Shiela E. Joins Voice Cast of Disney Jr.’s Animated Preschool Series “Eureka!”

Sheila E. is getting animated

The 64-year-old half-Mexican American percussionist, singer and actress has joined the voice cast of Eureka!, Disney Jr.’s upcoming animated preschool series.

Sheila ESheila E. appears on a roster of new cast additions that includes Loretta Devine and Misty Copeland.

Also cast in recurring roles are Ellie KemperJack McBrayer, Ryan Michelle Bathé and Wendell Pierce.

They join previously announced leads Ruth Righi, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Lil Rel Howery and Javier Muñoz.

Set in the fantastical prehistoric world of Rocky Falls, Eureka! follows the story of Eureka (Righi), a young girl inventor who is way ahead of her time. She designs inventions and contraptions in the hopes of making the world a better place and moving her prehistoric community into a more modern era.

Goldsberry and Howery voice Eureka’s parents Roxy and Rolle, and Muñoz portrays her teacher.

Sheila E. and Copeland will voice the characters of Yurt, a traveling musician, and Rockanne, a dance teacher, respectively.

Rounding out the voice cast is Kai Zen as Pepper, Devin Trey Campbell as Barry, Fred Tatasciore as Murphy, Cree Summer as Verna, Kevin Michael Richardson as Dima, Aydrea Walden as Olive and Groopy, Connor Andrade as Bog,

Also cast in recurring roles are Ellie KemperJack McBrayer, Ryan Michelle Bathé and Wendell Pierce.

Eureka! is produced by Oscar-nominated animation studio Brown Bag Films (Doc McStuffins) in association with Disney Junior. Emmy winner Norton Virgien and award-winning children’s book author/illustrator Niamh Sharkey are the series’ creators and executive producers. Emmy-nominated Erica Rothschild \developed the series with Virgien and Sharkey and serves as co-executive producer and story editor. Film and television writer and director Rusty Cundieff and Emmy-nominated television producer Donna Brown Guillaume are consulting producers.

Christiana “Chee” McGuigan, a science educator who has worked at the California Science Center, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, serves as the series’ science education consultant. Biomedical scientist, social entrepreneur and former senior policy advisor for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Dr. Knatokie Ford, advised on the original series development. Engineering experts from Disney’s Imagineering team advised on the early development of Eureka‘s inventions.

The series is set to premiere Wednesday, June 22, at 7:30 pm EDT/PDT on Disney Junior. An initial batch of episodes will also premiere the same day on on-demand platforms and streaming on Disney+.

NBC Gives Series Order to Morena Baccarin’s Bank Heist Drama “The Endgame”

It’s (end)game on for Morena Baccarin

NBC has handed a series order to the bank heist drama The Endgame, starring the 42-year-old Brazilian actress and Ryan Michelle Bathe.

Morena Baccarin, Ryan Michelle Bathe, The Endgame

The drama comes from Nick WoottonJake Coburn, Justin Lin and Julie Plec.

Universal Television is the studio.

Written by Wootton and Coburn, the formerly untitled project is a high-stakes thriller about Elena Federova, a very recently captured international arms dealer and brilliant criminal mastermind who even in captivity orchestrates a number of coordinated bank heists, and Val Turner, the principled, relentless and socially outcast FBI agent who will stop at nothing to foil her ambitious plan.

Homeland alum Baccarin plays Federova, while First Wives Club’s Bathe plays Turner.

The cast also includes Kamal Angelo Bolden, Costa Ronin, Noah Bean, Jordan Johnson-Hinds and Mark D. Espinoza.

It’s not clear whether the series will air in the 2021-22 broadcast season, which includes new dramas including La Brea and Ordinary Joe.

Morena Baccarin to Star in NBC’s Untitled Bank Heist Drama Pilot

Morena Baccarin is reaching new heists

The 42-year-old Brazilian actress will star alongside Ryan Michelle Bathé in NBC’s untitled bank heist drama pilot from Nick Wootton and Jake Coburn; Julie Plec’s My So-Called Company; and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.

Written by Wootton and directed by Justin Lin, the project is a high-stakes two-hander about Elena Federova (Baccarin), a recently captured international arms dealer and brilliant criminal mastermind who orchestrates a number of coordinated bank heists throughout NYC for a mysterious purpose, and Val Fitzgerald (Bathé), the principled, relentless and socially outcast FBI agent who will stop at nothing to foil her ambitious plan.

The sexy and twisted heist series reveals how far some people will go for love, justice and the most valuable commodity in the world: the truth.

Known for playing the female lead in the Deadpool franchise, Baccarin co-starred opposite Gerard Butler in STX’s disaster-thriller Greenland.

In 2019, she wrapped two features, The Good House opposite Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline; and Waldo, an action-suspense film opposite Charlie Hunnam and Mel Gibson.

Baccarin, Emmy-nominated for her role on Showtime’s Homeland, was the romantic lead in the latest season of Brazil’s Sessao de Terapia. Based on international format In Treatment, which was adapted by HBO in the U.S., Sessao is now in its fourth season in Baccarin’s native country.