Soledad O’Brien Signs with ICM Partners

Posted on December 18, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Soledad O’Brien has new representation…

ICM Partners has signed the 52-year-old half-Cuban American broadcast journalist and her production company Starfish Media Group.

O’Brien, a former Weekend Today co-anchor, produces and anchors Hearst Television’s weekend political show Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien. She’salso a correspondent on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.

She also hosted and produced this year’s O.J. Simpson: The Lost Confession and Who Shot Biggie and Tupac? for Fox along with Oxygen’s Mysteries and Scandals.

O’Brien is President and CEO of Starfish Media Group, a multiplatform media production company dedicated to telling empowering and authentic stories on a range of social issues. Starfish Media produces short and feature-length documentaries and journalistic reports, including several projects with HBO, Hearst and Oxygen, among many others.

Her résumé also include working as an anchor, contributor and/or contributor for all of the Big 4 networks, along with PBS News Hourand CNN. She anchored morning news shows for the latter and produced documentaries including the Black in Americaand “Latino in America” series. She has three News and Documentary Emmys to her credit and Peabody Awardsfor covering Hurricane Katrinaand theBPoil spill. She also has authored a pair of books and serves on the board of directors of the Foundation for the National Archivesas well as the board of trustees for the Rand Corporation.

Wilmer Valderrama Signs First-Look Deal with CBS Television Studios

Posted on June 25, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Wilmer Valderrama has a new deal…

The 38-year-old Colombian and Venezuelan American actor’s production company, WV Entertainment, has signed a two-year first-look deal with CBS Television Studios.

WV Entertainment’s first-look agreement is for scripted and unscripted projects, with a strong emphasis on diversity.

“As someone who immigrated to the United States at 14 years old, I am immensely passionate about this opportunity to create engaging and culturally relevant projects with CBS Television Studios,” says Valderrama.

Valderrama’s production company has produced several projects, including The Hollywood Puppet Show, Handy Manny for Playhouse Disney, and Douglas Family Gold for Oxygen.

On the feature side he produced and is voicing the upcoming animated film Charming alongside John H. Williams, producer of the Shrek franchise.

Valderrama’s philanthropic endeavors include Harness, a group he launched recently with America Ferrera and Ryan Piers Williams, which is dedicated to connecting communities through conversation to inspire action and power change. Valderrama also serves on the board of Voto Latino and is co-chair of their artist coalition. He is also the spokesperson for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, and is the founder of their Ready 2 Lead program, which educates and empowers Latino youth.

In 2013, Valderrama was honored with an ALMA Award for Outstanding Social Activism.

Jenner Engaged to “Glee” Co-Star Melissa Benoist

Posted on July 12, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

He hasn’t even graduated from William McKinley High yet, but Blake Jenner is already hearing wedding bells.

The 20-year-old half-Cuban American and his Glee co-star Melissa Benoist are engaged, according to Us Weekly.

Jenner and Benoist were romantically linked after sharing screen time on the Fox musical dramedy.

Jenner, who landed a role on Glee after winning the second season of Oxygen’s The Glee Project, confirmed the rumor during a live chat with fan. “Yup,” he said with a smile.

Reps for both Blake and Melissa decline to comment on the couple’s personal lives.

Jenner and Benoist’s characters have been caught up in an on-screen love triangle with Jacob Artist’s character the show.

Ryan Murphy, one of the masterminds behind Glee, seems to have a knack for matchmaking. Lea Michele and Cory Monteith, whom he paired up as on/off couple Rachel Berry and Finn Hudson on the show, have also ended up dating in real life.

Jenner Upped to Series Regular on Fox’s “Glee”

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Blake Jenner is officially a full-time student…

The 20-year-old half-Cuban American actor has been promoted to series regular on Fox’s musical dramedy Glee, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Jenner, the winner of the second season of Oxygen’s reality competition series The Glee Project, has been portraying Ryder Lynn on the Glee since last season.

He’s considered New Direction’s second coming of the series’ original All-American character Finn Hudson (portrayed by Cory Monteith).

Fox and studio 20th Century Fox Television renewed the Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk musical for its fifth and sixth seasons in April and the promotion comes as little surprise as Jenner has been considered one of the future stars of the series

Glee returns for its fifth season on Thursday, September 19 at 9:00 pm on Fox.

“Glee” Star Larsen Shaves His Signature Dreadlocks

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Samuel Larsen no longer has a dreaded hairstyle…

The 21-year-old half-Mexican actor, who has a recurring role on Fox’s Glee, has chopped off his signature dreads.

Larsen recently shared an image of his freshly shorn locks, as taken by photographer Chelsea Lauren.

“Just for the record my neck feels freakin awesome okay. Seriously. #holla,” the winner of Oxygen’s The Glee Project season 1 tweeted, before Larsen followed up the message with, “Thank you for all the love you guys.”

Larsen wanted to ditch his dreadlocks a long time ago.

“I’m very much over my hair. If it was up to me, I’d have cut it a long time ago,” he told TV Line in 2011. “I called my agent a year ago telling her I wanted to cut my hair because I thought it limited me too much.”

He elaborated his reasoning, “I wanted to try to get more mainstream roles, and she talked me out of it. I guess that [Glee co-creator] Ryan [Murphy] liked it and I’m okay with that, but I do look at keeping my hair as more of a burden.”

Rivera to Serve as a Mentor on “The Glee Project”

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Her character may have graduated in the season finale… But you haven’t seen the last of Glee’s Naya Rivera.

The 25-year-old half-Puerto Rican singer/actress will be making a debut appearance as a mentor on the second season of The Glee Project.

The Oxygen reality competition series, which saw four of its freshman season contestants appear on the third season of Fox’s musical, will welcome Rivera in its fourth episode on June 26, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which will see the contestants exploring the theme of “Sexuality.”

Season 1 guest mentors included Jenna Ushkowitz, Darren Criss, Dot Marie Jones, Kevin McHale and Harry Shum Jr., among others. Four contestants — Samuel Larsen, Damian McGinty, Alex Newell and Lindsay Pearce — from The Glee Project‘s first season scored multi-episode arcs on Glee.

The Glee Project‘s second season will expand from 12 to 14 contestants and from 10 to 11 episodes and launch in its new night and time on Tuesday, June 5 at 10 p.m.

Michele to Serve as Glee Project Mentor

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Her character on Glee is graduating at the end of this season… And, Lea Michele is about to inspire the next generation of potential stars for the hit Fox musical dramedy.

The 25-year-old part-Spanish singer/actress has been slated to appear as a guest mentor on the Season 2 premiere of The Glee Project on Oxygen.

Michele, who has nabbed Emmy and Golden Globe nods for her role as Rachel Berry, will make her first appearance on the competition series whose winner will earn a seven-episode guest arc on the show.

“So excited to announce that I’ll be guest mentoring on the season 2 premiere of the Glee Project,” Michele tweeted over the weekend.

The show’s first season co-winner, Damian McGinty, has already outlasted his seven-episode arc on Glee and recently told The Hollywood Reporter that he was in talks to return to the Oxygen series as a mentor. Meanwhile, co-winner Samuel Larson recently started filming his stint on the Fox series. Runners-up Lindsay Pearce already appeared in a pair of episodes, and Alex Newell has yet to appear.

Season 1 guest mentors included Jenna Ushkowitz, Darren Criss, Dot Marie Jones, Kevin McHale and Harry Shum Jr., among others.

Season 2 of the series will return in the summer.

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