Salma Hayek Named to Time’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” List

Salma Hayek is being feted for her sway

Time magazine has released its list of the “100 Most Influential People in the World,” with the 56-year-old Mexican Oscar-nominated actress and film producer making the cut.

Salma Hayek

Each year, the media outlet honors 100 individuals that it perceives as holding sway, pairing the list with praiseful blurbs from contemporaries. The logrolling list contains comedians, sports stars, authors and other influential figures.

“Salma is a great observer and feels everything deeply. She’s strong yet sensitive, and she can read people very well. That’s what makes her a great actor, her ability to put herself in someone else’s shoes, from her breakthrough portrayal of Frida  Kahlo to her most recent performance as Maxandra in Magic  Mike’s Last Dance,” says Penelope Cruz in her write-up. “Her huge heart, great intelligence, and charisma are a winning combination, but the thing I’m most proud of is that she’s always entirely herself. As one of the first Latinas working in Hollywood, she’s opened so many doors for people who followed. She is a total revolutionary, and there’s still so much she will do.”

But Hayek isn’t the only Hispanic/Latinx artist to make the list.

Aubrey Plaza, who won a SAG Award this year for being part of the ensemble cast of HBO’s The White Lotus, received her special tribute from Amy Poehler.

“I met Aubrey, a deeply versatile actor and producer, almost 15 years ago on Parks  and Recreation, where she played the droll and mischievous intern April Ludgate. I knew two things immediately: I was working with a determined and profoundly talented woman with big plans, and I had met a dear friend for life,” says Poehler of the 38-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress/comedian. “Her work over the past decade has been acutely truthful and always surprising—whether conveying fear-based choices in Emily the Criminal, manic breakdowns in Black Bear, chilly secret keeping in The White Lotus, or whatever big and ballsy swing is up next in Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis.”

Zoe Saldaña, who became the first performer to appear in the top three highest grossing films globally earlier this year, received a tribute from Mila Kunis.

“Whether she’s kicking butt in Guardians of the Galaxy, saving humanity in Avatar, or making you bawl your eyes out in From Scratch, she’s always on top of her game,” writes Kunis of the . Zoe has also been a trailblazer for women and people of color in Hollywood, breaking down barriers and advocating for greater diversity and representation. She’s not afraid to speak out for what she believes in, and uses her platform to make a positive impact.

Other honorees include international soccer star Lionel Messi; Chilean actor Pedro Pascal; executive director of OnPoint NYC, Sam Rivera; Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; Colombian president Gustavo Petro and Mexican activist María Herrera Magdaleno.

The list was first published in 1999. Nominations are secured from Time 100 alumni and the international writing staff. The final list is exclusively chosen by Time editors. There is also a commemorative gala held to celebrate the list winners.

For the full list of nominees, visit Time.com/Time100.

Jenna Ortega In Talks to Star in Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice” Sequel

Jenna Ortega could be juicing for her next role…

20-year-old Puerto Rican and Mexican American Golden Globe-nominated actress and Wednesday star may be reuniting with Tim Burton on his next project as Hollywood insiders report Ortega is in early talks to reunite with the Wednesday creator on Beetlejuice 2 at Warner Bros.

Jenna OrtegaMichael Keaton and Winona Ryder are reportedly expected to reprise their roles with Burton directing.

Production is expected to start in late May or early June in London, but the film’s budget hasn’t been set, resulting in some back and forth.

If a deal is made, sources say Ortega would play the daughter of Lydia, the character played by Ryder in the Burton-helmed original.

Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Jeffrey Jones and Catherine O’Hara also starred in the original film, which grossed $80 million on a $15 million budget. It also scored a Best Makeup Oscar at the 1989 Academy Awards.

Ortega has been on a roll as of late, led by her record-breaking Addams Family series Wednesday. The show has smashed Netflix viewing records and has been renewed for a second season. She’s hosting Saturday Night Live on March 11 and is appearing on in Scream VI.

Antonio Banderas to Serve as Presenter During Academy Awards Show

Antonio Banderas is headed to the Oscars

The 62-year-old Spanish actor and director has been added to the presenter ranks for this weekend’s Academy Awards show by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS).

