Echevarria Signs Premium Two-Script Deal with Legendary Television

René Echevarria has landed a legendary contract…

The Cuban American screenwriter and film producer has signed a premium two-script deal with Legendary Television.

René Echevarria

No concepts have been set yet, but Deadline.com reports that Echevarria may explore titles from Legendary’s movie library.

The Primetime Emmy-nominated veteran showrunner has a background in leading big properties to the small screen, including Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Echevarria also served as the executive producer/showrunner on Fox’s Terra Nova and executive produced MTV’s Teen Wolf.

Additionally, he co-created USA Network’s The 4400 and worked on Medium and Castle.

Moreno Earns Drama Desk Nomination for “Year of the Rooster”

Bobby Moreno’s latest Broadway role could have him ruling the roost this awards season…

The part-Panamanian actor has earned a Drama Desk nomination in the Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play category for his physically demanding stage role as a bird in Year of the Rooster.

Bobby Moreno

Moreno portrays Odysseus Rex, a rooster with issues, in Eric Dufault’s dark cockfighting comedy.

“I watched a lot of bird documentaries. David Attenborough has this series called The Life of Birds,” Moreno tells The New York Times about the research that went into his role. “Birds’ eyes focus in a very funny way. My performance is based on their movements that are jittery. But I don’t want it to be too much. I’m probably onstage for 25 minutes. The trick is what quick stories can I tell. There’s a kiss in the show that’s now a bird kiss because of something I saw in a documentary.”

Moreno, who has appeared on CBSThe Good Wife, is up against Casa Valentina’s Reed Birney, Choir Boy’s Chuck Cooper, Outside Mullingar’s Peter Maloney, The Jacksonian’s Bill Pullman and The Glass Menagerie’s Brian J. Smith.

Meanwhile, Tony Award-winning actor and playwright Ruben Santiago-Hudson has earned a nod in the Outstanding Solo Performance category for his role in August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned.

The 57-year-old half-Puerto Rican actor will face off against This is My Office’s David Barlow, Character Mans Jim Brochu, Grounded’s Hannah Cabell, Becoming Dr. Ruth’sDebra Jo Rupp and Satchmo at the Waldorf’s John Douglas Thompson.

Santiago-Hudson, who portrayed Captain Roy Montgomery on ABC‘s Castle, previously won a Tony Award in 1996 for his performance in Seven Guitars.

The 59th edition of the Drama Desk awards will take place on June 1 at The Town Hall in New York City.

Here’s the complete list of nominees:

Outstanding Play
Nell Benjamin, The Explorers Club
Steven Levenson, Core Values
Conor McPherson, The Night Alive
Richard Nelson, Regular Singing
Bruce Norris, Domesticated
Robert Schenkkan, All The Way
John Patrick Shanley, Outside Mullingar

Outstanding Musical
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Aladdin
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Fun Home
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Rocky
The Bridges of Madison County

Outstanding Revival of a Play
I Remember Mama
London Wall
No Man’s Land
Of Mice and Men
The Cripple of Inishmaan
The Model Apartment
Twelfth Night (Shakespeare’s Globe Production)

Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Les Misérables
Violet

Outstanding Actor in a Play
Bryan Cranston, All The Way
Hamish Linklater, The Comedy of Errors
Ian McKellen, No Man’s Land
David Morse, The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin
Chris O’Dowd, Of Mice and Men
Daniel Radcliffe, The Cripple of Inishmaan
Denzel Washington, A Raisin in the Sun

Outstanding Actress in a Play
Barbara Andres, I Remember Mama
Tyne Daly, Mothers and Sons
Audra McDonald, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill
Laurie Metcalf, Domesticated
J. Smith-Cameron, Juno and the Paycock
Harriet Walter, Julius Caesar

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Neil Patrick Harris, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Adam Jacobs, Aladdin
Andy Karl, Rocky
Jefferson Mays, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Steven Pasquale, The Bridges of Madison County
Bryce Pinkham, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Sutton Foster, Violet
Idina Menzel, If/Then
Jessie Mueller, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Kelli O’Hara, The Bridges of Madison County
Margo Seibert, Tamar of the River
Barrett Wilbert Weed, Heathers: The Musical

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
Reed Birney, Casa Valentina
Chuck Cooper, Choir Boy
Peter Maloney, Outside Mullingar
Bobby Moreno, Year of the Rooster
Bill Pullman, The Jacksonian
Brian J. Smith, The Glass Menagerie

