The 90-year-old Mexican actress Ana Ofelia Murgua, best known for her role in the Disney Pixar animation Coco, has passed away.
Ana Ofelia Murgua, an accomplished filmmaker with over four decades of experience, provided the voice for the acclaimed children’s film Mama Coco, a great-grandmother. She was regarded as one of the last surviving icons of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema before her passing.
The National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature of Mexico issued the following statement on social media to mourn the actor’s passing: “We mourn with profound sorrow the passing of leading actress Ana Ofelia Murguía, whose artistic career was vital to the performing arts of Mexico and was a member of the stable cast of the National Theater Company of Mexico.
We extend our deepest condolences and warmest embraces to her friends and family.
Ana Ofelia Murgua, who was born in 1933, had a distinguished career in the Mexican entertainment industry and was renowned for her stage and television performances.
She received several of the most prestigious acting accolades in the country, including the Ariel Award for Best Supporting Actress, which she won three times in 1979, 1986, and 1996.
In 2011, she was bestowed with a Golden Ariel Award for special lifetime achievement, a distinction shared with writer-director Jorge Fons.
Her most recognizable role among English-speaking audiences was in the 2017 animated film Coco, in which a young Mexican boy travels to the realm of the dead.
Applauded for its evocation of Mexican mythology and culture, the film featured a memorable duet titled “Remember Me” performed by Murguía’s character and her great-grandson.
The song defeated “Mystery of Love” by Call Me By Your Name and “This is Me” by The Greatest Showman to win the Oscar for Best Original Song at the 2018 Academy Awards.
Clarisse Loughrey, a critic for The Independent, characterized Coco as a thought-provoking examination of mortality. She wrote, “In Coco, Pixar draws inspiration from Mexican traditions to present a more positive perspective: ‘final death’ should not be perceived as an inevitable terror, but rather as an opportunity to remember and cherish our cherished ones, both living and deceased.”
The film triumphed over several nominees, including The Boss Baby, art film Loving Vincent, and Irish animation The Breadwinner, to be named Best Animated Feature at the Oscars.
Murguía’s other widely recognized undertaking was the 1994 film La Reina de la Noche (English: The Queen of the Night), which chronicled the journey of a cabaret performer to Mexico after he escaped from Nazi-occupied Berlin.
Ana Ofelia Murgua was nominated five times for Best Actress, setting the record for the most nominations in the category, in addition to her three Ariel victories.
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