Today’s Video: Remembering Lupe Ontiveros

On July 24th Latina film and TV actress Lupe Ontiveros died at the age of 69 after a brief battle with liver cancer.

Born Guadalupe Moreno in Texas in 1942, Ontiveros originally worked as a social worker until the 1970s when she supposedly responded to friend's "dare" and answered a newspaper ad looking for movie extras. Her first big break came in 1979 when she and other Latino actors including Edward James Olmos were cast as members of the Broadway play "Zoot Suit." Eventually her career on both stage and screen would last nearly five decades.

As noted by The A.V. Club, Ontiveros "found it difficult to break out of the all-too-familiar ghetto of roles available to Latina performers, such as domestic help, hookers, and the occasional grandmother". Nevertheless she reportedly claimed in a 2002 interview that she had a "hell of a good time" portraying maids.

Among Ontiveros roles was her portrayal on the big screen of Yolanda Saldivar, the convicted murderer of Tejana music star Selena Qunitanilla. According to the New York Times, her performance in 1997's "Selena" was so credible that "for years the singer’s fans would hiss at her when she walked into a public place".