Antonio BanderasBanderas is among a list of recently added presenters that includes Halle Bailey, Elizabeth Banks, Jessica Chastain, John Cho, Andrew Garfield, Hugh Grant, Danai Gurira, Salma Hayek, Nicole Kidman, Florence Pugh and Sigourney Weaver.

They join the previously announced Riz Ahmed, Emily Blunt, Glenn Close, Jennifer Connelly, Ariana DeBose, Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson, Michael B. Jordan, Troy Kotsur, Jonathan Majors, Melissa McCarthy, Janelle Monáe, Deepika Padukone, Questlove, Zoe Saldaña and Donnie Yen.

More presenters will be revealed during the week.

The latest adds to Hollywood’s Big Night come just as Oscar voting is set to end, with ballots due at 5 p.m. PT tonight.

The months-long awards season culminates with the 95th annual Academy Awards, which will be handed out Sunday, March 12, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

ABC will air the ceremony live coast-to-coast starting at 5:00 pm PT/8:00 pm ET, along with more than 200 countries around the world.

Sofia Carson to Perform Oscar-Nominated Track “Applause” at This Year’s Academy Awards

Sofia Carson has a date with Oscar

The 29-year-old Colombian American actress/singer and Diane Warren will perform “Applause,” the Oscar-nominated Best Song track, at the 95th annual Academy Awards next month.

Sofia CarsonWarren wrote the music and lyrics for the track from the film Tell It Like a Womanearning her 14th Best Song Oscar nod since 1988 and sixth in as many years.

She has yet to claim the hardware but did receive a Governors Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in November and snagged an Emmy for The Hunting Ground song “Til It Happens to You,” sung by Lady Gaga.

Carson played the Evil Queen’s daughter Evie in Disney’s Descendants and its sequels, and the first film’s soundtrack topped the Billboard 200 chart in 2015.

She released her self-titled debut album in 2022.

She also starred in last year’s Netflix film Purple Hearts and next appears in Jaume Collet-Serra’s Carry On.

“Applause” is competing for the Best Song Oscar against “Hold My Hand” from Top Gun: MaverickLift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — which Super Bowl halftime star Rihanna will perform at the ceremony — “Naatu Naatu” from RRR and “This Is A Life” from Everything Everywhere All at Once.

The 95th Academy Awards will be handed out on Sunday, March 12, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Diego Boneta Starring in the Paramount+ Romantic Comedy “At Midnight”

The clock is ticking for Diego Boneta

The 32-year-old Mexican actor and Luis Miguel: La Series star is starring in the Paramount+ romantic comedy At Midnight, which will premiere on February 10.

Diego Boneta“You won’t hear me sing but you’ll see me dance with my co-star Monica Barbaro,” says Boneta. “We wanted to do something different. Luis Miguel was a big part of my life these past 5 years and it was an amazing experience, At Midnight is its own thing. It’s a love letter to Mexico, as well. There aren’t enough rom-coms shot there in the same vein as Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Midnight in Paris. Mexico is a character in this film and you’ll see it through the eyes of our director Jonah (Feingold).”

At Midnight centers around Alejandro (Boneta), an ambitious hotel manager, and Sophie (Barbaro) a movie star navigating the politics of Hollywood. He’s focused on opening his own boutique hotel. She’s trying to focus on shooting her new superhero film Super Society 3, in hopes of getting her own spinoff, but catches her co-star (and boyfriend!) Adam (Anders Holm) cheating. Fate strikes when the shoot brings them all to Alejandro’s hotel in Mexico.

Barbaro, who is fresh off her role in Top Gun: Maverick, shared what a great time she had in Mexico City where her family hails from. She also revealed what attracted her the most to the project—celebrating the beauty of Mexico.

“The Diego introduction to Mexico City means you go to the best of the best restaurants. Even if no tables are available, they will make room for Diego. The experience was a whole different thing, not in a bad way. That was a lot of fun” she laughed.

