CBS All Access Renews Dania Ramirez’s “Tell Me a Story” for a Second Season

Posted on December 18, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

There’s more Story time for Dania Ramirez…

CBS All Access has ordered a second season of its psychological thriller drama series Tell Me a Story, starring the 39-year-old Dominican actress and former Devious Maids star.

From Kevin Williamson and Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment, the Williamson-helmed series is based on a Spanish format. It takes the world’s most beloved fairy tales and reimagines them as a dark and twisted psychological thriller.

Set in modern-day New York City, the first season of the serialized drama co-stars Billy Magnussen and James Wolk and interweaves “The Three Little Pigs,” “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Hansel and Gretel” into an epic and subversive tale of love, loss, greed, revenge and murder.

The Season 1 cast also includes Danielle Campbell, Dorian Missick, Michael Raymond-James, Davi Santos, Sam Jaeger, Zabryna Guevara with Paul Wesley and Kim Catrall.

It’s unclear which of the actors will return for the second installment of the anthology series.

“The first season of Tell Me a Story turned conventional fairy tales on their heads, interweaving and modernizing three classic stories into a compelling thriller for today’s audiences, in a way only Kevin Williamson can,” said Julie McNamara, EVP Original Content at CBS All Access. “We can’t wait to surprise and entertain viewers with a whole new set of tales next season.”

The first seven episodes of Tell Me a Story’s rookie season are available for streaming on CBS All Access. New episodes are available on demand weekly on Thursdays, exclusively for CBS All Access subscribers. The Season 1 finale will be available on January 3.

Justina Machado to Star in Lifetime’s TV Adaptation of Jane Green’s “Family Pictures”

Posted on December 14, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Justina Machado is sharing her family pictures…

Lifetime has cast the 46-year-old Puerto Rican actress in Family Pictures, the movie based on the novel of the same name by internationally best-selling author Jane Green.

Machado will co-star in the film alongside Elisabeth Röhm and Matt Passmore.

Family Pictures stars Machado (Netflix’s One Day at a Time) and Röhm (Law & Order) as Maggie, strangers living on opposite coasts, leading very similar lives with husbands that travel for work too much and daughters about to leave the nest. But when their daughters befriend each other on a college tour, they soon discover a shocking secret that threatens to tear both families apart. Passmore’s role was not specified.

Manu Boyer is directing from a script by Ilene Rosenzweig.

Family Pictures is currently in production in Vancouver.

Machado’s credits include Jane the Virgin, Queen of the South, Six Feet Under and Devious Maids.

Eva Longoria to Star in the Live-Action Film Adaptation of Nickelodeon’s “Dora the Explorer”

Posted on August 21, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Eva Longoria is exploring a new role…

The 43-year-old Mexican American actress and former Desperate Housewives star has been cast in Paramount Players’ live-action feature of Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer.

Longoria is set to portray Elena, Dora’s mother.

The James Bobin-directed movie hits theaters on August 2, 2019 and is already in production over in Australia with castmembers Isabela Moner (as Dora), Eugenio Derbez, Micke Moreno, Nicholas Coombe, Madeleine Madden, Adriana Barraza, and Temuera Morrison.

In the movie, the young explorer takes on high school, and with her new pack of friends as well as her sidekick the monkey Boots and her cousin Diego, leads them on a Goonies-esque quest to save her parents and solve the impossible mystery behind a lost Inca civilization.

Longoria recently starred in LD Entertainment’s Dog Days and Pantelion/MGM’s Overboard.

Longoria, via her production company UnbeliEVAble Entertainment, is executive producing the ABC drama series Grand Hotel scheduled for a midseason release as well as the recently announced series Ambassador which received a big put pilot commitment from ABC. She was also the EP on Lifetime’s Devious Maids and NBC comedy Telenovela in which she also starred.

ABC Picks Up Roselyn Sanchez’s “Grand Hotel” to Series

Posted on May 11, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Life is Grand for Roselyn Sanchez…

ABC has picked up the drama Grand Hotel, starring the 45-year-old Puerto Rican actress and former Devious Maids star, to series.

Executive produced by Eva Longoria, the series also stars Mexican actor and Oscar nominee Demian Bichir.