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Betty Buckley, The Old Friends
Julia Coffey, London Wall
Diane Davis, The Model Apartment
Celia Keenan-Bolger, The Glass Menagerie
Jan Maxwell, The Castle
Sophie Okonedo, A Raisin in the Sun

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Danny Burstein, Cabaret
Nick Cordero, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Joshua Henry, Violet
James Monroe Iglehart, Aladdin
Rory O’Malley, Nobody Loves You
Bobby Steggert, Big Fish

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Stephanie J. Block, Little Miss Sunshine
Anika Larsen, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Adriane Lenox, After Midnight
Sydney Lucas, Fun Home
Laura Osnes, The Threepenny Opera
Jennifer Simard, Disaster!
Lauren Worsham, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Outstanding Director of a Play
Joe Calarco, A Christmas Carol
Tim Carroll, Twelfth Night
Thomas Kail, Family Furniture
Bill Rauch, All The Way
Anna D. Shapiro, Domesticated
Julie Taymor, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Outstanding Director of a Musical
Sam Gold, Fun Home
Michael Mayer, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Bartlett Sher, The Bridges of Madison County
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Alex Timbers, Rocky
Darko Tresnjak, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Outstanding Choreography
Warren Carlyle, After Midnight
Steven Hoggett, Kelly Devine, Rocky
Danny Mefford, Love’s Labour’s Lost
Casey Nicholaw, Aladdin
Susan Stroman, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Sonya Tayeh, Kung Fu

Outstanding Music
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
Andrew Lippa, Big Fish
Steven Lutvak, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Alan Menken, Aladdin
Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe, Heathers: The Musical
Jeanine Tesori, Fun Home

Outstanding Lyrics
Howard Ashman, Tim Rice, and Chad Beguelin, Aladdin
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Michael Friedman, Love’s Labour’s Lost
Michael Korie, Far from Heaven
Lisa Kron, Fun Home

Outstanding Book of a Musical
Chad Beguelin, Aladdin
Robert L. Freedman, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, Murder for Two
Lisa Kron, Fun Home
Douglas McGrath, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Marsha Norman, The Bridges of Madison County

Outstanding Orchestrations
Jason Robert Brown, The Bridges of Madison County
John Clancy, Fun Home
Larry Hochman, Big Fish
Steve Sidwell, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Michael Starobin, If/Then
Jonathan Tunick, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

Outstanding Music in a Play
Lewis Flinn, The Tribute Artist
Elliot Goldenthal, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Rob Kearns, The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle
Tom Kochan, Almost, Maine
Nico Muhly, The Glass Menagerie
Duncan Sheik, A Man’s a Man

Outstanding Revue
After Midnight
I’m a Stranger Here Myself: Musik from the Weimar and Beyond
Le Jazz Hot: How the French Saved Jazz
Til Divorce Do Us Part
What’s It All About? Bacharach Reimagined

Outstanding Set Design
Christopher Barreca, Rocky
Alexander Dodge, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Richard Hoover, Small Engine Repair
Santo Loquasto, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Ian MacNeil, A Doll’s House
Donyale Werle, The Explorers Club

Outstanding Costume Design
Constance Hoffman, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
William Ivey Long, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Zane Pihlstrom, Nutcracker Rouge
Loren Shaw, The Mysteries
Jenny Tiramani, Twelfth Night
David C. Woolard, The Heir Apparent

Outstanding Lighting Design
Christopher Akerlind, Rocky
Jane Cox, Machinal
David Lander, The Civil War
Peter Mumford, King Lear
Brian Tovar, Tamar of the River
Japhy Weideman, Macbeth

Outstanding Projection Design
Robert Massicotte and Alexis Laurence, Cirkopolis
Sven Ortel, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Aaron Rhyne, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Shawn Sagady, All The Way
Austin Switser, Sontag: Reborn
Ben Rubin, Arguendo

Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical
Kai Harada, Fun Home
Peter Hylenski, Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical
Peter Hylenski, Rocky
Brian Ronan, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Dan Moses Schreier, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder
Jon Weston, The Bridges of Madison County

Outstanding Sound Design in a Play
M.L. Dogg, The Open House
Katie Down, The Golden Dragon
Paul James Prendergast, All The Way
Dan Moses Schreier, Act One
Christopher Shutt, Love and Information
Matt Tierney, Machinal

Outstanding Solo Performance
David Barlow, This is My Office
Jim Brochu, Character Man
Hannah Cabell, Grounded
Debra Jo Rupp, Becoming Dr. Ruth
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, August Wilson’s How I Learned What I Learned
John Douglas Thompson, Satchmo at the Waldorf

Unique Theatrical Experience
Charlatan Cirkopolis
Mother Africa
Nothing to Hide
Nutcracker Rouge
The Complete and Condensed Stage Directions of Eugene O’Neill Vol. 2

Gallegos to Star in Clint Eastwood’s New Film “American Sniper”

Rey Gallegos is getting Clint Eastwood’s SEAL of approval…

The Latino actor, one of the stars of Fox’s upcoming action-drama Gang Related, has joined the cast of the legendary actor-turned-director’s latest film American Sniper.

