Natalie Morales to Star in the Dark Dramedy “My Dead Friend Zoe”

Posted on May 19, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Natalie Morales is making a new (dead) friend…

The 38-year-old Cuban American actress will star opposite Ed Harris and Sonequa Martin-Green in My Dead Friend Zoe, a dark dramedy about two generations of veterans, family and friendship.

Kyle Hausmann-Stokes will direct the project in what will be his feature debut.

Written by Hausmann-Stokes and A.J. Bermudez, the film tells the story of a female veteran (Martin-Green) engaged in a mysterious but comfortable friendship with her wise-cracking (and dead) best friend from the Army (Morales). When the vet is summoned to the remote lake house of her estranged Vietnam vet grandfather (Harris), she is tasked with providing the one thing he refuses…help.

The film is based on Merit x Zoe, a short that Hausmann-Stokes co-wrote and directed last year, and both films draw inspiration from his real-life experiences during and after the military. A graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Hausmann-Stokes served five years in the U.S. Army as a paratrooper and convoy commander and was awarded the Bronze Star while in Iraq. He co-founded the nonprofit Veterans in Media & Entertainment, and has focused his directing career thus far on the social and human sides of the military and veteran experience.

“My fellow veterans and I often get reduced to archetypes and melodramatic tropes. We’re much more dynamic, funny, complex than that,” said Hausmann-Stokes. “This will be a story about veterans we haven’t seen before; one that anyone, military/veteran or not, can relate to and enjoy.”

A Gotham Award nominee who’ll next be seen in the third season of Apple TV+’s The Morning Show and Sony’s R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings, Morales has previously appeared in such studio features as Stuber, The Little Things and Battle of the Sexes, as well as well-regarded indies like Language Lessons and I’m Totally Fine.

She led the NBC sitcom Abby’s and has also been seen on series like Dead to Me, Santa Clarita Diet, The Grinder, Parks and Recreation and White Collar.

Other upcoming projects for the actress include two films out of SXSW 2023: the sci-fi romance If You Were the Last with Anthony Mackie, and actor Jake Johnson’s feature directorial debut, Self Reliance.

Natalie Morales to Star in Sony’s R-Rated Jennifer Lawrence Comedy “No Hard Feelings”

Posted on October 5, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Natalie Morales is feelings so good…

The 37-year-old Cuban American actress and director has joined the cast of Sony’s R-rated Jennifer Lawrence comedy No Hard Feelings.

The Gene Stupnitsky-directed film, which is currently shooting, follows Lawrence as a ne’er-do-well who is hired by a rich couple to befriend their socially awkward kid.

Disney+/Broadway star Andrew Barth Feldman plays the kid; his parents are played by Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti. Ebon Moss-Bachrach also stars.

Morales most recently wrote, directed and starred in Language Lessons opposite Mark Duplass. She also directed the Hulu film Plan B and was nominated for an Imagen Award for her acting work in Language Lessons.

She’ll next be seen in the film I’m Totally Fine, which she executive produces and stars opposite Jillian Bell.

Her television roles include White Collar, The Grinder, Parks and Recreation, and Santa Clarita Diet.

Stupnitsky and John Phillips penned the screenplay for No Hard Feelings. Alex Saks, Marc Provissiero, Naomi Odenkirk, Lawrence and Justine Ciarrochi are producing. John Phillips is executive producing.

No Hard Feelings hits theaters on June 16, 2023.

Cara Santana to Star in “Daughter of the Bride”

Posted on June 29, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Bride on, Cara Santana!

The 37-year-old Latina actress has signed on to star opposite Marcia Gay Harden, Halston Sage, Andrew Richardson and Aidan Quinn in Annette Haywood-Carter’s indie comedy Daughter of the Bride (w/t) for MarVista Entertainment and Particular Crowd.

The film currently in production centers on Diane (Harden) and Kate (Sage) — mother and daughter and inseparable friends, whose lives are turned upside down when mom announces her engagement to a mystery man (Quinn) that she’s been dating for only a few weeks. In a series of comical events, Kate must come to terms with letting her mother be happy with someone else while she navigates her own love life and career aspirations. Kate subconsciously tries to sabotage the wedding plans, despite officiating the ceremony, and unexpectedly meets a mystery man (Richardson) of her own that seems too good to be true.

Karen Bloch Morse wrote the script.

The film is being co-produced by MarVista and Particular Crowd, with MarVista’s Larry Grimaldi, Hannah Pillemer, and Fernando Szew and Particular Crowd’s Mariana Sanjurjo, Peter Bevan and Tomás Yankelevich exec producing. Summer Crockett Moore, Cara Santana, Julie Yorn, and Patrick Walmsley will serve as executive producers.

Santana appeared on Starz’s drama series Vida, and on the Netflix comedy series Santa Clarita Diet, opposite Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant. She was also seen starring in Jimmy Tatro’s series The Real Bros of Simi Valley for Facebook Watch, prior to that appearing in Malcolm Goodwin’s Be the Light and WGN’s Salem.

Chavira to Star in CBS’ NASA-Themed Drama Pilot “Mission Control”

Posted on March 22, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Ricardo Chavira’s career is going out of this world…

The Mexican-American actor has been cast as a series regular in CBS’ NASA-themed drama pilot Mission Control.

He is joining the project, from The Martian author Andy Weir, The Martian producer Simon Kinberg and CBS Studios, in a recasting.

