DHAKA: US actress Elizabeth Pena, who appeared in films including ‘Lone Star’ and ‘Rush Hour’, has died at the age of 55.

Pena was also known for TV shows like sitcoms ‘I Married Dora’ and ‘Modern Family’, in which she played the mother of Sofia Vergara’s character Gloria.

Other film credits included ‘La Bamba’, ‘Jacob’s Ladder’, ‘Batteries Not Included’ and ‘Down and Out in Beverly Hills’.

Pena’s manager told media she died of natural causes after a brief illness, reports the BBC.

The Cuban-American actress was a familiar face from her dramatic and comedic roles on the big and small screens.

She caught the eye in 1986’s ‘Down and Out in Beverly Hills’, playing the maid Carmen alongside Bette Midler, Richard Dreyfuss and Nick Nolte.

She won the role, she said, by bribing a security guard at Disney Studios to let her in to see the casting director after an agent had told her she was not attractive enough for the role.

BDST: 2000 HRS, OCT 16, 2014