Passender Door Permanently closed

[chri]

I'm dealing with a bit of an unusual problem, and I want to see what (if any) options are out there before I give up and pay what's likely to be a huge amount of money to get it fixed professionally.

My passenger door ('08, hatchback Yaris) will not open. The lock won't respond either manually inside the car, or using the key and neither indoor nor outdoor latch will open the door. I managed to get the door panel off enough for me to stick my hand and arm in to where the actuator/locking mechanism is, and manually pushing down the locking mechanism lever will not open the door either.

At this point it seems like something in the actuator/locking mechanism is broken which is preventing the locking mechanism from releasing.

Any ideas on how I can get the door open? If I can get it open, I can replace the actuator myself. I'm just concerned that the only way to release the door will result in having to replace the door.

Thanks!