Mexican actress Ana Ofelia Murguía, who voiced Mama Coco in Pixar's Oscar-winning 'Coco', dies at 90

Mexican actor Ana Ofelia Murguía, who gave voice to the character of Mama Coco in the popular Pixar film Coco, has died at the age of 90.

Mexico’s National Fine Arts Institute announced Murguía’s death without providing a cause of death.

“She leaves an enormous void on our country’s sets,” Culture Secretary Alejandra Frausto Guerrero said in a statement.

Coco, which was released in 2017, follows a young boy Miguel, as he crosses over to the land of the dead during Mexico’s Día de los Muertos. Murguía voices the aging Mama Coco, whose memory of her father is reignited by her great-grandson. At the emotional climax, Murguía’s Coco sings the film’s central song, 'Remember Me', with Miguel.

The film brought Murguía to an international audience late in life, and won two Academy Awards, for Best Animated Feature and Original Song for 'Remember Me'.

Murguía, who was born in Mexico in 1933, had a long acting career in Mexican film and television, and on the stage, appearing in some 70 plays and 90 movies, including Life Sentence (1979) and The Queen of the Night (1994).

She won the Golden Ariel special lifetime achievement award in 2011 at a ceremony honoring the best of Mexican cinema, and in April 2023, the National Autonomous University of Mexico awarded Murguía its Ingmar Bergman Medal for leaving “an indelible mark” on Mexican film and theater.

In her acceptance speech, Murguía displayed her typical humility, asking “Why me?” She said she was exhausted by all of the recognition and plaudits.

“This career has been my life,” Murguía said. “It has been the passion of my life. I’ve loved it.”