Minerva Mena

Minerva Mena Peña (September 11, 1930 – December 10, 2004) was a Mexican actress and university professor. She was a founding teacher of the Faculty of Performing Arts at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León and was active in the world of theater in the state of Nuevo León.

Early life Mena was born in Monterrey on September 11, 1930, the daughter of Jesús Mena Gutiérrez and Felisa Peña Martínez, who formed the musical comedy duo Mena-Peña, performing zarzuela and operetta. They were itinerant variety singers, announcers, and pioneers of radio entertainment in Monterrey, Nuevo León, where they settled in the mid-1930s. She had two older brothers, Raúl Rubén,

She was the founding teacher at the School of Performing Arts at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León (UANL), where she worked as a lecturer in the specialization of Biomechanics and Corporal Expression until her retirement in 1996. On June 11, 2009, through a tribute paid by the UANL, one of the classrooms at the Faculty of Performing Arts was named after her and a commemorative plaque was installed.

Personal life In 1966, she married Barragán. In the 1970s, the couple separated and later divorced. They had three children: Marcela (1966–2024), José Luis (1969), and Gabriela Guadalupe (1972–2025). Revelation of the Year, El Heraldo de México newspaper, 1965. Recognition – Tribute, CONARTE, CONACULTA, INBA, UANL, 2000

Mena is the subject of the book Conversaciones con Minerva Mena by Hernando S. Garza Lozano.