Based on the Spanish series Gran Hotel, the bold, provocative drama is set at the last family-owned hotel in multicultural Miami Beach. Charismatic Santiago Mendoza owns the hotel, while his glamorous second wife, Gigi, and their adult children enjoy the spoils of success. The hotel’s loyal staff round out a contemporary, fresh take on an upstairs/downstairs story. Wealthy and beautiful guests bask in luxury, but scandals, escalating debt and explosive secrets hide beneath the picture-perfect exterior.

In addition to Bichir as Santiago Mendoza and Sanchez as Gigi Mendoza, the series also stars Denyse Tontz, Bryan Craig, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Lincoln Younes, Shalim Ortiz, Anne Winters, Chris Warren, Feliz Ramirez and Justina Adorno.

Ken Olin directed the pilot, with the series being produced by ABC Studios.

Ana Ortiz to Star in ABC’s Action-Comedy Pilot “Whiskey Cavalier”

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Ana Ortiz is getting a little cavalier…

The 47-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress and former Ugly Betty and Devious Maids star has been cast opposite Scott Foley and Lauren Cohan in Whiskey Cavalier, ABC’s hourlong action-dramedy pilot from Bill Lawrence, Dave Hemingson and Warner Bros. Television.

Written by Hemingson, Whiskey Cavalier, from WBTV and Lawrence’s studio-based Doozer Prods., follows the adventures of FBI agent Will Chase (codename: Whiskey Cavalier) — played by Foley — who, following an emotional break-up, is assigned to work with quick, cunning and completely fearless CIA operative Francesca “Frankie” Trowbridge (codename: Fiery Tribune) — played by Cohan. Together, they lead an interagency team of spies who periodically save the world (and each other) while navigating the rocky roads of friendship, romance and office politics.

Ortiz will play Susan Sampson. Based out of the FBI’s New York office, Dr. Susan Sampson is the FBI’s top behavioral scientist — and Will’s (Foley) best friend. However, that doesn’t stop her from developing a fast friendship with Will’s rival (and future partner), Frankie (Cohan).

This marks Ortiz’s return to ABC where she co-starred on popular dramedy Ugly Betty for its four-season run and also starred in Devious Maids, which was developed and piloted by ABC before landing a series order at Lifetime.

Tanya Saracho Partnering with Big Beach for New Latinx Series, “Brujas”

Posted on December 6, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

It’s the witching hour for Tanya Saracho…

The Mexican playwright and television writer will serve as the showrunner for a new series titled Brujas, a show in development via Big Beach.

The series will follow four Afro-Caribbean/Latinx women in Chicago and series explore the relationships and community born out of the growing identification with the Bruja movement.

Brujas marks the continuing collaboration between Saracho and Big Beach. The new show will use the brujería counter-culture as a foundation. The brujería culture is a means for Latinx feminists to reconnect with their heritage through music, style, nightlife, and art. It’s a powerful return to indigenous practices and a reclamation of feminine strength. It’s also a headline-grabbing movement reflected from coast to coast by artists from Princess Nokia with her single “Brujas” to Beyonce’s opus of female empowerment, “Lemonade.”

Saracho is writing the series and will serve as executive producer alongside Big Beach’s Robin Schwartz, Peter Saraf, and Marc Turtletaub.

Saracho has written for Lifetime’s Devious Maids, HBO’s Girls and Looking, and ABC’s How to Get Away with Murder.

She was previously named Best New Playwright by Chicago Magazine, one of the 9 national “Luminarios” by Café Magazine and given the first “Revolucionario” award in theater by the National Museum of Mexican Art.

Longoria to Star in Fox’s Workplace Comedy Pilot “Type-A”

Posted on March 16, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Eva Longoria is being Type(- A) cast…

The 42-year-old Mexican American actress and former Desperate Housewives star will play the lead in Type-A, Fox’s single-camera workplace comedy pilot from the Life in Pieces duo of executive producer Jason Winer and writer-producer Lesley Wake-Webster.

Written by Wake-Webster and loosely based on the book Assholes: A Theory by Aaron James, Type-A — in the vein of Up in the Air — is an office comedy about a group of consultants hand-picked to do the dirty work most professionals can’t handle: layoffs, downsizing, generally delivering horrible news. To everyone else, they’re the enemy – to one another, they’re family.

