This striking, stage-trained Latina first gained recognition as the maid-turned-revolutionary in Paul Mazursky's "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" (1986). Born in the US, Pena was raised in Cuba and moved back to Manhattan at the age of eight. She was acting professionally two years later and subsequently attended the famed High School of Performing Arts. Pena went on to appear in more than 20 off-Broadway shows and toured for two years as Shakespeare's Juliet. She has worked with such renowned theater companies as Joseph Papp's Public Theater, La Mama, and San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater.
Pena's film career started slowly, with small roles in the Cuban/US production "El Super" (1979) and the American features "Times Square" (1980), "They All Laughed" (1981) and "Crossover Dreams" (1985). The spitfire role in "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" finally gained her attention from public and industry alike. Pena went on to play the battered wife of Ritchie Valens' half-brother in "La Bamba" (1987), the doomed friend of policewoman Jamie Lee Curtis in Kathryn Bigelow's "Blue Steel" and Tim Robbins' temperamental lover in Adrian Lyne's "Jacob's Ladder" (both 1990). Her subsequent screen credits have included a supporting role in "The Waterdance" (1992) and playing the girlfriend of a suddenly-dead man in "Dead Funny" (1995). She won particular acclaim for her 1996 turn as a schoolteacher and former lover of the town sheriff (Chris Cooper) in John Sayles' acclaimed mystery "Lone Star" (1996).
Pena is also known for her TV work, beginning with a supporting role in the police sitcom "Tough Cookies" (CBS, 1986). She had the title role in the short-lived "I Married Dora" (ABC, 1988), which became briefly notorious for its tasteless and politically incorrect premise (a widower marries his housekeeper to prevent her deportation). Pena also played the regular role of an aggressive secretary on the John Sayles-created legal drama "Shannon's Deal" (NBC, 1990-91).
Pena has also turned in strong performances in nearly a dozen TV-movies, miniseries and anthologies, starting with the 1989 pilot for "Shannon's Deal" (NBC). She was also the widow of a DEA agent in the award-winning "Drug Wars: The Camarena Story" (NBC, 1990), turned up in the AIDS drama "Roommates" (NBC, 1994) and was featured in the HBO TV-movie, "The Second Civil War" (1997).
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