Written by Weir and directed by Jeremy Podeswa, Mission Control revolves around the next generation of NASA astronauts and scientists who juggle their personal and professional lives during a critical mission with no margin for error.

Chavira will play Diaz, director of the Johnson Space Center. He replaces Nestor Serrano, who originally was cast in the role.

Chavira, who starred on Desperate Housewives, just wrapped a season-long recurring arc as Bruce on the CW’s Jane the Virgin, also from CBS Studios.

Additionally, he is coming off high-profile arcs on ABC’s Scandal and Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet.

Fox Renews Jimenez’s Comedy Series “The Mick” for a Second Season

Posted on February 22, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Carla Jimenez is still maid for television…

Fox has given an early season two renewal for its new comedy series The Mick, featuring the 42-year-old Latina actress as part of the cast.

Carla Jimenez

It’s the first freshman Fox series to get a pickup for next season.

The Mick, a midseason entry starring Kaitlin Olson, has been a high-profile project for the network. The series was launched behind an NFL double-header on a Sunday, and it received another special Sunday airing behind The Simpsons’ first-ever one-hour episode.

The football-boosted premiere of The Mick on January 1, drew a 3.7 Live+same day rating among Adults 18-49, the highest-rated comedy debut on Fox since New Girl, with the post-Simpsons airing logging a 1.7.

In its regular Tuesday slot, The Mick started with a 1.3 (L+SD) and has settled into the 1.0-1.1 adults 18-49 L+SD range in the past five airings.

Three episodes into The Mick‘s 13-episode freshman run, the network gave the series an order for four additional episodes.

The Mick, which Fox says reaches a multi-platform audience of 8 million viewers, was created by John and Dave Chernin. It’s the first Fox comedy to be renewed for next season, ahead of established series like New Girl, Last Man on Earth and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It joins recently renewed dramas Empire and Lucifer.

“From the earliest stages of development, all of us at Fox had enormous faith in The Mick, and it hasn’t disappointed,” said Fox Entertainment president David Madden. “Kaitlin is a fearless comedic force, and the rest of the cast has just proven to be phenomenal. John and Dave Chernin have a very clear vision of what this show is, and they execute on that vision each week to perfection.”

The Mick is a comedy about an unapologetic degenerate (Kaitlin Olson) who suddenly finds herself stuck raising her spoiled niece (Sofia Black-D’Elia) and nephews (Thomas Barbusca, newcomer Jack Stanton) in affluent Greenwich, CT. It’s pretty much everything she never wanted. Regardless, she’s determined to rise to the occasion and transform these little monsters into honest, hard-working, decent members of society – something she knows absolutely nothing about. The series also stars Jimenez, who portrays Alba, and newcomer Scott MacArthur.

Jimenez’s recent television credits include appearances on Santa Clarita Diet, Fuller House, The Mindy Project and Young & Hungry.

Morales to Star in the Family Comedy “Losing It”

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Natalie Morales is losing it…

The 31-year-old Cuban American actress has landed a lead role in Losing It, a single-camera family comedy from Growing Up Fisher and Truth Be Told creator DJ Nash and Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment.

Written by Nash, Losing It centers on three misfit adult siblings and their parents who — between divorce, new parenthood, early-onset dementia and let’s just say life — are all losing it in different ways. And family is the only way they’re going to find it.

Morales will play one of the siblings, Charlie, the adopted sister who is a baker.

The casting comes on the heels of Morales’ arc on the new Netflix dark comedy series Santa Clarita Diet, which is produced by Kapital Entertainment. This marks Morales’ return to ABC where she co-starred on the underrated comedy series Trophy Wife.

Her other credits include The Grinder, Parks and Recreation and The Middleman.

Chavira to Appear on The CW’s “Jane The Virgin”

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Ricardo Chavira is heading to Virgin territory…

The 45-year-old Mexican American actor and former Desperate Housewives star has landed a recurring role on the upcoming third season of The CW’s Jane The Virgin, playing Xo’s (Andrea Navedo) ex-boyfriend who dated her when he was married.

In one of several cliffhangers in the Season 2 finale, Xo, who had just slept with ex-husband Rogelio’s nemesis Esteban, was seen holding a positive pregnancy test for a baby that could be any of the two men’s.

Chavira starred as Carlos Solis opposite Eva Longoria on all eight seasons of ABC’s Desperate Housewives and has been recurring as presidential candidate Francisco Vargas on ABC’s Scandal.

He’ll next be seen opposite Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant on Netflix’s new comedy series Santa Clarita Diet.

Chavira to Star in Netflix’s Comedy Series “Santa Clarita Diet”

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Ricardo Chavira is going on a diet…

The 44-year-old Mexican American actor and former Desperate Housewives star, who has a high-profile recurring role on Scandal this season, is set to co-star opposite Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant in Santa Clarita Diet, Netflix’s upcoming single-camera comedy series

From creator Victor Fresco, the series is set for 2017 debut.

In Santa Clarita Diet, Joel (Olyphant) and Sheila (Barrymore) are husband and wife realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the L.A. suburb of Santa Clarita, until Sheila goes through a dramatic change sending both their lives down a road of death and destruction — but in a good way.

Chavira will play their neighbor, a law-enforcement officer who loves his work.

Chavira plays presidential candidate Senator Vargas on ABC’s Scandal this season.

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