Elizabeth Pena

Peña was born on September 23, 1959 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where she was raised, the daughter of Mario Peña, an actor, director, and writer who co-founded the Latin American Theatre Ensemble, and Estella Margarita (Toirac) Peña, an arts administrator and producer. She is of Cuban descent, and spent her early years in Cuba. At age 8, Peña and her family moved to New York City. In 1975, she was a founding member of the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors. In 1977, she graduated from New York\'s High School of Performing Arts. Her classmates were Ving Rhames and Esai Morales, whom she would later star with in La Bamba and Resurrection Blvd.\n', '

In 1979, Peña made her film debut, El Super, a "moving and melancholy comedy about a family of lower middle class Cuban refugees attempting to adjust to life in Spanish Harlem". She worked once again with director Leon Ichaso in his next feat…