The 54th Birthday of Vanessa Marquez

Today Vanessa Marquez would have turned 54. She was born in Los Angeles County on December 21 1968 and grew up in Montebello, California. For those of you who might not know who Vanessa Marquez was, she was an actress best known for playing Ana Delgado in the classic film Stand and Deliver (1988) and Nurse Wendy Goldman on the hit TV show ER. She was also a regular on the first season of the TV show Culture Clash, starring the comedy troupe of the same name, and she had a recurring role on the TV show Wiseguy. Vanessa Marquez guest starred on such shows as Tequila and Bonetti, Seinfeld, Nurses, Melrose Place, and Malcolm & Eddie. She appeared in such movies as Blood In Blood Out (1993), Twenty Bucks (1993), and Father Hood (1993).

For me Vanessa Marquez wasn't just a famous actress. She was also my dearest friend. We met through Twitter as original members of TCMParty, the loosely affiliated group of Turner Classic Movies fans who live tweet movies on the channel using the hashtag "TCMParty," as well as live tweeting episodes of Mad Men. We soon learned we had a good deal in common, from a love of the movie Star Wars to the TV shows Star Trek and The X-Files. Very soon we were in touch very nearly every day through social media and eventually texts and phone calls. Vanessa and I became very close. As for myself, I was in love with her.

There was very little Vanessa and I ever disagreed on, although one thing was that she thought she was only cute at best, while I maintained she was beautiful. Over the years I have collected a few head shots of Vanessa from her career as an actress. I submit some of these head shots as proof that she was indeed gorgeous.

This first photo is from Vanessa's last years on ER. Her last movie before this photo was taken was Hit Me (1996), originally titled The Ice Cream Dimension.

This photo is from the same photo shoot as the above photo.

This is another photo of Vanessa from the same era. I am guessing it may be from the same photo shoot as the first two.

This head shot of Vanessa is from 1993, the same year that she appeared in the movies Blood In Blood Out, Twenty Bucks, and Father Hood.

This is a head shot of Vanessa from 1991. At this point her only credits were Stand and Deliver (1988), Night Children (1989), the TV movie To My Daughter, the TV show Wiseguy, the Wonderworks TV movie Sweet 15, and the TV movie Locked Up: A Mother's Rage.

This is the oldest head shot of Vanessa that I have. At this point in her career, her only credits were Stand and Deliver (1988), Night Children (1989), the Wonderworks TV movie Sweet 15, and the stage play Demon Wine. This would have been about 1990.

I realize I may be biased, but I honestly think Vanessa Marquez was incredibly beautiful. Of course, she always much more than a pretty face or even a talented actress. Vanessa was sweet, warm hearted, open, intelligent, and she possessed a great sense of humour. She cared deeply about her friends and had this uncanny ability to remember the smallest details about them. She was always swift to defend her friends and worried about them if they were sick. She was happy when things were going well for them and sad when things weren't. In the end Vanessa meant more to me than anyone else in my life, and I miss her to this day. While I miss Vanessa terribly and I am still grieving her over four years after her death, her birthday is still a happy day for me. It marks the anniversary of the birth of the one person who means more to me than anyone else. My life would have been much poorer had I not known Vanessa Marquez.