IMDB Has Two Errors on Vanessa Marquez's Profile Page

Being as close as I was to Vanessa Marquez, the actress best known for playing Ana Delgado in the classic film Stand and Deliver (1988) and Nurse Wendy Goldman on the TV show ER, I feel that I am one of the stewards of her legacy. Part of that stewardship involves insuring that her career is represented accurately. For the past several months I have been trying to get two glaring errors in her filmography on the Internet Movie Data Base, better known as IMDB, corrected. Unfortunately, it sometimes seems as if I am doing so to no avail.

The first error is under her movie credits. IMDB claims that Vanessa appeared in a film entitled Shift (2013). I know for a fact that she did not. Vanessa herself always acknowledged that her final appearance on screen was a cameo at the end of the fan film Return of Pink Five in 2006 aside from an interview she did with KTLA for Star Wars Day in 2010. Even for those who did not know Vanessa personally as I do, it would not take much research to realise that it is an entirely different Vanessa Marquez who appears in Shift (2013). Indeed, the film was made in the Philippines!

The second error is under her credit for Shorts, according to which she appeared in a short subject titled The Problem with Evolution (2017). Again, I know for fact that Vanessa did not. Not only did Vanessa always say that her final appearance on screen was in Return of Pink Five, but anyone who watched The Problem with Evolution would know that it is an entirely different Vanessa Marquez. The last time I checked, the short was available for viewing on YouTube.

The simple fact is that Vanessa's last appearance in a feature film was as Melanie in Twenty Bucks (1993), which was released on October 23 1993. Her last appearance on narrative television was as Wanda Hernandez in the TV movie Fire & Ice (2001). She certainly did not appear in any feature films, short subjects, or television shows in the Teens.

As to how these errors came about, the fact is that "Vanessa Marquez" is a very common name among Latinas. It is something like the name "James Thomas" among people of British descent or African Americans with regards to how common it is. While my beloved Vanessa Marquez, the Vanessa Rosalia Marquez born in Los Angeles County on December 21 1968, may have been the most famous woman with that name, she was by no means the only one.

Of course, a bigger question may be, "Why are these two errors persisting on Vanessa's profile page?" That I cannot answer. I have corrected them multiple times. There have been a few times that I could have sworn that both Shift (2013) and The Problem with Evolution (2017) had been removed from her profile. Unfortunately, they always seem to reappear. I have informed IMDB that I knew Vanessa personally and, quite honestly, it wouldn't take much research to verify that fact. For that matter, they could simply watch the two films in question and tell that it is not the Vanessa Marquez who played Ana in Stand & Deliver (1988) and Wendy on ER. I must confess I am becoming very frustrated with IMDB, which is the whole reason that I am writing this blog post. At any rate, I know Vanessa would not want to be given credit for things she did not do. If any of you reading this have IMDB accounts, please go to the profile page of my dearest Vanessa Marquez and correct her filmography. Perhaps you could accomplish something I cannot seem to.