Rey Gallegos

Starring Bradley Cooper as decorated marksman Chris Kyle, the film is based on Kyle’s memoir American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History.

Gallegos will portray Tony, chief of a U.S. Navy SEALs team and one of the instructors during Kyle’s training.

In addition to Cooper and Gallegos, the film also stars Navid Negahban, Eric Close and Eric Ladin.

Filming on the Warner Bros. project is set to start at the end of March in Morocco.

Gallegos’ previous credits include appearances on Sons of Anarchy, Castle, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Saving Grace, Cold Case, 24 and Prison Break.

Gomez Cast in NBC’s Comedy Pilot “Ellen More or Less”

There may be more or less of Joshua Gomez on television in the near future…

The 38-year-old Latino actor, who earned three ALMA Award nominations for his performance on NBC’s long-running spy series Chuck, has been cast in the NBC pilot Ellen More or Less.

Joshua Gomez

Written by JJ Philbin and directed by Peyton Reed, the comedy project centers on Ellen (portrayed by Stacey McGunnigle), an average-size woman who, after losing 100 pounds, begins reinventing herself in life and love.

Gomez will portray Craig, a co-worker of Ellen’s in the Billing Department.

Along with his role on Chuck, Gomez’s previous television credits include appearances on Castle, Without a Trace, Invasion and Law & Order.

Anthony-Rodriguez Cast in Fox’s Midseason Drama “Gang Related”

Philip Anthony-Rodriguez is going undercover…

The Latino actor has landed a recurring role on Fox’s midseason series Gang Related.

Philip Anthony-Rodriguez

The action drama centers on Ryan Lopez (portrayed by Ramon Rodriguez), a gang member sent in to infiltrate the San Francisco Police Department.

Anthony-Rodriguez, best known for portraying Ruben Enriquez in the ABC Family television series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, will play Agent Billy Cabrera, an undercover agent working for the Treasury Department.

His other credits include guest-starring roles on the Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana and Shake It Up, as well as ABC’s Castle.

Gomez Lands Guest-Starring Role on ABC’s “Castle”

Joshua Gomez is heading back to television with a royal project…

The 37-year-old Latino actor and Chuck alum has landed a guest-starring role on ABC’s drama Castle.

Joshua Gomez

Gomez, who earned three ALMA Award nods during his stint on Chuck,   will appear in the fifth episode of Season 6 as a murder suspect who claims to have traveled from the future to prevent a cataclysmic event from happening, according to EW.com.

Gomez follows in the footsteps of fellow Chuck alum Adam Baldwin as well as Gomez’s Chuck love interest Mekenna Melvin.

This marks the actor’s first television role since bidding Chuck adieu.

Gomez’s other credits include appearances on Without a Trace, Law & Order and Invasion.

ABC’s Castle returns with new episodes on Monday, September 23.

Raymund Earns Best Actress/Television Prize at the Imagen Awards

Monica Raymund has a brand new imagen

The 27-year-old half-Dominican American actress has earned her first-ever Imagen Award.

Monica Raymund

Raymund was named Best Actress/Television for her portrayal of paramedic Gabriela Dawson on the NBC drama Chicago Fire.

Her previous television credits include roles on Lie to Me and The Good Wife.

But Raymund wasn’t the only first-time winner…

Jon Huertas picked up the award for Best Actor/Television for his role on ABC’s Castle, which was named Best Primetime Television Program.

The awards, which honor and recognize the positive portrayals of Latinos in film, television and the internet, are doled out by an independent panel of entertainment industry executives and Latino community leaders.

