Lupe Ontiveros faced typecasting throughout her 35 years in showbiz, often being hired to play the roles of maids and mothers. However, she always managed to turn those parts into memorable performances, notably Eva Longoria’s suspicious mother-in-law on TV’s “Desperate Housewives” and America Ferrera’s domineering mom in the 2002 movie “Real Women Have Curves.” She also portrayed murderous fan Yolanda Saldívar in the biopic “Selena” opposite ... more 

Lupe Ontiveros faced typecasting throughout her 35 years in showbiz, often being hired to play the roles of maids and mothers. However, she always managed to turn those parts into memorable performances, notably Eva Longoria’s suspicious mother-in-law on TV’s “Desperate Housewives” and America Ferrera’s domineering mom in the 2002 movie “Real Women Have Curves.” She also portrayed murderous fan Yolanda Saldívar in the biopic “Selena” opposite Jennifer Lopez, and was so believable that for years the singer’s fans would hiss at Ontiveros when they saw her out in public. Ontiveros passed away from liver cancer on July 26. She was 69. less