Longoria will play Axler, the ambitious, brutally honest consultant who is at war with her inner “nice girl.”

Winer is directing as well as executive producing with Wake-Webster, while James serves as consultant for 20th Century Fox Television.

Fox and 20th have been high on Longoria, courting her for multiple projects. She also is set for a high-profile guest-starring turn this spring on the Fox flagship drama series Empire, playing Charlotte Frost, the formidable director of the Nevada Gaming Commission who has the power to make or break Lucious’ (Terrence Howard) dreams of expanding Empire’s reach to Las Vegas.

Through her production company UnbeliEVAble Entertainment, Longoria executive produced the Lifetime series Devious Maids and NBC comedy Telenovela, in which she also starred.

Longoria next stars opposite Demian Bichir in the feature Lowriders and is featured in the British miniseries Decline and Fall opposite Jack Whitehall, which premieres in the spring. She recently directed an episode of the CW’s Jane the Virgin and is set to direct an episode of ABC’s Black-ish.

Ortiz to Star in ABC’s Comedy Pilot “Charlie Foxtrot”

Posted on February 23, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Ana Ortiz is all about that base…

The 46-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress has been cast as the female lead in ABC’s comedy pilot Charlie Foxtrot.

Hailing from writer Sam Sklaver, Kapital Entertainment and ABC Studios, the project is set at Fort Bragg, an Army base in North Carolina.

It centers on Angelina Torres (Ortiz) and her two children, who live on the base. But, when Angelina loses her fiancé, Joe Taylor, killed in action in Iraq, it looks as though she’ll have to move. But Joe’s brother, Charlie Taylor (Jason Biggs), a dentist at the base, and usually a pushover, isn’t about to let that happen.

Torres’ Angelina is a well-meaning, fierce single mother-lion who believes in putting her kids first, even if that means crossing a few lines.

The casting of Ortiz, who starred in Devious Maids and Ugly Betty, stems from a talent deal ABC and ABC Studios signed with Ortiz immediately after Ortiz’s previous series, ABC Studios’ dramedy Devious Maids, ended its four-season run on Lifetime last summer. She decided on Charlie Foxtrot after being presented with several scripts.

This is Ortiz’s third consecutive pilot for ABC and ABC Studios, following the hourlong Ugly Betty and Devious Maids, both of which went to series, with the latter moving from ABC to Lifetime. Ortiz earned an ALMA Award and Imagen Award for her performance as Hilda on Ugly Betty.

Her television credits include appearances on How to Get Away with Murder, Revenge and Black-ish.

Sanchez to Star in the Indie Film “Stranded”

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Roselyn Sanchez has been left stranded…

The 43-year-old Puerto Rican actress has joined the cast of Stranded.

Sanchez, who most recently starred on Lifetime’s Devious Maids, will co-star alongside Paula Patton, Omar Epps and Laz Alonso.

From writer-director Deon Taylor, the indie film follows a journalist (Patton) who is kidnapped after she starts investigating the world of sex trafficking.

Sanchez will play Malia, Darren’s (Alonso) girlfriend who struggles with trust issues in their relationship before realizing she must do everything she can to save herself and her best friend.

Sanchez spent four seasons on the recently canceled Devious Maids. But she is reteaming with the network on the television movie Death of a Vegas Showgirl, in which she stars and produces. It’s slated to air in October.

Her other credits include The Game Plan, Act of Valor and Rush Hour 2.

Cedeño Promoted to Series Regular on Starz’s “Power”

Posted on August 16, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Matt Cedeño is Powering up…

The 41-year-old half-Cuban American actor, who recurred in three episodes on the third season of Starz’s Power, has been promoted to series regular for Season 4.

Cedeño plays Cristobal in the hit drama series.

The New York-based series starring Omari Hardwick was recently renewed through Season 5 after its record-setting Season 3 premiere in July.

Creator, executive producer and showrunner Courtney A. Kemp will return alongside executive producers Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Mark Canton, Randall Emmett and Gary Lennon.

Cedeño had starring roles on Lifetime’s Devious Maids and Syfy’s Z Nation, which will launch its third season with a two-hour premiere.

Hispanically Yours

Celebrating the Latino Influence

Tag Archives: Devious Maids