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IMDbPro

Elizabeth Peña(1959-2014)

  • Actress
  • Director
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,000483
Elizabeth Peña at an event for How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer (2005)
Trailer for The Song of Sway Lake. http://SwayLake.com

It's summer on Sway Lake, the most glamorous lake in the Adirondacks - former playground of the jazz-age New York aristocracy. Music collector Ollie Sway recruits his only friend, a rowdy Russian drifter, to help him steal a 78 record from his own family's estate. Ollie believes that this mysterious piece of music - recorded at his grandparents' wedding by Cole Porter's lover - was hidden for him by his father before his suicide. He believes possessing the record will change his life.

The boys' mission should be as easy as meeting a pretty girl on the water, but the arrival of the beguiling matriarch herself, Charlie Sway, changes everything. For Charlie has her own plans. And this song that hasn't been heard in half a century may possess the answer to the deepest riddles about love and death - for whichever of these three lost souls will be the first to find it. 

The Song of Sway Lake is a lush romantic drama about the vanished grace of America, and the spell cast by the melodies of the dead. 

Starring RORY CULKIN (Signs), ROBERT SHEEHAN (Misfits, Peter Jackson's Mortal Engines, 2018), MARY BETH PEIL (Tony nomination for Anastasia, 2017), ISABELLE MCNALLY, ELIZABETH PEÑA, and JACK FALAHEE.

Featuring vocal/music performances by JOHN GRANT, THE STAVES, and BRIAN DENNEHY.
Play trailer2:08
The Song of Sway Lake (2018)
27 Videos
86 Photos
As she inherited her love for the arts by her father, well-known playwright, actor, director and novelist Mario Peña, it is not hard to understand that actress Elizabeth Pena already had designs to become an actress by the time she was eight years old.

Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on September 23, 1959, the petite (5' 2") actress was raised in New York City. Elizabeth's (and sister Tania's) parents, Cuban immigrants Mario and Estella Margarita Peña, would achieve a strong Latino reputation as the founders of the off-Broadway Latin-American Theatre Ensemble. They also encouraged Elizabeth's talent. In 1975, the young teenager became a founding member of the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors, and two years later graduated from New York's High School of Performing Arts, now the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and Performing Arts.

Elizabeth found occasional work in repertory theater and in television commercials. Making her film debut in the independent Spanish-speaking feature El Super (1979), about Cuban refugees, she continued with playing a long line of independent and rebellious characters, which showed plenty of attitude and independence. Playing offbeat roles -- from a knife-threatening waitress to a disco queen -- she appeared in such early films as They All Laughed (1981) and Crossover Dreams (1985). Elizabeth's big break came in the form a support role in the hugely popular and entertaining comedy Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), co-starring Bette Midler, Richard Dreyfuss and Nick Nolte, in which she stole several scenes as the sultry, smoky-voiced, politically-minded maid Carmen.

Two consecutive short-lived television series came about around this time. Her first, the ensemble comedy Tough Cookies (1986), had her playing a police officer, and the second was the title housekeeper role in the sitcom I Married Dora (1987). High in demand now, Elizabeth continued to spice up both the big and small screen in such roles as Ritchie Valens' stepsister-in-law in the well-received biopic La Bamba (1987); a drug enforcement agent in the miniseries Drug Wars: The Camarena Story (1990); PTSD-suffering Tim Robbins' live-in girlfriend in the complex drama Jacob's Ladder (1990); and a dedicated legal secretary on the corporate drama series Shannon's Deal (1990) starring Jamey Sheridan.

Honors also came Elizabeth's way when she received the Independent Spirit and Bravo awards for the film Lone Star (1996), and four ALMA Awards for her performances in the television movie Contagious (1997), the films Tortilla Soup (2001) and Rush Hour (1998), and her regular role on the Latino drama series Resurrection Blvd. (2000).

Into the millennium, Elizabeth found steady employment on television with guest roles on Boston Public (2000), CSI: Miami (2002), Without a Trace (2002), Numb3rs (2005), Ghost Whisperer (2005), Charlie's Angels (2011), Prime Suspect (2011), Common Law (2012), and Modern Family (2009). One of her last roles was on the television series Matador (2014). She also found herself further down the credits in films such as On the Borderline (2001), Transamerica (2005), The Lost City (2005), Mother and Child (2009), The Perfect Family (2011), Plush (2013), and Grandma (2015). Three other films -- Girl on the Edge (2015), Ana Maria in Novela Land (2015), and The Song of Sway Lake (2018) -- were released posthumously. She also provided a voice in the popular Disney/Pixar animated film The Incredibles (2004).

