Coco Actress Ana Ofelia Murguía, Who Voiced Mama Coco in Beloved Pixar Film, Dead at 90

Ana Ofelia Murguía, movie star and voice actress in the 2017 Pixar film Coco, died. She was 90 years old.

The Mexican actress’ death was announced on Sunday by Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts and Letters.

“It is with deep sadness that we mourn the sensitive death of lead actress Ana Ofelia Murguía,” the company wrote in statement on X (formerly known as Twitter). They added that Murguía “was part of the stable lineup” of the National Theater Company, whose career “was vital to the performing arts of Mexico.”

“We express our condolences and warmly embrace his family and friends,” the statement concluded.

Ana Ofelia Murguía photographed in Mexico City on January 19, 2010.

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Born in Mexico City in 1933, Murguía’s career spanned several decades with more than 100 acting roles, beginning with her first television appearance in 1967.

The veteran actor gained a new generation of fans in 2017 after voicing the character of Mom Coco in Pixar’s hit animated film, Coco. The film follows aspiring singer Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez), who embarks on a quest to find his great-great-grandfather in the Land of the Dead after he is faced with an ancestral ban on music.

Coco won two Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Original Song for “Remember Me,” performed by Murguía as Mama Coco in the film with Miguel.

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Murguía’s other famous roles include films such as Life sentence (1979), Mi Querido Tom Mix (1992) and Queen of Night (1994), for which she won the Ariel Award for Best Supporting Actress, according to BBC News.

The respected actress won the same award twice, in 1979 and 1986, the newspaper reported.

Murguía also received a special Golden Ariel Lifetime Achievement Award, which she shared with director and screenwriter Jorge Fonsa, in 2011. In April 2023, she was also honored with the Ingmar Bergman Chair Medal for her contribution to film in one of her last public appearances in Mexico City.

Ana Ofelia Murguía taken in Mexico City on September 28, 2022.

Jaime Nogales/Medios y Media/Getty Images

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Speaking at the ceremony, Murguía said, according to La Gaceta: “Acting has been the passion of my life, I have never worked to get an award. I have always loved this career, which I found by pure chance. I’m happy. I feel like a very lucky woman.”

Murguía last appeared on screen in a 2018 episode of the series José José: El Príncipe de la Canciónwhere she played the character of Abuel Carmelitao in a biopic about the late Mexican singer.

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Source: HIS Education