Actress Elizabeth Peña has passed away at the age of 55. She died October 14th at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, though the cause of her passing is not yet clear.

Peña broke out in the ’80s with memorable roles in movies such as Down and Out in Beverly Hills, La Bamba, *batteries not included, and Blue Steel. She would go in to star in many more titles over the course of her lengthy career, including Jacob’s Ladder, The Waterdance, Lone Star, Rush Hour, Tortilla Soup, and Pixar’s The Incredibles, in which she voiced the character Mirage.

The Incredibles wasn’t the only time she got into voice acting, either. Peña also voiced Paran Dul in episodes of the Justice League animated series, and also lent her voice to an episode of American Dad! titled “American Dream Factory.”

More recently Peña appeared as the mother of Sofia Vergara’s character on Modern Family, and just this year she was plenty busy, starring in the El Rey Network series Matador, a movie titled Girl on the Edge, and an upcoming untitled Ari Gold project that’s currently in post-production.

The news of Peña’s passing was shared by her nephew, Latino-Review writer Mario-Francisco Robles. Our thoughts go out to him and the rest of Peña’s family for their great loss.

Elizabeth Peña
1959 — 2014