
Elizabeth Peña
Elizabeth Maria Peña (September 23, 1959 – October 14, 2014) was an American actress, and the daughter of a theater-company co-founder, who has also compiled experience as a television director in her own right. Peña was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, daughter of Estella Margarita (née Toirac), an arts administrator and producer, and Mario Peña, the Cuban-born actor, writer, and director who jointly founded the Latin American Theatre Ensemble. It is unknown whether Peña was named after the town of her birth. Peña graduated from New York's High School of Performing Arts in 1977. Her classmates included Ving Rhames, alongside whom she would later co-star in Jacob's Ladder, and Esai Morales, alongside whom she would later co-star in La Bamba. She is also a founding member of the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors. In 1979, Peña appeared in her first film, El Super, "an exceptionally moving and melancholy comedy about a family of lower-middle-class Cuban refugees attempting to adjust to life in Spanish Harlem.", New York City. Peña worked once again with film director, Leon Ichaso in his next feature Crossover Dreams opposite Ruben Blades. Peña has appeared in movies such as La Bamba, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Lone Star, Vibes, and Rush Hour. In 2002, she starred in Showtime's Resurrection Blvd. as Tia Bibi Corrades in the episode "Justicia," which she also directed. During the next year, 2003, she appeared in and directed "It Was Fun While It Lasted," an episode of The Brothers Garcia. She also provided the voice of the character Mirage in Pixar's animated film The Incredibles. She guest starred in the 18th episode of Numb3rs, Season Two, as Sonya Benavides. Although the actress does speak Spanish, she does not dub her own voice for Spanish releases. Peña is also noted for having starred in I Married Dora, a sitcom that lasted only 13 episodes in 1987, as Dora Calderon, the "Dora" of the show's title. In the final show, the cast broke the "fourth wall" of suspended disbelief by announcing their cancellation on-camera and taking a curtain call. Writer-director John Sayles produced the critically acclaimed but short-lived television series Shannon's Deal (1989–1991) co-starring Peña alongside series lead Jamey Sheridan. In 1996 Sayles wrote and directed the mystery film Lone Star and again cast her in a co-starring role. Peña died on October 14, 2014 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California at the age of 55.
91 acting credits
Acting · 91

NCIS
2003

American Dad!
2005

Modern Family
2009

CSI: Miami
2002

Without a Trace
2002

Ghost Whisperer
2005

Hill Street Blues
1981

Numb3rs
2005

L.A. Law
1986

T. J. Hooker
1982

The Outer Limits
1995

Boston Public
2000

Cagney & Lacey
1982

Justice League Unlimited
2004

The Incredibles
2004

Justice League
2001

Rush Hour
1998

Dream On
1990

Maya & Miguel
2004

Jacob's Ladder
1990

Charlie's Angels
2011

Two
1996

Shannon's Deal
1990

Goal II: Living the Dream
2007

Dellaventura
1997

La Bamba
1987

Resurrection Blvd.
2000

Drug Wars: The Camarena Story
1990

Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home
1995

*batteries not included
1987

Impostor
2001

Dragon Wars: D-War
2007

Blue Steel
1990
I Married Dora
1987

Lone Star
1996

Mother and Child
2009

Transamerica
2005

Grandma
2015

Down and Out in Beverly Hills
1986

Down in the Valley
2005

A Piece of the Action: Behind the Scenes of Rush Hour
1999

The Invaders
1995

Gridlock'd
1997
Tough Cookies
1986

Vibes
1988

The Lost City
2005

Zig Zag
2002

The Waterdance
1992

Plush
2013

The Second Civil War
1997

Justice League: Starcrossed - The Movie
2004

Dead Funny
1994

Nothing Like the Holidays
2008

Contagious
1997

Tortilla Soup
2001

Things Behind the Sun
2001

Times Square
1980

Seven Girlfriends
2000

The Perfect Family
2011

The Hollywood Mom's Mystery
2004

Keep Your Distance
2005

Border Line
1999

Ana Maria in Novela Land
2015

They All Laughed
1981

Down for Life
2010

Across the Moon
1994

The Pass
1998

Suburban Madness
2004

Sueno
2005

Ten Tiny Love Stories
2002

In the Dark
2013

El Super
1979

Fugitive Among Us
1992

Girl on the Edge
2015

Strangeland
1998

Love Comes Lately
2007

Roommates
1994

A Single Woman
2008

The Invaders
1995

It Came from Outer Space II
1995

Racing for Time
2008

How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer
2005

Building 'Jacob's Ladder'
1990

The Song of Sway Lake
2019

Shannon's Deal
1989

Adrift in Manhattan
2007
Crossover Dreams
1985

Aldrich Ames: Traitor Within
1998
Recon
1996

Blaze You Out
2013

On the Borderline
2001