Background
Hurst was born in the Villa Palmera section of San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the middle-class families live. Her father was the owner of the "Farmacia Imperial" (Imperial Pharmacy) located in the neighborhood of Barrio Obrero.
Hurst was born in the Villa Palmera section of San Juan, Puerto Rico, where the middle-class families live. Her father was the owner of the "Farmacia Imperial" (Imperial Pharmacy) located in the neighborhood of Barrio Obrero.
Hurst made her debut as a television comedian in the early 1960s. She participated in various Office-Broadway and movie productions in the United States. Hurst is also a cousin of Puerto Rican television producer Tommy Muñiz.
She received her primary and secondary education in the capital.
They enrolled her in the modeling academy of Ana Santisteban. In 1960, when she was 17 years old, she was clowning around with her friends while waiting for her turn at the academy.
Producer Gaspar Pumarejo happened to encounter Hurst when he entered the academy looking for "fresh" talent for a new show that he was producing. That year Hurst was contracted and she starred in the television comedy Pompilia y su Familia (Pompilia and her Family), which was broadcast on WAPA-television Later, she hosted Louisiana Hora del Niño (The Children"s Hour) on Channel 6.
Some of the other comedies in which she participated in the 1960s were Casos y Cosas de la Casa (Cases and Things of the House) with actor Braulio Castillo and Matrimonio y Algo Más (Marriage and Something More).
In 1969, Hurst was contracted by Panamericana de Television of Lima, Peru to work in the program El Hit del Momento (The Hit of the Moment), for one year. She also participated in various theater productions for the first time. Among them were Louisiana Casa de las Hojas Azules (The House with the Blue Leaves) and Louisiana Verdadera Historia de Pedro Navaja (The True Story of Pedro Navaja).
In 1980, Hurst wrote and produced a stage show which she presented at the Condado Beach Hotel in San Juan.
Hurst went to New York where she worked for a short time on some Office-Broadway productions. Then in 1989, she moved to Los Angeles, California where she enrolled in Santa Monica College and majored in psychology.
Hurst was able to work in both Spanish and English language productions. She landed a role as "Mistress
Maris" in Windows (1991), which was presented at the Taper Forum Theater and as "Lola" in Louisiana Balada de Tina Jaurez (The Ballad of Tina Juarez) (1992).
Hurst has participated in twenty movies, including the 2005 film English as a Second Language. She has also made over thirty television guest appearances in programs such as Judge Advocate General, New York City Police Department Blue, The King of Queens, The X-Files, Emergency, Lost, True Blood and a recurring role in Dharma and Greg, where she played the role of "Celia" in sixteen episodes. She also appeared in the Ugly Betty episode "A Tree Grows in Guadalajara" as Yolanda Salazar, the grandmother of Betty Suarez.
In 2009 she appeared on Nip/Tuck as Liz Cruz mother, Mariela.
As of 2007, Lillian Hurst was residing in Los Angeles, California, continuing her work as an actress.