Mary Rivera, the actress who played Ned’s Grandma in Spider-Man: No Way Home, has died aged 82.
While Rivera’s contribution to Spider-Man: No Way Home was relatively short, her scene-stealing performance made her an instantly memorable addition to the movie’s cast. And, even more impressively, this was despite the fact that the 2021 blockbuster was Rivera’s only acting role.
Rivera’s family previously revealed how they encouraged Mary to audition for the part after spotting a casting call advert posted to Facebook.
“I happened to be on a friend’s Facebook scrolling,” Rivera’s daughter Kelly told Hawai’i Public Radio, “and I see an ad, a casting call looking for a local Hawai’i Filipina grandmother between the age of 50 and 90. And immediately I thought, ‘Oh, well my mom qualifies and checks off all those boxes.’
“They just asked her to talk about herself and why she wanted to do the role. So she just gave a brief history of her time in the Philippines and what brought her to the United States, and raising her four children and 11 grandchildren — and basically that that is her biggest accomplishment of everything that she’s done,” Kelly added. “My mom has worn many hats over the years. She was a radio broadcaster, a teacher, but most notable was her role as a mother and grandmother.”
Sadly, Rivera suffered a serious stroke in April and never recovered, TMZ has reported.
Jacob Batalon, who plays Ned in the Spider-Man franchise, has since offered his own message of condolence via Instagram, writing: “REST IN PARADISE LOLA😭❤️❤️❤️.”
Five years on, Ned has returned in the just-released Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which has already notched up nearly $1 billion at the box office. Perhaps the inevitable sequel will include a tribute to Rivera?
Image credit: Sony Pictures / YouTube
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
