This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Zeny Zabala" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(September 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Emerenciana Ortiz Santos^[1](July 21, 1937 – August 8, 2017), professionally known asZeny Zabala, was a Filipina actress. Born and raised inMarikina, she was famously known as the "villain ofSampaguita Pictures" for her frequent portrayals of villainous roles in her films.

Zabala was the fourth of nine siblings^{[citation needed]} and was born in Marikina to shoemaker Enrique Santos and Ursula Ortiz.^[2]

She was discovered in 1953 while accompanying her sister, Caridad, who was already working in the film industry.^[2] Her first role was as a mother in the 1953 filmSiga-Siga, where her character dies giving birth toAnita Linda's character.^[2] Due to her film career, she was forced to drop out of high school in her second year.^[2] Her first movie withSampaguita Pictures wasBinibining Kalog, oppositeLolita Rodriguez andRamon Revilla.^{[citation needed]} She later married actor Rodolfo "Boy" Garcia on June 30, 1958.^[3]

In 1963, Zabala became a freelance actress.^[4] In 1964, she received her firstFAMAS nomination for Best Supporting Actress forAng Bukas Ay Akin!, starringCharito Solis andNestor de Villa. That same year, she remarried, this time to directorBen Feleo.

In the mid-1960s, alongside her film career, Zabala began establishing businesses in Marikina, including a restaurant called Zeny Zabala's Canteen near the town's Shoe Trade Fair, a shoe-making shop called LeConstant Shoe Shop, and a furniture store.^[5] She was soon offered a lead role in the filmRuby by businessmanNarciso G. Isidro, Zabala's relative and the grandfather of singerAgot Isidro. The film was to be produced by NGI Productions, a newly established studio in Marikina.^[5]

In the 1980s, she continued to appear in more films with Dolphy, includingKalabog en Bosyo Strike Again (1985) and her final known big-screen appearance,Tataynic (1998), both directed by her husband, Ben Feleo, who died in 2011. She co-starred withVilma Santos inMarilou Diaz-Abaya'sBaby Tsina (1984) and played Santos' cruel mother-in-law in Chito Roño'sIkaw Lang (1991).^[1]

In 1982, she joined the cast ofJohn en Marsha as the mother of Madel, Rolly Puruntong's wife.

In 1964, she married directorBen Feleo, whom she had met in 1962. She became the stepmother of Feleo's son,Johnny Delgado, from his previous marriage. Ben Feleo died of a stroke in September 2011.

Zabala died at theNational Kidney and Transplant Institute inQuezon City on August 8, 2017, due to kidney failure. She was 80 years old.^[6]

• Biodata, newsflash.org; accessed 22 August 2017.
• The mark of ZZ, asianjournal.com; accessed 22 August 2017.

• 1934 births
• 2017 deaths
• 20th-century Filipino businesspeople
• 20th-century Filipino businesswomen
• 21st-century Filipino businesspeople
• 21st-century Filipino businesswomen
• Filipino film actresses
• Filipino television actresses
• Actors from Marikina

• CS1 Tagalog-language sources (tl)
• CS1 errors: missing title
• CS1 errors: bare URL
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles needing additional references from September 2024
• All articles needing additional references
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from January 2023
• Articles with unsourced statements from August 2017