Trivia

She is best-known in the Latino community for her portrayal of Yolanda Saldivar in the movie, Selena (1997), and to Anglo audiences as the housekeeper on The Goonies (1985).

She studied psychology and social work at Texas Women's University in Texas. She was social worker until she started acting in the 1970s.

Her parents owned a tortilla factory and two restaurants.

She estimates she has played a maid in at least 150 films or plays. She narrated a documentary, Maid in America (2005).

She was an advocate for the hearing impaired. She founded the Latino Theater Company in Los Angeles, California in 1985.

In 2005, Ontiveros was nominated for an Emmy Award for her guest star role as Juanita "Mama" Solis, the nosy mother-in-law of Eva Longoria's character on "Desperate Housewives.".

She is survived by her husband, Elias Ontiveros of Pico Rivera, California; her sons, Nicholas Ontiveros, Alejandro Ontiveros, and Elias Ontiveros; and two granddaughters.

Two of Lupe's three sons are hearing-impaired. Lupe, as a young woman, worked in her own mother's small factory for a few months, with women not unlike those working in the sweatshop in Real Women Have Curves (2002).

Has worked part-time as a social worker.

Graduate of Texas Women's University, with majors in psychology and social work.

Received a Lifetime Achievement Impact Award in 2002 from the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC). The NHMC Impact Awards recognize outstanding contributions to the positive portrayal of Latinos in media.

Ontiveros was a founding board member of the Latino Theater Company in downtown Los Angeles.

She has appeared in six films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Zoot Suit (1981), El Norte (1983), The Goonies (1985), My Family (1995), Selena (1997) and Real Women Have Curves (2002).

Mother, with Elias P. Ontiveros, of three sons.

She was a lifelong Democrat.