Emily Rios plays Magdalena, the central character in the 2006 film Quinceañera.
Magdalena is a teenager whose family is preparing for her quinceañera. The plot follows the pressure surrounding the celebration while also exploring family conflict, personal identity, religion, and community relationships.
Emily Rios’s performance anchors the film’s coming-of-age perspective. The movie was directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland and became one of the better-known independent films to place a quinceañera at the center of its narrative.
Rios is sometimes confused with performers from later television and film projects about Latino family life, but she is the actress credited as Magdalena in Quinceañera. The role is specifically tied to this 2006 film.