Isabel Torres, Spanish actress and star of HBO Max series Veneno, dies at 52

Isabel Torres, the Spanish actress best known Stateside for her role in the HBO Max series Veneno, died Friday after battling lung cancer. She was 52.

Torres' family confirmed her death in a post on her Instagram page. "Today, February 11, 2022, we say goodbye to Isabel," they wrote in Spanish. "Although her family and friends deeply feel her loss, we know that wherever she goes she will have fun as only she knows how."

The statement concluded, "Thank you for all the messages of affection and concern. She has left feeling very loved and embraced."

A native of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, Torres also appeared in the Spanish movies Fotos in 1996 and Camino a la locura in 2008. She became known to an international audience with her role in Veneno, as one of three actresses playing Spanish transgender icon La Veneno.

"She walked so we could run," Torres, who was herself transgender, said of La Veneno in a November interview. The actress was also known for her activism on behalf of LGBTQ rights.

Torres first announced her cancer diagnosis in March 2020, after noticing symptoms while in production on Veneno. "I was in the middle of filming the series and I was in pain," the actress said in a TV interview, according to the Spanish newspaper El Periódico. Though she underwent treatment, the disease metastasized to her bones. Last November, Torres said in an Instagram video that her doctors had told her she had two months to live.

"My life has not been easy," she reflected in her TV interview. "Without realizing it, I have made my life a battle… I don't know if it will end soon or a little bit later. What I'm sure of is that I am not going to stop fighting until the last moment."

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