Ana Ofelia Murguía, Voice of Disney’s Coco, Dead at 90

Ana Ofelia Murguía, the Mexican actress who voiced the great-grandmother Mama Coco in Disney and Pixar’s 2017 animated movie Coco, has died. Murguía passed away on Sunday, Dec. 31 at the age of 90, according to the BBC and a statement on social media by Mexico’s National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature.

“With deep sadness, we regret the sensitive death of the leading actress Ana Ofelia Murguía, who was part of the stable cast of the National Theater Company of Mexico, and whose artistic career was vital for the performing arts of Mexico,” the translated statement read. “We send condolences and warm hugs to her family and friends.”

Born in Mexico in 1933, Murguía studied acting at Mexico’s National School of Theatre Arts and got her start in 1954 in the play Trial By Fire, according to The Guardian. She went on to add more than 100 acting credits to her name spanning the stage, film and television over seven decades, with her first screen role coming in the 1964 film Transit. She was nominated six times at the Ariel Awards, Mexico’s preeminent acting prize, for best supporting actress, winning in 1979, 1986, and 1996 and holds the record for most nominations without a win for Best Actress at the Ariel Awards. In 2011, she won a special lifetime achievement Golden Ariel award.

With a career spanning decades, Murguía is perhaps best known for one of her most recent credits, 2017’s Coco. The award-winning animated film centers around a 12-year-old boy named Miguel, who is transported to the Land of the Dead during Mexico’s Día de los Muertos. Murguía voiced Mama Coco, Miguel’s aging great-grandmother and the daughter of Héctor and Imelda. In one of the film’s most memorable moments, Mama Coco and her great-grandson Miguel sing “Remember Me” together. Coco won two Academy Awards, one for best animated feature and another for best original song for “Remember Me.”

Murguía’s other credits include 1979’s Life Sentence, 1992’s Mi Querido Tom Mix, and 1994’s The Queen of the Night. Her final acting role was in a 2018 episode of José José: El Príncipe de la Canción. While accepting the Medalla Cátedra Bergman (the Ingmar Bergman chair medal) from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in April for leaving “an indelible mark” on Mexican film and theater, Murguía said in her acceptance speech, “Acting has been the passion of my life, I have never worked to collect an award. I have always loved this career, which I found by pure fluke. I’m happy. I feel like a very lucky woman.”