Mario Francisco Robles, her nephew shared the news of her demise on his website Latino Review.
Soon after Pena was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey her family moved to Cuba. However, she came back to America at the age of nine and lived in New York City. After graduating from the High School of the Performing Arts in Manhattan in 1977, she started her career in the film industry with El Super.
She is fondly remembered for her work in movies like Lone Star, a murder mystery where she played the role of a history teacher who rekindles an affair with the local sheriff. In Jacob’s Ladder she played the role of a postal clerk and the wife of the psychotic Jacob. She described how she had to fight for that role which helped her get noticed in the competitive world of Hollywood. She recently appeared in two episodes of the hit TV series Modern Family acting as the mother to Sofia Vergara.
She has also tried her hand at directing in her three decade long career in the industry and became a member of the prestigious Director’s Guild of America. Some of her other famous roles include The Incredibles, La Bamba and Rush Hour. Pena broke into the television scene long back when she acted in the sitcom I Married Dora for ABC back in the eighties. The series which centered on a couple with a green-card marriage lasted only a single season from 1987-88.
Pena is survived by her two teenage children, sister, mother and husband. Her colleagues from the industry paid tribute to her on various social networking sites.