She’s already the only Hispanic performer to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (EGOT)… And, now Rita Moreno is getting another acting prize.
The 81-year-old Puerto Rican actress/singer/dancer has been named the 50th recipient of SAG-AFTRA’s highest honor – the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award.
The SAG Awards are bestowing the award on Moreno for her career achievements and humanitarian accomplishments.
Given annually to an actor who fosters the “finest ideals of the acting profession,” the union’s top accolade will be doled out at the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, which will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS on January 18, 2014.
In addition to being one of a rare class of performers to win the career EGOT, Moreno has also been the recipient of the Library of Congress Living Legends Award, the National Medal of Arts and the HOLA Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actresses.
Moreno, who recently released her best-selling memoir Rita Moreno: A Memoir, has had a nearly 70-year career in the industry.
She currently portrays Fran Drescher’s mother in TV Land’s sitcom Happily Divorced.
Selena Gomez is preparing to take a bit out of the box office…
Columbia Pictures has released a new trailer for Hotel Transylvania, the 3D computer-animated comedy featuring the voice of the 20-year-old Mexican American actress/singer.
Shining a bright spotlight on Gomez’s and Adam Sandler’s characters, the clip shows the former Wizards of Waverly Place star’s character celebrating her 118th birthday in her locked-up room.
For a birthday present, she begs her dad Dracula (Sandler) to allow her explore the world outside their hidden castle. Mavis whines and moans to her overprotective dad until she doesn’t realize that her fangtastic dad actually says yes. Finally realizing she’s been granted permission, she spontaneously jumps into the air and hugs her dad.
Hotel Transylvania is Dracula’s lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live without having to deal with the human world. Overprotective of his daughter, the Prince of Darkness fabricates tales of elaborate dangers to discourage her adventurous spirit. As a haven for Mavis, he opens the hotel, where his daughter and some of the world’s most famous monsters can kick back in safety and peace. For Dracula, catering to his ghoulish guests isn’t a problem – but his world could implode when an ordinary guy stumbles on the hotel and takes a shine to Mavis.
Along with Gomez and Sandler, the voice cast includes Andy Samberg, Kevin James, Fran Drescher and Cee-Lo Green.
Hotel Transylvania will open in theaters across the U.S. on September 28.
Talk about Lucky No. 7… This Saturday, Sofia Vergara became only the seventh Latina to host NBC’s Saturday Night Live in the sketch comedy show’s 37 seasons.
Looking absolutely stunning in a sleek black bustier-dress, the “world’s most desirable woman” kicked off the show with a hilarious monologue that included welcoming viewers to “La noche de sabado en vivo” and poking fun at her sex appeal and unmistakable accent.
“I always heard that immigrants had a really hard life when they came to America,” joked Vergara. “But when I showed up here everyone was so nice. The men bought me drinks and offered me a place to sleep. This country welcomed me with open arms… and pulled-down pants.”
Later Vergara—a two-time Emmy nominee—appeared in several memorable skits. She played an anchorwoman shooting a promo with a complicated coworker, a sex education teacher in another of Kristen Wiig’s hilarious Gilly sketches and a woman trying to find her birth mother on Fred Armisen’s always funny The Manuel Ortiz Show skit—which included an appearance by musical guest One Direction’s members as her five sons.
One of the brightest moments of the night came when Vergara impersonated another actress with a distinctive voice: The Nanny’s Fran Drescher. The Colombian bombshell mastered Drescher’s high-pitched voice and quirky laugh during the Bein’ Quirky with Zooey Deschanel skit.
In another highlight, Vergara played the newest member of the team reporting on the 74th Annual Hunger Games, a parody of the recent blockbuster smash The Hunger Games . The skit featured Vergara’s character Maria Gutierrez reporting live from the arena on the action of the 24 tributes battling to the death. “They should call it the FUNger Games,” said Vergara. “‘cause everyone is having so much fun.”
But the biggest laughs of the night came when Vergara played herself while shooting a Pantene commercial with a Penelope Cruz, who also has a discernible accent. While Vergara was given easy words to say in the commercial, Cruz had to say difficult words like “follicular development” and “ammonium laureth sulfate.”