“I was always very aware of how Mexico is represented [in media] like it’s a desert wasteland, which is not the case,” she added. “That should be obvious, but it really isn’t to some people. Mexico City is truly a city and it feels just like New York City does. Every city has its own personality. That’s one of the reasons I was really drawn to this project. Representing Mexico City in a way that a local would and highlighting it as it actually is and not some Hollywood idea of what it is.”

Anahi & Her Fellow RBD Band Mates Reuniting Next Year

Anahi is a rebel with a cause…

The 39-year-old Mexican singer and her RBD group mates are reuniting after 15 years.

RBD, RebeldeThe popular Mexican rock group, based on the fictional cast of the show Rebelde, is making the announcement following a recent reboot distributed by Netflix.

The OG Rebelde crew is back, as evidenced by a new Instagram post contrasting classic Rebelde footage with a recent reunion featuring (almost) the entire cast. In addition to Anahi, Christopher von Uckermann, Dulce Maria, Christian Chavez and Maite Perroni are expected to return.

The official RBD Instagram page (@rbd_musica) appears to have wiped the entire page, replacing all their prior posts with the reunion video. As the camera pans to each member of the original cast, the video cuts back to a memorable Rebelde moment featuring that cast member.

However, there is one notable absence: Alfonso Herrera. The Ozark actor has already made his mark in Hollywood following a series of notable roles. He also denied the possibility of him returning to the RBD universe in the new reboot, in an interview with Latina. “I will be in the first row to cheer them on and support them,” he said.

There’s little information on what the reunion will consist of.

We still have no idea if this is a reunion like the Friends special on HBO Max or a full-on reboot like Netflix’s Fuller House. However, the video guides fans to a website that has a countdown clock and the words

“Prepara tu corbata, Enero 19 2023” (Prepare your tie, January 19, 2023), which is as mysterious as it is exciting.

The five participating cast members seem to have followed suit. Each of them has wiped their entire Instagram profile and replaced their photos with the RBD logo. The fact that they’re all committing to the marketing this much does suggest the reunion will consist of more than one episode or special.

Jeirmarie Osorio to Take Part in The Casting Society’s “Mi Gente! For Latine Actors” Town Hall

Jeirmarie Osorio is helping shine a spotlight on the shortage of Latinx actors in Hollywood.

The 33-year-old Puerto Rican actress and singer will take part in The Casting Society of America’s town hall for Latino actors.

Jeirmarie OsorioThe event is part of the organization’s ongoing Commitment to Equity in Entertainment in Casting Initiative, which is designed “to effect concrete change in how actors in historically underrepresented communities are afforded access to job opportunities.”

The town hall, titled ¡Mi Gente! For Latine Actors and with sponsorship from SAG-AFTRA, will be held virtually on Wednesday, December 7 at noon PT. For complete details, click here.

In recent years, the group has held similar town halls for African Americans, Asian Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and military veterans.

Spearheaded by board member Candido Cornejo, panelists will include casting directors Carla Hool, Victor Vasquez and Erika Sable Flores; director Luis Valdez; agent Natalie Moran; producers Greta Talia Fuentes and Jolene Rodriguez; Osorio; manager Ivan De Paz; and casting executive Cesar Rocha. Univision correspondent Daniela Ganoza will serve as co-moderator.

“The CSA Latinx initiative sheds light on the immense need to address the lack of Latinx representation in Hollywood,” Hool said in a statement. “Not only that, it needs to play a very needed role in educating our industry in the fact that we, the Latine community, are a very diverse group of people. It is time we are let out of the box we have been put into and most importantly, I hope we can get to a point where we drop labels and can all become truly equal.”

“As someone working on the front lines with underserved communities and underrepresented youth, it feels very important to me to bring attention to the full meaning of the word ‘inclusion,’” said Flores, who is also executive director of the Youth Cinema Project. “We have to do better. There are entire communities still being left out of careers in entertainment in front and behind the camera. I’m grateful that CSA is willing to have this conversation.”

“I’m beyond grateful to the extraordinary people that are coming together for this important conversation,” Cornejo said. “It’s amazing to have some of these veterans I’ve looked up to join together with some of my peers and colleagues that are true guerreros (warriors) for our community. We must come together as one unified strong voice so that our colleagues can listen in order to understand what is still going on today. It’s a lived experience that we share as a Latine community that is often misrepresented, and it’s important to me for us to rectify that as much as we can.”

