Christina Aguilera to Serve as Presenter at This Year’s Grammy Awards Show

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Christina Aguilera has a date with Grammy…

The half-Ecuadorian American Grammy-wining singer will serve as a presenter at the 2025 Grammy Awards.

Aguilera appears on a list of presenters that includes Samara Joy, Lenny Kravitz, Maluma, Lionel Richie, Mark Ronson, Meryl Streep, Taylor Tomlinson and Oprah Winfrey are set to present on the 2024 Grammy Awards, set for Sunday, Feb. 4.

Joy was the surprise winner of last year’s award for best new artist. Aguilera won in that same category 24 years ago.

Ronson, a seven-time Grammy-winner, received five nominations this year for his work on Barbie.

Richie won album of the year 39 years ago for Can’t Slow Down. He won song of the year the year after that for “We Are the World,” which he co-wrote with Michael Jackson.

Streep is nominated for best audio book, narration and storytelling recording for Big Tree. This is her seventh nomination. Streep has won three Oscars and three Primetime Emmys, but she has yet to win a Grammy (or a Tony).

Maluma received his third Grammy nod this year – best Latin pop album for Don Juan.

Additional performers will be announced in the coming days.

It’s unknown whether Taylor Swift will perform, though CBS has promoted the fact that she will be “in the building” to accept any awards she may win.

U2 is set to take the stage from Sphere in Las Vegas, where the band’s acclaimed U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere show is playing.

Trevor Noah will host the Grammys for the fourth consecutive year.

The 66th annual Grammy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 4, live on both coasts beginning at 8:00 pm ET on CBS, and will stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs).

The telecast will be produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Recording Academy for the fourth consecutive year. Ben Winston, Raj Kapoor and Jesse Collins are executive producers.

America Ferrera to Serve as a Presenter at This Weekend’s Golden Globes

Posted on January 6, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

America Ferrera will be hitting the Golden Globes stage…

The full lineup of presenters for Sunday’s Golden Globes is set, with the 39-year-old Honduran American award-winning actress among the artists set to hand out trophies at the Beverly Hilton.

Ferrera, a Golden Globe winner for Ugly Betty and Barbie star, appears on a list of preseners that includes Amanda Seyfried, Andra Day, Angela Bassett, Annette Bening, Ben Affleck, Daniel Kaluuya, Don Cheadle, Dua Lipa, Elizabeth Banks, Florence Pugh, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, Gabriel Macht, George Lopez, Hailee Steinfeld, Hunter Schafer, Issa Rae, Jared Leto, Jodie Foster, Jon Batiste, Jonathan Bailey, Julia Garner, Justin Hartley, Kate Beckinsale, Keri Russell, Kevin Costner, Mark Hamill, Matt Damon, Michelle Yeoh, Naomi Watts, Oprah Winfrey, Orlando Bloom, Patrick J. Adams, Ray Romano, Rose McIver, Shameik Moore, Simu Liu, Utkarsh Ambudkar and Will Ferrell.

Jo Koy will host the Golden Globes, which will honor the year’s best in motion pictures and television.

The ceremony will air beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT live on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Among this year’s Golden Globe nominees in 26 categories, 2023’s box office champ Barbie from Warner Bros leads all films with nine, followed by Universal’s Oppenheimer with eight and Apple’s Killers of the Flower Moon and Searchlight’s Poor Things with seven apiece.

In the TV races, HBO’s final go-round with Succession has nine noms, the most-ever for a series, scoring mentions in all categories in which it was eligible.

New Trailer Released for “The Color Purple,” Starring Colman Domingo

Posted on December 11, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Colman Domingo is under a purple haze…

Warner Bros. has released a new look at its upcoming Broadway musical adaptation of The Color People, starring the 54-year-old Belizean-Guatemalan American actor and social justice activist.

In addition to Domingo, who portrays Albert “Mister” Johnson, the musical film also stars Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Taraji P. Henson, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Halle Bailey and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.

Directed by Blitz Bazawule, the film will open in theaters on December 25. Marcus Gardley, Alice Walker and Marsha Norman penned the screenplay.

The film is based on the Tony-winning musical from Norman, Brenda Lee, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, which was based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Alice Walker. It comes on the heels of a classic 1985 film adaptation from director Steven Spielberg and centers on Celie, a Black Southern woman who struggles to find her identity after suffering abuse from her father and others over the course of forty years.

The original Broadway musical debuted in 2005, scoring 11 Tony Award nominations in 2006 and Best Performance by an actress in a leading role for award for LaChanze in her role as Celie. The 2015 revival garnered four more Tony nominations and won for Best Revival of a Musical for Cynthia Erivo in her Broadway debut. The musical has also won Grammy and Emmy awards.

