Lillian Hurst (born August 13, 1943) is a Puerto Rican actress and comedian, She made her debut as a television comedian in the early-1960s. She has worked in film, stage and television productions in the United States.

Early life

Hurst was born in the Villa Palmeras neighborhood of

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the juri ...

. Her father owned the "Farmacia Imperial" ("Imperial Pharmacy"), located in Barrio Obrero, Santurce. She received her primary and secondary education in San Juan, the capital.Profile
prpop.org; accessed July 11, 2016. At an early age, she informed her parents that she wanted to be an actress. They soon enrolled her in Ana Santisteban's modeling academy. In 1960, when she was 17 years old, she was discovered by producer Gaspar Pumarejo.

Career

In 1960, Hurst was contracted and she starred in the television comedy ''Pompilia y su Familia'' (''Pompilia and her Family''), which was broadcast on

WAPA-TV WAPA-TV (channel 4) is a Spanish-language independent television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is owned by Hemisphere Media Group, which is 84% owned by InterMedia Partners. WAPA-TV's studios are located on Avenida Luis Vigoreaux in G ...

. Later, she hosted ''La Hora del Niño'' (''The Children's Hour'') on Channel 6. Some of the other comedies in which she participated in the 1960s were ''Casos y Cosas de la Casa'' (''Cases and Things of the House'') with actor

Braulio Castillo Braulio Castillo Cintrón (March 30, 1933 – February 28, 2015) was a telenovela actor in Latin America. His two sons, Braulio Castillo, Jr. and Jorge Castillo, are also actors. He was born in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Castillo played in the ''O ...

and ''Matrimonio y Algo Más'' (''Marriage and Something More''). In 1969, Hurst was contracted by Panamericana de Television of Lima, Peru to work in the program ''El Hit del Momento'' (''The Hit of the Moment''), for one year. When Hurst returned to Puerto Rico, she went to work in some of the programs produced by her cousin, Tommy Muñiz. She also participated in various theater productions for the first time. Among them were ''La Casa de las Hojas Azules'' (''The House with the Blue Leaves'') and '' La Verdadera Historia de Pedro Navaja'' (''The True Story of Pedro Navaja''). In 1980, Hurst wrote and produced a stage show which she presented at the Condado Beach Hotel in San Juan.

Career in the United States

Hurst went to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

where she worked for a short time on some Off-Broadway productions. In 1989, she moved to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. She also enrolled at

Santa Monica College Santa Monica College (SMC) is a public, community college in Santa Monica, California. Founded as a junior college in 1929, SMC enrolls over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. Although initially serving primarily pre-college high sc ...

and majored in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

. Hurst was able to work in both

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

and

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

productions. She landed a role as "Mrs. Maris" in ''

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

'' (1991), which was presented at the Taper Forum Theater, and as "Lola" in ''La Balada de Tina Juarez'' (''The Ballad of Tina Juarez''; 1992). She founded an acting school for

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

children.Profile
Blockbuster.com; accessed July 11, 2016.

Later years

Hurst has participated in twenty movies, including the 2005 film ''

English as a Second Language English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EFL ...

''. She has also made over thirty television guest appearances in programs such as '' JAG'', '' NYPD Blue'', ''

The King of Queens ''The King of Queens'' is an American television sitcom that ran on CBS from September 21, 1998, to May 14, 2007, a total of nine seasons and 207 episodes. The series was created by Michael J. Weithorn and David Litt, who also served as the show ...

'', ''

The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), who ...

'', '' ER'', ''

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

'', ''

True Blood ''True Blood'' is an American fantasy horror drama television series produced and created by Alan Ball. It is based on '' The Southern Vampire Mysteries'', a series of novels by Charlaine Harris. A reboot is currently in development. The ser ...

'' and a

recurring role A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who frequently appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in more than one episode, sometimes being the main foc ...

in ''

Dharma & Greg ''Dharma & Greg'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on ABC from September 24, 1997, until April 30, 2002, for 119 episodes over five seasons. The show starred Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson as Dharma and Greg Montgomery, a ...

'', where she played the role of "Celia" in sixteen episodes. She also appeared in the ''

Ugly Betty ''Ugly Betty'' is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which was originally broadcast on ABC. It premiered on September 28, 2006, and ended on April 14, 2010. The series is based on Fernando Gaitán's Colombi ...

'' episode " A Tree Grows in Guadalajara" as Yolanda Salazar, the grandmother of Betty Suarez. In 2009, she appeared on ''

Nip/Tuck ''Nip/Tuck'' is an American medical drama television series created by Ryan Murphy that aired on FX in the United States from July 22, 2003, to March 3, 2010. The series, which also incorporates elements of crime drama, black comedy, family dra ...

'' as Liz Cruz's mother, Mariela. In 2016, she returned to Los Angeles and appeared in ''The Comeback'' and '' Fear the Walking Dead''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hurst, Lillian 1943 births Living people People from San Juan, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican television actresses Puerto Rican comedians Actresses from San Juan, Puerto Rico