Gina Torres to Star in “The Hating Game”

Gina Torresis joining the Game

The 50-year-old Cuban American actress and Suitsstar will star opposite Lucy Hale and Robbie Amell in the rom-com The Hating Game, which is set to start shooting in New York in August.

Gina Torres

Peter Hutchingswill direct Christina Mengert’s adaptation of the best-selling novel by Sally Thorne.

The film tells the story of kind-hearted Lucy Hutton (Hale) and her cold-efficient nemesis Joshua Templeton (Amell). Resolving to achieve professional success without compromising her ethics, Lucy embarks on a ruthless game of one-upmanship against Josh, a rivalry that is impossibly complicated by her growing attraction to him. 

Torres will star as a co-CEO of two recently merged publishing houses where Lucy and Josh work.

Torres currently stars in and co-executive produces USA Network’s Pearson, the Torres-pitched spinoff of the network’s hit series Suits.

Isabel Arraiza to Star in USA Network’s “Suits” Spinoff Series with Gina Torres

Isabel Arraiza is Suits-ing up…

The Latina actress has joined the cast of USANetwork and Universal Cable Prods.’s upcoming Suits spinoff series starring Gina Torres.

Isabel Arraiza

Arraiza joins a cast that includes Bethany Joy Lenz, Chantel Riley, Eli Goree, Simon Kassianides and Morgan Spector.

Centered on powerhouse lawyer Jessica Pearson (Torres) as she adjusts to the dirty world of Chicago politics, the spinoff hails from UCPand is executive produced by Suitscreator and executive producer Aaron Korsh alongside executive producer and showrunner Daniel Arkin.

The project was introduced in the Season 7 finale of Suits, which served as a backdoor pilot for the spinoff. It featured four main characters at the center of the offshoot, played by Torres, Kassianides, Spector and Rebecca Rittenhouse.

The role played by Rittenhouse in the backdoor pilot is being recast with Lenz. Riley will reprise a character that she played as a guest star in the backdoor pilot, while Arraiza and Goree play new characters.

Arraiza will portray Yoli Castillo, Jessica’s passionate assistant who will learn from the best how to most effectively channel her intensity.

The series is starting production in Los Angeles.

Arraiza’s previous credits include television appearances on The Oath, Elementary and American Dreamer.

Justina Machado Wins Imagen Award for Best Actress – Television

Justina Machado is celebrating her big Day

The 33rd annual Imagen Awards were announced over the weekend, with the 45-year-old Puerto Rican actress taking home one of the big prizes.

Justina Machado 

Machado was named Best Actress – Television for her starring role on Netflix’s One Day at a Timewhich earned the award for Best Primetime Program.

It’s her second consecutive award for portraying Penelope Alvarez on the series.

The Imagen Awards are presented by the Imagen Foundation, an organization that encourages and champions the positive portrayal of Latinos in entertainment.

Pixar’s Coco took the trophy for Best Feature Film and Best Director for Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina.

Other winners included Overboard stars Eugenio Derbez and Eva Longoria, as well as a tie for Best Supporting Actress in television for Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s Stephanie Beatriz and Suits actress Gina Torres.

Here’s the complete list of winners:

Best Feature Film: Coco(Disney Pixar)
Best Director: Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina, Coco(Disney Pixar)
Best  Actor  –  Feature  Film: Eugenio  Derbez,  Overboard (3Pas  Studios  and  Pantelion, Lionsgate MGM)
Best Actress – Feature Film: Eva Longoria, Overboard(3Pas Studios and Pantelion, Lionsgate MGM)
Best Primetime Program – Drama: Station 19(ABC; ABC Studios)
Best Primetime Program – Comedy: One Day at a Time(Netflix)
Best Primetime Program – Specials, Movies & Mini-Series: The Long Road Home(National Geographic; Phoenix Pictures, Finngate Television, and Fuzzy Door for National Geographic)
Best Actor – Television: E.J. Bonilla, The Long Road Home(National Geographic; Phoenix Pictures, Finngate Television, and Fuzzy Door for National Geographic)
Best Actress – Television: Justina Machado, One Day at a Time(Netflix)
Best Supporting Actor – Television: Jorge Diaz, The Long Road Home(National Geographic; Phoenix Pictures, Finngate Television, and Fuzzy Door for National Geographic)
Best Supporting Actress – Television (TIE):
 Stephanie Beatriz, Brooklyn Nine-Nine(Fox; Universal Television, Fremulon, Dr. Goor Productions and 3 Arts Entertainment)
Gina Torres, Suits(USA Network; Universal Cable Productions)
Best Young Actor – Television: Jenna Ortega, Stuck in the Middle(Disney Channel; Horizon Productions, Inc.)
Best Variety or Reality Show: Pati’s Mexican Table(WETA/American Public Television; Co-production of Mexican Table LLC, WETA Washington DC, and FRANK)
Best Children’s Programming: Elena of Avalor(Disney Junior; Disney Television Animation)
Best Documentary: The Pushouts(Curious Matters, LLC)
Best Informational Program (Local or National): Noticias Telemundo: “Nuestra Gente Extraordinaria” (Telemundo Network)
Best Short-Form Non-Fiction Program: ESPN Features – SC Reportajes – “Hoops Sagrado” (ESPN Deportes; ESPN)
Best On-Air Advertising: Broken Crayons (brokencrayons.us; Republica