Here’s a look at the complete list of winners:

Best Primetime Television Program: Castle (ABC Studios)

Best Primetime Program, Special or Movie-of-the-Week: We Love Jenni Special (Blank Paige Productions/mun2)

Best Actor/Television: Jon Huertas, Castle (ABC)

Best Actress/Television: Monica Raymund, Chicago Fire (NBC)

Best Supporting Actor/Television: Carlos Gómez, The Glades (A&E)

Best Supporting Actress/Television: Constance Marie, Switched at Birth (ABC Family)

Best Young Actress/Television: Raini Rodriguez, Austin & Ally (Disney Channel)

Best Children’s Programming: Handy Manny (Nelvana/Disney Channel)

Best Documentary/Film or Television: Harvest of Empire (Onyx Films/ EVS Communications/ Loquito Productions)

Best National Informational Program: Oprah’s Next Chapter (Harpo Studios)

Best Local Informational Program: Vista L.A. (ABC7/Los Angeles, California)

Best On-Air Advertising: Univision Educate! – De Pandilleros a Panaderos (Univision)

Best Variety or Reality Show: 24/7 Chavez Jr./Martinez (HBO Sports)

Best Feature Film: Bless Me, Ultima (Monkey Hill Films/Gran Via Productions/Monarch Pictures/Tenaja Productions)

Best Actor/Supporting Actor – Feature Film: Luke Ganalon, Bless Me, Ultima (Monkey Hill Films/Gran Via Productions/Monarch Pictures/Tenaja Productions)

Best Actress/Supporting Actress – Feature Film: Miriam Colon, Bless Me, Ultima (Monkey Hill Films/Gran Via Productions/Monarch Pictures/Tenaja Productions)

Best Theatrical Short or Student Film: POV: Sin Pais (American Documentary | POV)

Best Web Series, Drama: Caribe Road (Helu Films Entertainment)

Best Web Series, Comedy: Oh Noah! (Thirteen/WNET)

Best Web Series, Reality or Informational: Sin Vergüenza (Kavich Reynolds/Altamed)

Echevarria to Executive-Produce CBS’ “Intelligence” Pilot

René Echevarria will be putting his magic touch on a new CBS project…

The Cuban American producer/writer has joined CBS’ drama pilot Intelligence as an executive producer/showrunner.

Rene Echevarria

Echevarria will be joining forces with creator/executive producer Michael Seitzman in running the series for ABC Studios and CBS Television Studios.

Based on John Dixon’s unpublished book Dissident, Intelligence, which stars Josh Holloway, is centered at U.S. Cyber Command and focuses on a unit that has been created around one agent with a very special gift — a microchip has been implanted in his brain allowing him to access the entire electromagnetic spectrum.

In addition to Holloway, the pilot will feature James Martinez as a “muscular federal investigator.”

The Emmy-nominated Echevarria’s credits include serving as executive producer/showrunner on Fox’s Terra Nova. He also co-created USA’s The 4400 and worked on the Jessica Alba-starrer Dark Angel, Teen Wolf, Medium and Castle.

Beals to Star in ABC’s “Venice” Pilot…

Jennifer Beals is preparing to star in a Romeo & Juliet-like project…

The 49-year-old part-Puerto Rican actress has been cast as the lead in ABC’s drama pilot Venice.

Jennifer Beals

The drama pilot, written by Byron Balasco, is a sudsy-type project about the haves and the have-nots in California’s most seductive city, Venice. It centers on two rival families and a forbidden and dangerous romance that emerges between them as the families battle for control of the beach city.

Beals will portray Lisa Carver, the elegant bohemian matriarch of the Carver family, one of the two feuding clans.

McG will be directing the pilot from Warner Bros. Television and his Wonderland Sound and Vision studio, which he’ll executive produce as well.

Beals, who rose to acclaim in 1993’s Flashdance and starred in Showtime’s The L Word, most recently appeared on television in The Mob Doctor, Castle and Lie to Me.

Rodriguez to Present at This Year’s WGA Award

Rico Rodriguez has a date with the Writers Guild of America

The 14-year-old Modern Family star, who just earned his third straight SAG Award for best comedy ensemble, has been confirmed as a presenter at the 2013 Writers Guild Awards (WGA Awards) Los Angeles ceremony later this month.

Rico Rodriguez

Rodriguez, an ALMA Award winner, will present alongside his Modern Family co-stars Julie Bowen and Eric Stonestreet.

Other presenters include Zero Dark Thirty’s Jessica Chastain, Private Practice’s Kate Walsh, Castle’s Stana Katic and Parks and Recreation’s Amy Poehler.

Nathan Fillion, the star of ABC’s Castle, will serve as the night’s host.

The WGA Awards will take place on Sunday, February 17, at the JW Marriott L.A. LIVE.