September 23, 1961—October 14, 2014

Shockingly, 55-year-old actress Elizabeth Peña has passed away.

The actress—who seemed to work constantly, and is reported to have just finished shooting the first season of an El Rey Network series called Matador—died of undisclosed causes.

Peña's first film role was in 1979's El Super. She made big impressions inDown and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), La Bamba (1987), Lone Star (1996), Jacob's Ladder (1990; she beat out Madonna for that part, BTW), Transamerica (2005) and many other films.

I MarriedOn TV, she starred in I Married Dora (1987—1988, co-starring Daniel Hugh Kelly and Juliette Lewis, which famously announced its own cancelation in its final episode), Shannon's Deal (1989—1991) and guest-starred on dozens of shows and twice played Sofia Vergara's mother on Modern Family...even though she was only 13 years older than Vergara.

Check out this snippet of an interview with the late actress, speaking about her approach to the arts: