Elpidia Carrillo (born August 16, 1961) is a Mexican actress and director. Her career includes roles in both film and television. Internationally she is best known for supporting roles in Predator, Bread and Roses, Nine Lives and Blue Beetle.
She was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in Salvador. She is known for the role of Tecuichpo in the independent film The Other Conquest.
Early life Carrillo was born in Parácuaro, Michoacán, Mexico, on August 16, 1961. One of eight children in a family of farm laborers, her childhood was marked by violence and poverty. At the age of three, her father was murdered, forcing her eldest brother to assume responsibility of the family. Wanting Carrillo to get an education, he forged a birth certificate so she could begin first grade at age four.A Biographical Handbook of Hispanics and United States Film p. 28
When she was six, her brother was shot outside a theater and the family faced constant threats to their lives. When she was ten, Carrillo moved to Uruapan with an older sister where she dropped out of school as she began working alongside her sister at a Chinese restaurant.
Career
Early career Carrillo was discovered by a local photographer in Uruapan, Mexico and soon received a modeling contract. At 12 years old, director Rafael Corkidi cast Elpidia as Malinche in the surrealist Mexican feature film Pafnucio Santo. The film was Mexico's official submission to the Academy Awards that year, but with its many esoteric elements, it failed to garner a nomination. Due to the role involving nudity and her being under age, Carrillo was credited under the fake name Piya. Corkidi cast Carrillo again for a larger role in his film Deseos.
By the age of 16, she had shot her first lead role in the controversial Mexican feature Nuevo Mundo, directed by Gabriel Retes. Having worked numerous films, she decided to enroll in the Bellas Artes School in Mexico City.
Hollywood career After numerous Mexican and International film and television credits, Carrillo's US film career quickly emerged as she did a series of critically acclaimed roles in award nominated US projects. Her first US film came when Academy Award winning director Tony Richardson cast her in a co-starring role in the film The Border opposite Jack Nicholson and Harvey Keitel. That was soon followed by a co-starring role in the Beyond the Limit opposite Richard Gere, Michael Caine, and Bob Hoskins, with the latter two receiving BAFTA Nominations for their performances.
For her third US film, Carrillo performed a small supporting role in another successful Academy Award nominated art film Under Fire for which Gene Hackman's performance received a Golden Globe nomination.
Next she made her US television debut in the role of Coana in the Primetime Emmy nominated mini-series Christopher Columbus.
Her first award nomination came when Oliver Stone cast her as the female lead of Maria in Salvador which earned Carrillo an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead, earned her co-star James Woods an Academy Award Nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and earned Oliver Stone an Academy Award nomination with co-writer Rick Boyle for Best Original Screenplay, which they would both lose to Stone's other nominated screenplay that year, Platoon.
With awards and critical recognition all by the age of 25, Carrillo then accepted what would be one of the most recognizable and commercially successful roles of her career as the only actress appearing in the 1987 action film Predator opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Shane Black, and Jesse Ventura. Predator is widely considered the most commercially successful film of Carrillo's career and her most recognizable role. Though initially weakly received by critics, the film has subsequently gone on to become an action film classic making numerous "best of" lists in later years. At the time of its release, the film received an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects.
Post commercial success Following the commercial success of Predator, and performances in television guest starring roles in Miami Vice and 21 Jump Street, Carrillo increasingly focused her career once again on US film and television, as well as returning to Mexican independent cinema with roles including Guldbagge Award winning La Hija del Puma, Una Cita con el Destino, Ariel Award winning City of the Blind, and the Guillermo del Toro produced Un Embrujo, a winner of 9 Ariel Awards.
Carrillo appeared in Gregory Nava's Mexican-American film My Family playing Isabel Magaña, the El Salvadorean refugee wife of Jimmy Smits, who won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead for the role. The film also won the Casting Society of America's Artios Award for Best Casting for a Drama Feature.
Johnny Depp cast her as the female lead of his only directorial effort, the controversial The Brave, which he also starred in along with Marlon Brando. The film received a Palme d'Or nomination at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival,.
Despite the critical recognition and various nominations throughout her career, Carrillo's first US acting award win was for her performance as Rosa in the drama Bread and Roses, which was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. Carrillo won the 2002 ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, and shared the award with Elizabeth Peña.
Carrillo won the same award four years later, this time as sole recipient of the 2006 ALMA Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for her performance as Sandra in Nine Lives written and directed by Rodrigo García. This was soon followed by a co-starring role in Seven Pounds which starred Will Smith.
Rodrigo García would then once again cast Carrillo, this time to co-star in the ensemble drama Mother and Child, this time sharing the screen and not the podium with Elizabeth Peña as well as Annette Bening, with whom she shares the majority of her scenes. The ensemble film also featured her former My Family co-star Jimmy Smits and Naomi Watts, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson. The film premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival.
She did an episode of ER, titled "Under Control".
Later career Carrillo returned to star in the Mexican family comedy Familia Gang and the independent features Relentless and Foreign Land.
She made her return to television with a major recurring arc as Linda Brenner in Nashville and a guest starring role as President Daphne Tejeda on Madam Secretary.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes1977Pafnucio SantoMalinche Mexican movie; credited as "Piya"Deseos (film) Mexican movie1978Pedro PáramoIsabel Mexican movieNuevo MundoMujer de Don Diego de Alba Mexican movie1979Bandera Rota 1980Mein Freund WinnetouWetaton Television series El Jugador de Ajedrez Mexican movie1981La Virgen Robada Mexican movie1982Bartholome - oder die Rückkehr der weißen GötterMs. Anna Indo-German television productionThe Border Maria 1983The Honorary Consul Clara Fortnum Hollywood debutUnder Fire Sandinista Undercover of the Night Woman Rolling Stones music video1985Christopher Columbus Coana Italian production, mini series1986Salvador Maria 1987Let's Get Harry Veronica Predator Anna Gonsalves 1988Una Cita con el Destino Mexican movie1989The Assassin Elena Miami Vice Maria Pedroza / Sister Felicia Television series1990Dangerous Passion Angela Made for television moviePredator 2 Anna Gonsalves Cameo1991Lightning Field Dolores Made for television movie1994La Hija del Puma Maria Mexican movie1995My Family Isabel De Tripas, Corazon Meifer Mexican movie1997The PretenderNia Television series The Brave Rita 1998Un Embrujo They Come at Night Maria Velazquez 1999The Other Conquest (La Otra Conquista) Tecuichpo/Isabel 2000Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her Carmen Bread and Roses Rosa 2002La Otra Mexican telenovelaSolaris Law and Order: Special Victims Unit Maria Ramos Episode: "Protection"2003Kingpin Lupita Mini-series 2004A Day Without a Mexican Cata Mexican movie 2005Nine Lives Sandra 2006Ladrones y Mentirosos Isabel 2007Tortilla Heaven Hermenegilda 2008Seven Pounds Connie Tepos 2010Mother and Child Sofia 2018Mayans M.C. Victoria "Vicki" Ariza 6 episodes2019Euphoria Sonia Perez 8 episodes2020 The Tax Collector Janet 2020 Songbird Lita Garcia 2022 Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities Amelia Episode: "Lot 36"2023Blue Beetle Rocio Reyes
References
External links
Elpidia Carrillo at The Other Conquest official website