[3] She then attended California State University, Los Angeles, where she continued to pursue theater and became involved in the Chicano Movement.

[1] Fernández then performed as Julie in American Me, a film about Chicano gang life and the prison system in the United States.

In 1998, she won the American Latino Media Arts Award for her work in the movie Hollywood Confidential.

In 2000, the year that Luminarias was released, Fernández won the Nosotros Golden Eagle Awards for Outstanding Writer.

[10] Evelina has received two Ted Schmitt Awards from The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle for A Mexican Trilogy: An American Story and The Mother of Henry.

Fernandez is married to the artistic director and one of the founders of the Latino Theater Company, Jose Luis Valenzuela.