Mexican born actress Ana Ofelia Murguia died in Mexico less than a month after her 90th birthday on December 31, 2023. No cause of death was given.
Mexican Cultural Secretary Alejandra Frausto Guerrero issued a statement on Murguia saying, “she leaves an enormous void on our country’s sets.”
Just months before her death, the National Autonomous University of Mexico presented Murguia with the Ingmar Bergman Medal for her contributions to Mexican film and theater. In her acceptance speech in April, she asked, “why me?” Adding, “this career has been my life. It has been the passion of my life. I’ve loved it.”
Murguia provided the voice of Mama Coco in the movie “Coco”.
Her role in “Coco” is just one of over 100 film and television appearances and some 70 plays in her native Mexico.
“She made her television debut in 1968 on the television series “La tormenta”. From there here numerous appearances include “El profeta Mimi”, “Pedro Paramo”, “The Black Widow”, “Life Sentence”, “Mary My Dearest”, an uncredited role as the Palace maid in “Dune”, “La pasion de Isabela”, “Gaby: A True Story”, the television movie “One Man’s War”, “El abuelo y yo”, “The Queen of the Night”, “El amor de mi vida”, “The Last Call”, “Mozart in the Jungle”, and her final appearance in 2018 in “Jose Jose: El principe de lacancion”.
She was born in Mexico City on December 8, 1933 and later studied at the Theater School of the National Institute of Fine Arts where she was a student of Seki Sano – considered to be the “father of Mexican theater”.
Her accolades include a three time winner of the Best Supporting Actress in the Ariel Awards, is a winner of the Guadalajara Film Festival’s Mayahuel de Plata Award in 20024, and was presented with the Ariel de Oro Lifetime Achievement Award.
She is one of the most recognized faces in Mexican cinema.
No list of survivors was given.
Feature photo credit: Ana Ofelia Munguía.jpg