Elizabeth Peña’s career has been quiet and potent.

The ALMA Award-winning actress of stage and screen has starred in such memorable mainstream hits as Rush Hour and The Incredibles, but the characters that earn her the most respect are those in which she plays real women with real lives, who also happen to be Latinas- in sleepers like Sueño, Tortilla Soup and How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer.

Peña visited Columbia on Oct. 14 to speak to students about her journey as a successful Latina actress.

Adjunct journalism instructor Wynne Delacoma’s entertainment reporting class had a chance to talk directly with Peña before her lecture in a mock-press conference. During the 50-minute interview, Peña shared stories from her vibrant life as the daughter of thespian parents, her storybook journey to Los Angeles, her big acting break and her take on being a woman of color in an increasingly colorful industry.

Here are a few selected excerpts from the class’ interview:

Where did your passion for the arts come from?

My father was a playwright, an actor, a director, a sculptor, all kinds of stuff. When I was 8 years old, I went to see a play called “The Guns of Mother Courage,” which is a very political play. I was sitting in the back row of the theater, and I managed to come all the way to the front. At the end of the second act, this woman just blew my socks off. I felt like I levitated from my chair. I had-I’m serious-a spiritual experience. And I went crying to my mother and father, who thought something was wrong, and I said, “That’s what I want to do!” And then my mother started crying.

What was it like growing up with theater parents?

To me it was great … it was just a way of life. I wouldn’t know what to compare it to, but I do remember that I would go and know every actor’s lines. I would be really little, like 5 or 6, and if somebody blew their line in rehearsal, I would go, “No!” Totally irritating. But the fun part was that we grew up in, like, a circus family. My father would come in after a check rehearsal at one in the morning with half the cast to eat most of the food in the house … and then decide, “Lets wake the children up and make paper-mache masks.” It’s a little different than how I’m raising my children.

Do you think that Latinos are fairly represented in film?

It’s really changed a lot. Now you have Latinos in power who are bringing money to the industry. And it’s really all about money. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a fact. You’ve got Antonio Banderas, J-Lo, Salma Hayek, Andy Garcia-but that was not [always] the case. And because now you’ve got writers and directors in power, the quality of the scripts written for Latinos [has improved]. I refused to play “Latina” for a long time because it was all [two-dimensional]. You had to work really hard with the director to say, “No, I need to play a human.” That’s not the case, really, anymore.

Do you ever feel any pressure to represent a specific demographic as a woman or as a Latina?

I don’t. There are people who project that on to me, but I don’t. When I got the role in Down and out in Beverly Hills (1986), instead of being called to be congratulated, I was called to be hammered. “You’re playing a maid?” I said, “I don’t play a profession. I am playing a woman who works as a maid.” If you look at it, she runs that household. She screws whoever she wants to screw, she’s teaching the chick how to speak Spanish. She’s in charge.

What were some of the challenges that confronted being a Latina in American film?

In America, they have this terrible habit. If you play pregnant in one movie, every script you get after that is for pregnant women. If you play a nun once, you’re condemned to be a nun. I grew up in the theater and watching European films, and in Europe, it’s the exact opposite. If you play a hooker in one movie, they want you to play an assassin in the next, you know? As a matter of fact, you’re going to think it’s crazy, but … it never occurred to me that I was part of a separate race until I went out into the world after I graduated. And then I just got pissed off. I thought, “I’m an actress. Why can Dustin Hoffman play a Cuban guy and I can’t play a Jew? It’s pretty much just knocking doors down.

Do you ever prefer voice acting to regular acting?

It’s so much fun. The nice thing about voice acting is the vanity level is out. You can go in in your pajamas. It’s a nice way to be creative and make some money. I love it. Working with [director] Brad Bird in The Incredibles was …incredible. People always [said to me], “Oh, film actors are not real actors.” Then when I went from film to TV, they would say, “Oh no, don’t do TV…” I think it’s just a lot of bull. If you are a visual artist, what if today you want to paint something in oils and then tomorrow you want to do something in charcoal? Does that make you less of an artist? I don’t think so.

Tell us about your upcoming movie, Nothing like the Holidays.

It was originally called Humboldt Park, and we shot it here in [Chicago]. It was a blast … people in Chicago are amazing.

What’s the premise?

One of the sons in a family has been off in Iraq, and he goes back home on a holiday… and everybody comes in from out-of-town. It’s ironic, because in film, you’ve always got to look hot, because that’s the way they’re going to hire you. But in this one I had to play John Leguizamo’s mother, and he’s, like, three years younger than me. We had to do a lot of aging. That was the most uncomfortable thing, because it was winter here, and they had to put just a little bit of latex and lots of alcohol on my skin. So anyway, a family all comes together-the daughter comes from Hollywood, the other son comes in from New York, and it’s the dynamic of what happens between them and the secrets that are kept.

What do you look for in a role?

I’d love to play a serial killer or a child molester. I hate to say that, but to me the interesting thing is the psychology. If somebody is a serial killer, they think they’re not doing anything wrong. All these other people are messed up. I never pick something because it’s politically correct or because it will bring joy to people’s hearts. It’s completely a selfish [choice]. It has to be interesting.

What’s one piece of advice you would give to an aspiring actress?

You have to want it. With any profession, you have to want to do it even if you don’t ever get paid for it. You cannot not do it.