Torres Closes Deal to Star in Potential “Suits” Spinoff Series

It’s official… Gina Torres is suiting up for a spinoff…

The 47-year-old Cuban American actress has finalized a deal with the studio behind the hit USA legal drama series Suits, Universal Cable Productions, to headline and produce a potential spinoff series centered on her Suits character, uber attorney and office style icon Jessica Pearson.

Gina Torres

The project will be shepherded by Suits creator/showrunner Aaron Korsh, whose deal is still being worked out.

The new series, in the very early stages of development, is based on an idea Torres brought to UCP, with Torres’ deal closing quickly as she was fielding offers for broadcast pilots.

“I’m beyond grateful for this opportunity and the level of confidence Bonnie Hammer, Jeff Wachtel and everyone at UCP have in me and the potential of this project,” Torres said in a statement to Deadline. “Can’t wait to get started.”

Korsh will serve as an executive producer and showrunner on the spinoff series, while maintaining his showrunner duties on Suits.

“Gina had the idea and went to the studio. She pitched an idea of what happens if we follow Jessica into the future a little bit,” Korsh told Deadline. “She has a specific take on it that we’re still mulling over right now. They were excited about it, I was excited about it, and we decided to move forward with thinking about what it is.”

Torres’ deal comes as Jessica Pearson made a surprise return to Suits in the final minutes of Suits’ Season 6 finale. It was Torres’ first time back on the show since exiting as a series regular in the Season 6 summer finale in September.

Torres In Talks with USA Network to Headline Potential “Suits” Spinoff

Gina Torres may be suiting up for a spinoff…

The 47-year-old Cuban American actress is in early talks to headline a new series for USA Network based on her former Suits character.

Gina Torres

While a Jessica Pearson (Torres) spinoff had been talked about on- and off- for more than a year as USA’s interest in an offshoot has grown, conversations have reportedly heated up recently as Torres has been fielding broadcast pilot offers for a second straight year.

Last year, she was cast as the lead in the ABC drama pilot The Death of Eva Sofia Valdez, which didn’t move forward, but the threat of potentially losing Torres for years, if the pilot she chooses this time around becomes a successful series, is likely motivating USA and Suits producer Universal Cable Productions to act now.

Deadline reports that negotiations are in preliminary stages, with no deals in place, and no fully formed concept yet. But the new series would center on Torres’ intrepid and stylish attorney character, Jessica Pearson.

Torres’ Jessica Pearson was one of Suits’ most popular characters. Torres left the show midway through the current sixth season after approaching Korsh earlier with the request because it was getting difficult for her to be away from her family, who are based in Los Angeles, since Suits films in Toronto.

She has been selective in her post-Suits choices, currently doing a season-long arc on ABC drama The Catch, which films in Los Angeles.

Torres Lands Recurring Role on ABC’s “The Catch”

Gina Torres has landed The Catch of the day…

The 47-year-old Cuban American actress has landed a recurring role on the second season of the ABC drama series The Catch, from Shonda RhimesShondaLand and ABC Studios.

Gina Torres

As usual with ShondaLand shows, no details about Torres’ character have been revealed.

Executive produced by Rhimes, The Catch centers on Alice Vaughan (Mireille Enos), a private investigator for high-end clients. Torres joins T.R. Knight, who also was recently cast in a recurring role.

Torres just wrapped her starring role as Jessica Pearson on USA Network’s Suits in this week’s Season 6 summer finale, having been with the legal drama series since its launch.

At ABC and ABC Studios, Torres toplined the drama pilot The Death of Eva Sofia Valdez this past season and previously recurred on Revenge

Her other notable television roles include the shotgun-toting mercenary Zoe Washburne on Joss Whedon’s Firefly, (she also played the character in Whedon’s feature Serenity), the soul-eating Jasmine on Whedon’s Angel and a recurring gig on NBC’s Hannibal

Torres film work includes The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions and I Think I Love My Wife opposite Chris Rock.

