Adrienne Bailon-Houghton Strikes Talent & Development Deal with NBCUniversal Television & Streaming 

Adrienne Bailon-Houghton is ready for primetime…

The 38-year-old Puerto Rican and Ecuadorian American actress, singer and television personality is moving into primetime television with a talent and development deal at NBCUniversal.

Adrienne Bailon HoughtonBailon-Houghton, the first Latina daytime talk show host on English-language television on the recently canceled daytime series The Real, has struck the deal with NBCUniversal Television and Streaming and it includes unscripted opportunities across its networks and streaming service Peacock to serve as host and/or producer.

NBCUniversal has struck similar talent deals with the likes of Miley Cyrus and Meghan Trainor.

In addition to hosting The Real, Bailon-Houghton has her own YouTube channel, All Things Adrienne, hosts design show House to Home on CleoTV, and was a contestant on Fox’s The Masked Singer in 2019.

She began her career as a member of R&B girl group 3LW and later became a member of pop group the Cheetah Girls. She has also acted in series That’s So Raven and Raven’s Home and movies like Coach Carter.

“I’ve had some incredible opportunities throughout my career, and many of my favorite moments have come from stepping into a hosting role,” said Bailon-Houghton. “From co-hosting The Real to whatever the future holds, these are the opportunities that I thrive for. I’m thrilled to have the support of the incredible team at NBCU as I continue to grow in my career and couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come.”

“We’ve long admired Adrienne’s talents and been so impressed with how she has been able to connect and relate with her audience,” added Tomii Crump, Head of Unscripted Casting and Talent, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “We’re looking forward to aligning her with projects where she can really thrive and show all that she has to offer.”

Adrienne Bailon-Houghton to Reunite with Raven-Symone on Disney Channel’s “Raven’s Home”

Adrienne Bailon-Houghton is heading Home

The 38-year-old Puerto Rican and Ecuadorian American singer, actress and television personality is set to recur on the fifth season of Raven-Symone’s Disney Channel series Raven’s Home.

Adrienne Bailon-Houghton, Raven's Home, Raven-Symone,

Bailon-Houghton will reprise the role of Raven’s high school bully Alana from That’s So Raven, according to TVLine. What’s more, Alana is now the principal of Bayside, where Booker enrolls after he and Raven move back to San Francisco to care for her father.

“I’ve always been hopeful about [playing Alana again], so to be able to make it happen was a dream come true,” Houghton tells TVLine. “I always love working with [Raven-Symoné]. We did the first Cheetah Girls movie when I was 19, and now I’m 38, so we’ve stayed friends for almost 20 years. We laugh at the fact that we were playing the high school students… and now we’re playing the parents. It’s so bizarre!”

The entire experience of returning to Raven’s world was “wildly nostalgic” for Houghton, beginning with the flowers she found in her dressing room from Gary Marsh, the president and chief creative officer for Disney Branded Television.

Adrienne Bailon-Houghton, Raven's Home, Raven-Symone,

“Gary has been one of those beacons of light throughout my career, ever since I was in The Cheetah Girls,” she says. “I would call him my industry father. To have a letter from him, welcoming me back to Disney Channel, I almost bawled my eyes out. I was so happy to be back. Not only was That’s So Raven filmed on that lot, but I also did The Suite Life of Zack and Cody on that lot. I remember all of our Cheetah Girls photo shoots and promo shoots. Even just being in the dressing room was insane.”

As for Alana being the principal, Houghton admits she was “fully shocked” by her character’s new gig. “How genius of the writers of this show to create that dynamic where the school bully becomes the principal,” she says. “It’s funny and ironic, and I’m loving being the authority figure.” Sure, it’s possible that Alana will eventually have a “pivotal moment” that inspires her to change her ways, but Houghton says she’s “having too much fun torturing Raven Baxter as a grown woman” to let that happen anytime soon.

Raven and Alana’s confrontational (yet playful) dynamic is on full display when the women eventually reunite, which Houghton credits to her and Raven’s decades-long friendship.

“We were able to have fun when Alana was the bully because we were comfortable enough to do all that physical comedy,” she says. “There are things we created and did that we were able to do because we were really friends.”

A premiere date for Raven’s Home Season 5 has not yet been announced.

Felix Avitia to Appear on Disney Channel’s “Raven’s Home”

Felix Avitia is coming Home

The 19-year-old Latino actor has been cast in Disney Channel’s Raven’s Home, which has just been renewed for a fifth season.

Felix Avitia

Starring Raven-Symoné as Raven Baxter and Isaac Ryan Brown as her son Booker, the spinoff series will continue to follow the adventures of the somewhat psychic Raven Baxter and her teen son Booker, who has inherited the same gift of catching glimpses of the future.

No word yet on Avitia’s role on the series.

In addition to Avitia, season five welcomes Rondell Sheridan to the cast, reprising the role of Victor Baxter, Raven’s dad, as well as Mykal-Michelle Harris and Emmy Liu-Wang.

Scott Thomas and Jed Elinoff developed the series and join Symoné as executive producers, along with Anthony C. Hill.

The series was created by Michael Poryes and Susan Sherman and is a production of It’s a Laugh Productions, Inc.

Avitia’s previous credits include Zero, Gamer’s Guide to Pretty Much Everything and Just The Tip.

Xochitl Gomez to Star in the “Doctor Strange” Sequel “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”

It’s a Strange time for Xochitl Gomez

The Latina actress has joined the cast of Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, in which Benedict Cumberbatch returns to reprise the title character and Sam Raimi takes over directing duties.

Xochitl Gomez

Benedict Wong and Chiwetel Ejiofor also are expected to reprise their roles from the original film as, respectively, fellow sorcerer Wong and Strange’s compatriot-turned-nemesis Karl Mordo.

And Elizabeth Olsen has been tapped to reprise her role as Scarlet Witch, aka Wanda Maximoff, for a storyline that Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige has said will link up with her Disney Plus series WandaVision that debuts in December.

Plot details and Gomez’s character are still unknown at this time.

Production will begin after Cumberbatch finishes filming the next Spider-Man film, where he’ll be playing Doctor Strange.

Raimi replaces original director Scott Derrickson, who departed the project in January due to creative differences.

Gomez’s previous credits include Netflix’s The Baby-Sitters Club and Gentefied, as well as Raven’s Home, Roped and Shadow Wolves.

Nicolas Cantu to Star in AMC’s New “The Walking Dead” Series

Nicolas Cantu is a Dead man walking

The 15-year-old Latino actor has been cast in the upcoming third series in The Walking Dead franchise on ABC.

Nicolas Cantu

Cantu, who will portray Elton, will star opposite Nico TortorellaAnnet Mahendru(Huck) and Aliyah Royale(Iris)  Alexa Mansour(Hope) and Hal Cumpston(Silas) in the series.

The untitled third series will focus on the first generation to come of age in the apocalypse as we know it. Some will become heroes. Some will become villains. In the end, all of them will be changed forever.

Produced and distributed by AMC Studios, the series will premiere on AMC in spring 2020. Jordan Vogt-Roberts will direct the series co-created by Scott Gimple and The Walking Dead veteran writer and producer Matt Negrete, who will serve as the series’ showrunner.Cantu’s previous credits include voice work on The Amazing World of Gumball and Sofia the  First,as well as appearances onRaven’s HomeThe Good Place and Bizaardvark.