Actress, former El Pasoan Lupe Ontiveros has died

Veteran actress Lupe Ontiveros, best known for her role in the movie “Selena,” has died.
Close friend Rick Najera says the actress and native El Pasoan who also appeared in dozens of films and TV shows over her 35-year-career died Thursday night of cancer. She was 69.

Najera said she was surrounded by family and friends, including actors Esai Morales and Edward James Olmos, when she died at a hospital in Whittier, Calif., a suburb southeast of Los Angeles

Ontiveros played Yolanda Saldivar in “Selena.” Her other credits include “As Good As It Gets,” ”Real Women Have Curves,” ”The Goonies,” and “Chuck & Buck.”

The actress, born Guadalupe Moreno in Texas, once estimated she had played a maid more than 300 times.

Read a 2009 NPR interview with Ontiveros here.