USA Network Renews Torres’ “Suits” for a Seventh Season

Gina Torres is suiting up for seven…

USA Network has renewed its longest-running original scripted series Suits, starring the 47-year-old Cuban American actress, for a 16-season seventh season for a premiere in 2017.

Gina Torres

The news comes just three episodes into the legal drama’s Season 6 run and will push Suits through the 100-episode mark, the fifth USA scripted series to do that after Monk, Burn Notice, Psych and Royal Pains.

Suits, from Universal Cable Prods., continues to be a solid ratings performer, averaging more than 3 million total viewers and 1.1 million P18-49 in Live+3 in its sixth season to date. That is off slightly from Season 5.

The current season focuses on Mike (Patrick J. Adams) facing the tough reality of prison life, with his relationship with his fiancée Rachel (Meghan Markle), and the future of Pearson Specter Litt hanging in the balance. Gabriel Macht, Sarah Rafferty and Rick Hoffman also star.

The series, which airs Wednesdays at 9:00 pm, was created by Aaron Korsh.

USA Network to Premiere Season 6 of Torres’ “Suits” in July

Gina Torres will be suiting up again this this summer…

USA Network will premiere Season 6 of Suits, starring the 46-year-old Cuban American actress, on July 13.

Gina Torres

The drama series will return at 9:00 pm ET on Wednesday, July 13, serving as a lead-in for Season 2 of hacker drama Mr. Robot.

Everything changed last season for the nattily attired lawyers at Manhattan’s Pearson Specter Litt. The new season of Suits picks up after last year’s cliffhanger finale.

Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams), the not-so-legitimate associate of legendary attorney Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht), is in prison. He took a plea deal to spare his colleagues and is beginning a two-year stretch, confronted with the harsh realities of life inside.

Meanwhile, the once-bustling Pearson Specter Litt offices are a ghost town: The partners have defected, leaving Harvey, Jessica (Torres), Louis (Rick Hoffman), Donna (Sarah Rafferty) and Rachel (Meghan Markle) to pick up the pieces. But the firm’s troubles are far from over and they will have to deal with the fallout from Mike’s crime before they can even begin to rebuild.

Season 6 will feature recurring guest stars including Erik Palladino, Paul Schulze and Malcolm Jamal Warner.

Torres to Star in Title Role in ABC’s Drama Pilot “The Death of Eva Sofia Valdez”

Death has knocked on Gina Torres’ door…

The 46-year-old Cuban American actress and Suits star has been cast as the lead in ABC’s drama pilot The Death of Eva Sofia Valdez.

Gina Torres

Don’t despair! Torress’ casting shouldn’t impact her status on the popular USA drama series, which just ended its fifth season and has been renewed for Season 6. Torres is expected to remain a regular through season 6, fulfilling her six-year contract, with her character likely getting phased out.

Written by Cuban-American playwright Charise Castro SmithThe Death of Eva Sofia Valdez is described as a sexy revenge drama with supernatural elements and Macbeth with a Cuban twist.

It centers on Eva Sofia Valdez (Torres), an immigrant who rose from rags to riches and is a celebrated Miami entrepreneur and a champion for immigrant rights. But the success of this ” modern-day Havana-born Cleopatra” is fueled by an insatiable ambition that could destroy her family, a vendetta against the lover who betrayed her, and ghosts from the past who threaten to reveal the dark sacrifices Eva Sofia made to attain the American Dream.

Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters executive produce alongside Castro Smith for ABC Studios.

This would mark the first series lead role for the Firefly and 24 alumna who has been a standout on Suits as the smart and decisive Jessica Pearson. She also recurred on NBC’s Hannibal and ABC’s Revenge.

USA Network Schedules the Return of Torres’ Drama Series “Suits” for January

Gina Torres is suiting up soon…

USA Network has slotted a January premiere for the mid-season return of drama series Suits, starring the 45-year-old Cuban American actress.

Gina Torres

The first of the remaining six episodes of the fifth season of Suits will debut Wednesday, January 27 at 10:00 pm PM.

In Suits, in the wake of his arrest for conspiracy to commit fraud, Mike (Patrick J. Adams) finds himself at the center of an investigation – led by a ruthless government prosecutor, Assistant US Attorney Anita Gibbs (Leslie Hope) – that threatens to bring down the whole firm.