Paramount Releases New Trailer for “Babylon,” Starring Diego Calva

Diego Calva is searching for something bigger

Paramount has released a new trailer for Babylon, the Hollywood-set period extravaganza starring the 30-year-old Mexican actor.

Diego CalvaFrom filmmaker Damien Chazelle, the film will open in wide release on December 23rd.

Led by Brad PittMargot Robbie and Calva, the film is billed as an original epic set in 1920s Los Angeles, as the industry makes the transition from silent films to talkies. A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.

Robbie plays an ambitious up-and-comer who wants “everyone to party forever.” Pitt is wild mega-star Jack Conrad who proclaims, “You know what we have to do? We have to redefine the form, map those dreams and print them into history. Look up and say: Eureka! I am not alone” — this right before to falling ass-backwards off of a balcony.

Chazelle directs from his own script.

Cast also includes Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, Jean Smart, P.J. Byrne, Lukas Haas, Olivia Hamilton, Tobey Maguire, Max Minghella, Rory Scovel, Katherine Waterston, Flea, Jeff Garlin, Eric Roberts, Ethan Suplee, Samara Weaving and Olivia Wilde.

Mark Consuelos to Appear on HBO Max’s Series “The Girls on the Bus”

Mark Consuelos is taking the bus

The 51-year-old Mexican & Spanish actor will appear in HBO Max’s The Girls on the Bus in a recurring role.

Mark ConsuelosConsuelos will portray a major Hollywood action star-turned-politician who joined the presidential race after a Twitter poll said 46 percent of Americans would vote for him — regardless of party affiliation.

From writers Amy Chozick and Julie PlecThe Girls On The Bus centers on Sadie McCarthy (Melissa Benoist), a journalist who romanticizes Tim Crouse’s Boys on the Bus book and who scrapped her whole life for her own shot at covering a presidential campaign for the paper of record. Sadie hits the trail and eventually bonds with three female competitors, Grace (Carla Gugino), Lola (Natasha Behnam), and Kimberlyn (Christina Elmore). Despite their differences, the women become a found family with a front-row seat to the greatest soap opera in town: the battle for the White House.

The political drama also stars Brandon Scott, Griffin Dunne, Leslie FrayPJ SoskoBecky Ann BakerKyle Vincent TerryTala Ashe, and Richard Bekins.

Chozick and Plec developed the series and serve as executive producers alongside showrunner Rina Mimoun, Greg Berlanti, and Sarah Schechter.

Consuelos most recently appeared in Season 2 of Hulu’s hit comedy Only Murders in the Building in the role of Mabel’s (Selena Gomez) father. Additionally, he portrayed Hiram Lodge in multiple seasons of the CW’s Riverdale.

His other television credits include All My ChildrenQueen of the SouthHope & Faith, and Ugly Betty.

Diego Calva’s Ensemble Film “Babylon” to Open in Wide Release Christmas Weekend

Diego Calva will be spending the Christmas holiday in Babylon

The 30-year-old Mexican actor’s latest ensemble project Babylon, starring Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt, will open in wide release in U.S. theaters on December 23.

Diego Calva, Babylon

The film was originally scheduled to open in limited release during the Christmas holiday, with its wide release on January 6.

Babylon will open in the wake of 20th Century Studios/Disney’s Avatar: The Way of Water on December 16 and will share the marquee nationwide with movies like Sony’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Universal/Dreamworks Animation’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and the expansion of United Artists Releasing’s drama Women Talking.

Set in the 1920s, during Hollywood‘s transition from silent films to sound films, the film follows Manny Torres (Calva) as he pursues a career within the industry, starting as a film assistant.

Written and directed by Damien Chazelle, the film was shot in Santa Clarita, CA, where many silent and early sound movies were made, like Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times.

In addition to Calva, Robbie and Pitt, the ensemble cast also includes Tobey Maguire, Olivia Wilde, Spike Jonze, Max Minghella and Jean Smart.