Actress Elizabeth Peña of “Lone Star” and “Resurrection Blvd” fame has died at 55

Am so sad to report that the wonderful actress Elizabeth Pena died today at the age of 55.

I was such a big fan of hers – especially of her work in the late, great Showtime series Resurrection Blvd.

Her film and television credits spanned such films as Lone Star,  Jacob’s Ladder and Rush Hour to parts on such TV shows as Modern Family.

Pena most recently appeared on the El Rey Network drama Matador.

I interviewed the actress in 2008 for the LA Daily News.

Here are some highlights:

Resurrection Blvd lasted only three seasons on Showtime from 2000-2002 but fans of the show will never forget it. Elizabeth had a meaty role as Beatrice “Bibi” Corrales, sister-in-law to Tony Plana’s ex-boxer character who had a large brood of adult children, two of whom were boxers. The family dealt with all kinds of drama including when Bibi’s son turns out to be gay.

“I’m the one who posed that my son should come out and be gay,” she said. “We were in a household of testosterone boxers and what would happen if my son was gay? In Elzabeth Pena’s world, that means nothing but you have to see yourself through Bibi’s world and that would be something she has no information about.”

Elizabeth is a woman who speaks her mind and that’s what makes her such an interesting interview. I wondered about what it’s like to try and land good roles in film and on television: “There are no roles for women in America, lead roles, that are written for women over the age of 30. A co-starring role has maybe a 35-year-old playing 42. The reason I was drawn to (“Garcia Girls”) is because it’s a women-driven piece with wonderful roles that explores female sexuality beyond a certain age. In the movies, women don’t have sex after 40. If they do, they get raped. But you can see a 72-year-old man going at it (with a much younger female) and it’s accepted.”

I had heard that Elizabeth was set to be cast in the 1993 film “The House of Spirits” which starred Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons, Glenn Close, Wynona Ryder and others all playing hispanic people.

“I had read the the novel and I loved it,” she remembered. “Now it comes time, they
are casting it. They offered me a wonderful role, a whore. I was ecstatic! That’s a great
role. I was fine. But then I find out the only female hispanic in the movie is Catherine the
whore! I’m sorry, but aren’t all the characters hispanic?”

She turned the role down and the movie was a major flop despite the A-list talent involved: “I like to make money as much as the next person but I also didn’t want to be an artistic whore.”

Not that she’s overly picky. If she didn’t take on roles in bigger commercial hits like “Rush Hour” and “The Incredibles” and do various TV guest spots and voiceover work, “I’d be in my house doing laundry all day.”