A chronic alcohol problem severely hampered Elizabeth's life and she died suddenly from cirrhosis of the liver in Los Angeles, California on October 14, 2014, at age 55. She was survived by her second husband (from 1994), Hans Rolla, and their two children, son Kælan and daughter Fiona.
BornSeptember 23, 1959
DiedOctober 14, 2014(55)
BornSeptember 23, 1959
DiedOctober 14, 2014(55)
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,000483
  • Awards

Photos86

Elizabeth Peña in Grandma (2015)
Elizabeth Peña and Rory Culkin in The Song of Sway Lake (2018)
Elizabeth Peña in The Outer Limits (1995)
Elizabeth Peña, Tamara Mello, and Jacqueline Obradors in Tortilla Soup (2001)
Elizabeth Peña, Mercedes Mason, and Edy Ganem in Ana Maria in Novela Land (2015)
Elizabeth Peña, Pepe Serna, Nestor Serrano, Mercedes Mason, and Edy Ganem in Ana Maria in Novela Land (2015)
Elizabeth Peña and Jay Silverman in Girl on the Edge (2015)
Peter Coyote, Elizabeth Peña, Mackenzie Phillips, Taylor Spreitler, and Jay Silverman in Girl on the Edge (2015)
Elizabeth Peña in Modern Family (2009)
Elizabeth Peña and Jessie T. Usher in Without a Trace (2002)
Elizabeth Peña, Sofía Vergara, Eric Stonestreet, Rico Rodriguez, Stephanie Beatriz, and Aubrey Anderson-Emmons in Modern Family (2009)
Elizabeth Peña, Sofía Vergara, Eric Stonestreet, Ariel Winter, Rico Rodriguez, Stephanie Beatriz, and Aubrey Anderson-Emmons in Modern Family (2009)

Known for

Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in Rush Hour (1998)
Rush Hour
7.0
  • Johnson
  • 1998
Lone Star (1996)
Lone Star
7.4
  • Pilar
  • 1996
Lou Diamond Phillips in La Bamba (1987)
La Bamba
6.9
  • Rosie Morales
  • 1987
Samuel L. Jackson, Holly Hunter, Jason Lee, Craig T. Nelson, Brad Bird, Sarah Vowell, and Spencer Fox in The Incredibles (2004)
The Incredibles
8.0
  • Mirage(voice)
  • 2004

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actress

  • The Song of Sway Lake (2018)
    The Song of Sway Lake
  • Ana Maria in Novela Land (2015)
    Ana Maria in Novela Land
  • Girl on the Edge (2015)
    Girl on the Edge
  • Lily Tomlin and Julia Garner in Grandma (2015)
    Grandma
  • Matador (2014)
    Matador
  • King John
  • Sofía Vergara, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Sarah Hyland, Ed O'Neill, Eric Stonestreet, Beatrice the Dog, Ariel Winter, Nolan Gould, Rico Rodriguez, Reid Ewing, Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, and Jeremy Maguire in Modern Family (2009)
    Modern Family
  • Emily Browning and Cam Gigandet in Plush (2013)
    Plush
  • Disney Infinity (2013)
    Disney Infinity
    • (voice, as Elizabeth Pena)
  • Blaze You Out (2013)
    Blaze You Out
  • Mary McDonnell, G.W. Bailey, Michael Paul Chan, Raymond Cruz, Tony Denison, Robert Gossett, Jon Tenney, Phillip P. Keene, and Kearran Giovanni in Major Crimes (2012)
    Major Crimes
  • In the Dark (2013)
    In the Dark
  • Common Law (2012)
    Common Law
  • Kinect Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure (2012)
    Kinect Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure
    • (voice)
  • Maria Bello in Prime Suspect (2011)
    Prime Suspect

Director

  • Ylse (2008)
    Ylse
  • Alvin Alvarez, Bobby Gonzalez, Vaneza Leza Pitynski, and Jeffrey Licon in The Brothers Garcia (2000)
    The Brothers Garcia
  • Elizabeth Peña, Michael DeLorenzo, Nicholas Gonzalez, Marisol Nichols, and Tony Plana in Resurrection Blvd. (2000)
    Resurrection Blvd.

Videos27

Grandma
Clip 0:49
Grandma
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:09
Official Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 1:18
Official Trailer
Nothing Like the Holidays: Theatrical Trailer
Trailer 2:32
Nothing Like the Holidays: Theatrical Trailer
How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer: Theatrical Trailer
Trailer 2:10
How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer: Theatrical Trailer
How The Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer
Trailer 2:05
How The Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer
In the Dark (2012)
Trailer 2:09
In the Dark (2012)
La Bamba: 30th Anniversary
Trailer 1:42
La Bamba: 30th Anniversary
Tortilla Soup
Trailer 1:49
Tortilla Soup
In the Dark (2012)
Trailer 2:09
In the Dark (2012)
Blaze You Out
Trailer 1:17
Blaze You Out
Sueno
Trailer 2:19
Sueno

Personal details

Edit
    • September 23, 1959
    • Elizabeth, New Jersey, USA
    • October 14, 2014
    • Los Angeles, California, USA(liver cirrhosis)
    • 1994 - October 14, 2014 (her death, 2 children)
    • (Sibling)
  • Appeared in the music video, "She and I", for the country band, Alabama.
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Article
    • 1 Pictorial

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Classmates with Ving Rhames and Esai Morales.
  • Quotes
    [on her refusal to portray Latina stereotypes] There are a lot of jobs I've turned down because they wanted me to play what I call "Miss Cuchifrito" types.
    • Seductive husky voice

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