Spielberg directed and produced the 1985 adaptation of the Alice Walker novel, which received 11-time Oscar-nominations. The film scored Oprah Winfrey a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, and Leading Actress Oscar nomination and Golden Globe Award for Whoopi Goldberg.

The Color Purple (2023) producers include Spielberg, Winfrey, Scott Sanders and Quincy Jones with executive producers Walker and Rebecca Walker.

Zetna Fuentes to Direct Pilot Episode of Hulu’s Drama Series “Black Cake”

Posted on July 6, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Zetna Fuentes is ready to have her cake and eat it, too.

The Afro-Latina Daytime Emmy-nominated director will helm the pilot episode of Hulu’s drama series Black Cake.

Fuentes replaces Andrew Dosunmu on the project, which hails from Women of the Movement creator Marissa Jo Cerar, Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films and Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment.

Ashley Thomas has been cast as the male lead opposite Mia Isaac and Adrienne Warren.

Written by Cerar based on the book by Charmaine Wilkerson, Black Cake is a family drama wrapped in a murder mystery with a diverse cast of characters and a global setting that spans decades. The story takes place in Jamaica, Rome, Scotland, England and Southern California.

In the late 1960s, a runaway bride named Covey (Isaac) disappears into the surf off the coast of Jamaica and is feared drowned or a fugitive on the run for her husband’s murder. Fifty years later in California, a widow named Eleanor Bennett loses her battle with cancer, leaving to her two estranged children, Byron (Thomas) and Benny (Warren), a flash drive that holds previously untold stories of her journey from the Caribbean to America. These stories, narrated by Eleanor, shock her children and challenge everything they thought they knew about their family’s origin.

Thomas’ Byron Bennett is a brilliant ocean scientist, whose formidable work ethic has made him a leader in his field and a popular social media influencer. His professional success comes second only to his relationship with his mother. In the wake of her death, Byron is tasked with carrying out her final wish – a task that forces a reunion with his estranged sister, Benny and brings to light harrowing secrets.

At Hulu, Fuentes recently directed episodes of The Old Man and The Girl from Plainville.

Own Releases Trailer for Second Season of Arlen Escarpeta’s “David Makes Man”

Posted on April 22, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Arlen Escarpeta is the man of the hour…

OWN has annouced the premiere date and released the trailer for the second season of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s David Makes Man, starring the 40-year-old Belizean actor.

Scheduled to debut on OWN on June 22 from 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm ET/PT, David Makes Man‘s sophomore season finds David (Kwame Patterson) in his 30s, a rising businessman facing an opportunity that will change him and his community forever; the mounting forces David to choose between the instincts that helped him survive or finding a new way to truly live.

In addition to Escarpeta, who portrays adult AJ, and Patterson, the series also features series regulars Akili McDowell, Alana Arenas, Travis Coles and Cayden K. Williams.

McCraney serves as executive producer alongside showrunner Dee Harris-Lawrence who serves as showrunner.

Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society and Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films are also executive producers.

The trailer gives David Makes Man fans their first glimpse at Patterson’s David and teases what the drama’s protagonist must come to terms with – from unstoppable change and growth to unforgettable and formative experiences. See it above.

Gloria Estefan to Perform at ‘Nurse Heroes Live’ Benefit Virtual Concert on Thanksgiving

Posted on November 10, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Gloria Estefan is giving special thanks to some of our frontliners…

The 63-year-old Cuban singer will be among the entertainers honoring nurses in a star-studded benefit virtual concert on Thanksgiving.

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Nurse Heroes has announced that the concert called Nurse Heroes Live will stream on the organization’s YouTube and Facebook pages along with LiveXLive on November 26 at 7:00 pm EST.

The benefit will provide money for a variety of programs including scholarships for nurses and their children.

Estefan joins a lineup of performers that include Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion, Josh Groban, Black Eyed Peas, Pitbull, The Wailers, Carole King, Maluma and Andrea Bocelli.

Whoopi Goldberg will host the concert with special appearances by Oprah Winfrey and Billy Crystal.

Taylor Swift will donate a signed collectible edition “Folklore” guitar, which will be auctioned for the benefit of the Nurses Heroes Foundation.

The nurses of New York’s Northwell Health will be the first beneficiaries of the concert. The event will also showcase 50 nurses from the hospital in an ensemble performance with several celebrities.

The concert will be produced by Emilio Estefan and Times Square Live Media.

Mj Rodriguez to Appear in HBO’s “Between the World and Me,” an Adaptation of the Apollo Theater Show Based on Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Novel

Posted on August 27, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a whole new World for Mj Rodriguez.

The 29-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress/singer has been cast in Between the World and Me, HBO’s adaptation of the stage show based on Ta-Nehisi Coates’ New York Times bestseller.

