Trivia

Beginning as a singer in 1937, she soon moved from singing into acting, reading tragic parts on Radio Belgrano, where it was noted that she had an expressive face. She moved to the National Radio as part of an acting troupe "Estampas porteñas" and soon after, caught the attention of Arsenio Mármol. He created a character called "Chimbela" for her which she performed on radio and later on film, theater and television. Almost immediately the role brought success and she began touring the country, and appeared on both the Teatro Palmolive and Radio Cine Lux.

She had one of the longest careers of Argentine actresses and was one of the last survivors of Argentine cinema from the 1930s.

She also performed as a dancer and, beginning in 1960, did several musical comedies.

During the 1940s, she participated in films with comedians like Pepe Arias, Pepe Iglesias "El Zorro", Nini Gambier , Mirtha Legrand and Carlos Estrada.

On stage she replaced Libertad Lamarque in Hello, Dolly! and she portrayed the widow of Larraín de Valenzuela in the Chilean comedy La pérgola de las flores, which was later made into a movie.

Her later performances include the series 099 Central (2002) and the 2010 film Brother and Sister for which she was nominated as Best Supporting Actress and a role in the 2012 TV movie El Tabarís, lleno de estrellas.

She was working as a seamstress, getting paid eighty cents per dozen shirts made, when she made a radio test to sing tangos. Her mother was against it, but it paid 60 pesos per month.

Elena Lucena began her career in radio in the 1930s and reached her greatest success with the role of "Chimbela", which was later depicted in film, theater and television.

Her extensive film career includes approximately 50 films, including notable performances in Chimbela (1939) and Una noche cualquiera (1951).

She was an Argentine film actress of the Golden Age of Argentine Cinema (1940-60).

Her most acclaimed film work occurred in Elvira Fernández, vendedora de tienda (1942) by Manuel Romero, Cinco besos by Luis Saslavsky and La Rubia Mireya for which she received the 1948 Best Comedy Actress Award from the Argentine Film Critics Association.

She also performed in the Chilean musical La pérgola de las flores by Isidora Aguirre, which made a successful run throughout Latin America.

In the late 1960s, she participated in several television roles.

She retired in 2012.

In 2006 she received The Silver Condor (lifetime achievement award) from the Argentine Film Critics Association.