Rodriguez joins a lineup of cast additions that includes Jharrel Jerome, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Janet Mock, Jason Moran, Wendell Pierce, Kendrick Sampson, Yara Shahidi and Michelle Wilson.

They join previously announced cast members Angela Bassett, Alicia Garza, Joe Morton, Phylicia Rashad, Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, Courtney B. Vance, Pauletta Washington, Susan Kelechi Watson and Oprah Winfrey.

Originally adapted and staged by the Apollo Theater in 2018, the special will combine elements of that production, including readings from Coates’ book, and will again be directed by award-winning director and Apollo Theater executive producer Kamilah Forbes.

It will also incorporate documentary footage from the actors’ home life, archival footage and animation.

The book, first published in 2015 by One World, is written as a letter to Coates’ teenage son and recounts the author’s experiences growing up in Baltimore’s inner city and his growing fear of daily violence against the Black community. The narrative explores Coates’ notion that American society structurally supports white supremacy.

The special, which is currently in production under COVID-19 guidelines, debuts this fall on HBO and will also be available to stream on HBO Max.

Rodriguez rose to acclaim on FX’s series Pose. Her other credits include television appearances on Luke Cage, The Carrie Diaries and Nurse Jackie.

In November 2019, Rodriguez landed a contract with Olay Body, becoming the first Latina trans woman to enter a partnership with the company.

Arlen Escarpeta to Star in the Second Season of OWN’s Drama Series “David Makes Man”

Posted on August 7, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Arlen Escarpeta is the Manof the hour…

The 39-year-old Belizean actor has been cast as a series regular for the second season of OWN’s acclaimed Peabody-winning drama series David Makes Man.

He’ll star alongside Kwame Patterson, who has been tapped to portray the title character, the adult version of David.

Escarpeta will play his brother JG, in the series which hails from Oscar winner Tarell Alvin McCraney and Warner Horizon Scripted Television.

They join returning series regulars Akili McDowell, Alana Arenas, Travis Coles and Cayden K. Williams for season two.

Created by McCraney and executive produced by Oprah Winfrey, the first season ofDavid Makes Mancentered on David Young (McDowell), a 14-year-old prodigy learning to survive the streets that raised him and the higher education that could offer him a way out. Season two finds David in his early 30s, a rising business man facing an opportunity that will change him and his community forever; the mounting pressure forces David to choose between the instincts that helped him survive or finding a new way to finally, truly live.

Escarpeta’s television credits include series regular roles on Crackle’s The Oath and NBC’s American Dreams, and a recurring role in Syfy’s The Magicians,among others. He also starred as Bobby Brown in the Lifetime original film Whitney.

His feature film credits include Into the Storm, Final Destination 5, Brotherhood, Friday the 13th (2009), and We Are Marshall, among others.

Apple TV+ Releases Trailer for Docuseries “Dear…” Featuring Lin-Manuel Miranda

Posted on May 24, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Lin-Manuel Miranda is a dear…

Apple TV+ has released the trailer for Dear…, the new RJ Cutler-produced 10-episode documentary series that will feature the 40-year-old Puerto Rican Broadway superstar amd the mastermnd behind the Tony Award-winning musicals In The Heights and Hamiltion in one espisode.

Dear…will premiere on the streaming service on Friday, June 5.

Inspired by Apple’s “Dear Apple” advertising spots, Dear… uses letters written by those whose lives have been changed through their work to tell biographical stories of its subjects, who range in Season 1 from Oprah Winfrey and Gloria Steinem to Spike Lee, Miranda, Yara Shahidi, Stevie Wonder, Aly Raisman, Misty Copeland, Big Bird and more.

Lin-Manuel Miranda Among the High-Profile Guests on Apple’s New Biographical Docuseries “Dear….”

Posted on January 19, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Lin-Manuel Mirandais a realDear…

The 40-year-old Puerto Rican composer, lyricist, singer, actor, producer, and playwright will appear on Apple’s new biographical docuseries Dear….

Dear…takes an inventive and cinematic approach to biographies of the most iconic figures in society today by using letters written by those whose lives have been changed through their work.

In addition to Miranda, widely known for creating and starring in the the Tony Award-winning Broadway musicals In the Heights and Hamilton, the 10-episode series will profile internationally recognized leaders including Oprah Winfrey, Gloria Steinem, Spike Lee, Yara Shahidi, Stevie Wonder, Aly Raisman, Misty Copeland, Big Bird and more.

The docuseries, inspired by Apple’s “Dear Apple” spots hails from Emmy and Peabody Award-winner RJ Cutler and Matador Content. The series will premiere globally this spring on Apple TV+.

The “Dear Apple” spots feature a mix of Apple Watch users who personally write a letter to thank the tech giant for the watch technology that has helped them live healthier lives. In one spot, a man notes how the watch’s SOS feature helped him call for help when he was injured in a car crash.

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