Christina Aguilera to Receive Spirit of Hope Award at Billboard Latin Music Awards

Posted on September 9, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a spirited time for Christina Aguilera.

The 41-year-old half-Ecuadorian American actress and pop star will receive the Spirit of Hope award at the 2022 Billboard Latin Music Awards.

The special award — which was established in 1996 in honor of the late Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla — will recognize Aguilera for her philanthropic and humanitarian contributions beyond her musical work.

Aguilera will also perform during the awards show, which will take place on Thursday, September 29, at the Watsco Canter in Miami, and will be broadcast live on Telemundo beginning at 7:00 pm ET.

The Billboard Latin Music Awards — where Bad Bunny leads the list of finalists with a staggering 23 nods across 13 categories — will be simulcast on Telemundo, Universo, Peacock, the Telemundo App, and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional.

In addition to her musical accolades, including more than 75 million records sold worldwide, five No.1 Billboard Hot 100 hits, and a Hollywood Walk of Fame star, the artist also known as Xtina has lifted her voice to help end the cycle of domestic abuse, been a longtime supporter and ally to the LGBTQ+ community, raised awareness about HIV/AIDS research, and traveled the globe to help feed children in poverty-stricken areas.

Aguilera joins past Billboard Spirit of Hope recipients including Gloria Estefan, Emmanuel, Willy Chirino, Olga Tañon, Maná, Los Tigres del Norte, Ricky Martin, El General, Soraya, Juan Luis Guerra, Shakira, Ricardo Montaner, Juanes, Daddy Yankee, Marc Anthony, Carlos Vives, Carlos Santana, Luis Fonsi, and Maluma.

Ángela Aguilar to Perform at This Year’s Billboard Latin Music Awards

Posted on September 6, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Ángela Aguilar is preparing for her Billboard moment…

The 18-year-old Mexican-American singer-songwriter will perform at the 2022 Billboard Latin Music Awards, set to take place on Thursday, September 29.

Aguilar is part of a roster of recently added performers that includes Alejandra Guzmán, Calibre 50, Elvis Crespo, Farruko, Los Ángeles Azules, Ozuna and Piso 21.

Billboard and Telemundo announced on Tuesday (Sept. 6) the second round of performers who will take the stage at Miami’s Watsco Center.

The new list of acts join an already star-studded lineup that includes Camilo, Carlos Vives, Chayanne, CNCO, Eslabon Armado, Grupo Firme, Maluma, Pablo López, Pepe Aguilar, Raphael and Tini.

Bad Bunny leads the list of finalists for the 2022 Billboard Latin Music Awards, with 23 nods across 13 categories. He is up for artist of the year, tour of the year, Hot Latin Songs artist of the year, male, and top Latin album of the year for his album Un Verano Sin Ti, which has logged nine nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and was nominated for album of the year at the recent MTV Video Music Awards. Bad Bunny won artist of the year — the first time a Latin artist has been in a marquee category at that show.

Following Bad Bunny is Colombian star Karol G with 15 entries in 11 categories — a record number of nods for a female artist. Karol’s categories include artist of the year and Hot Latin Songs artist of the year, female, as well as Hot Latin Song of the year, vocal event, for her Becky G collab “MAMIII.”

The 2022 Billboard Latin Music Awards, the longest-running awards show in Latin music, will begin at 8:00 p.m. ET on September 29, preceded by a one-hour red carpet special.

The awards will broadcast simultaneously on Spanish entertainment cable network Universo, throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional, the Telemundo App and on Peacock.

Raphael to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at Billboard Latin Music Awards

Posted on September 1, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Raphael is being feted for his extraordinary career…

The 79-year-old Spanish singer and actor will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2022 Billboard Latin Music Awards, according to Telemundo.

Raphael will be recognized for his “exceptional professional career and his artistic and personal contributions” that have influenced the development of Latin music around the world.

The singer will also perform during the awards show, which will take place on Thursday, September 29, at the Watsco Canter in Miami and will be broadcast live on Telemundo beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET.

The Billboard Latin Music Awards — where Bad Bunny leads the list of finalists with a whopping 23 nods across 13 categories — will be simulcast on Telemundo, Universo, Peacock, the Telemundo App, and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional.

With a musical career that spans more than 60 years, Raphael — known for anthemic songs such as “Yo Soy Aquel,” “En Carne Viva” and “Mi Gran Noche” — has garnered worldwide recognition as a pioneer of Spanish-language romantic ballads.

In 1962, he began his professional career, where he soon earned first, second and third prize at Spain’s Festival Internacional de la Canción in Benidorm. He also performed two consecutive times at the Eurovision Festival, starred in various films and hosted a radio show called The Raphael Show.

To date, he’s recorded more than 60 albums and has sold over 70 million records. Raphael is currently on tour in support of his Raphael 6.0 LP.

He’s slated to release a new album at the end of the year.

Past recipients of the Billboard lifetime achievement award include Paquita la del Barrio, Armando Manzanero, Miguel Bosé, Los Temerarios, Intocable, José José, Marco Antonio Solís, Ricardo Arjona and Maná, among others.

Gio Reyna & His U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team Mates to Be Subject of World Cup-Themed Docuseries

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Gio Reyna’s World Cup preparations are headed to the small screen…

The U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team (USMNT) will be the subject of a new documentary series as they gear up for the international soccer competition featuring the 19-year-old half-Argentine American soccer player and his teammates.

Park Stories and H.wood Media have teamed up with the U.S. Soccer Federation and Soccer United Marketing on the untitled all-access docuseries.

The series is expected to launch on a streamer around the Qatar World Cup in November.

The series will bring fans into the locker room and visit the players in their hometowns as they prepare for the tournament.

The team is competing in its first World Cup since 2014 and has an exciting team of youngsters including Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic, Juventus’ Weston McKennie, Barcelona’s Sergiño Dest and Borussia Dortmund’s Reyna.

Led by head coach Gregg Berhalter, the first person in U.S. history to represent the country at the World Cup as a player and a head coach, the team will fight it out against England, Wales and Iran in the group stages.

They kick off against Gareth Bale-led Wales on November 21 before facing Euros finalists England on the day after Thanksgiving before competing against Iran on November 29.

The games will air on Fox and Telemundo.

The docuseries is exec produced by Rand Getlin and Janina Pelayo for Park Stories, and John Terzian, Jeremy Allen and Brian Toll are producing for H.wood Media.

The show is directed by Getlin and Luke Korver, and Nikle Guzijan will co-produce.

“Five billion people are projected to tune in for the 2022 World Cup, and this team has the potential to impact each of them in profoundly transformative ways,” said directors Getlin and Korver. “We know it starts with their play on the field, but we’re most excited for viewers to see them as sons, brothers, fathers and leaders who care deeply about their loved ones and bringing the world closer together.”

After representing the United States at several youth levels, Reyna received his first call up to the senior United States squad for matches against Wales and Panama in November 2020.^.On November 12, 2020, a day before his 18th birthday, Reyna made his senior national team debut against Wales. In the following game, a 6–2 friendly victory over Panama, Reyna started and scored his first senior goal directly from a free kick.

Grupo Firme to Take Part in ‘Superstar Panel’ During Billboard Latin Music Week

Posted on August 9, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Grupo Firme will be taking part in this year’s Billboard Latin Music Week.

The Regional Mexican band will take part in one of the various superstar panels during the event, which will take place on September 26-30 at Miami’s Faena Forum.

Founded by Eduin Caz in Tijuana, Mexico, in 2013, Grupo Firme — which straddles the genres of banda and norteño — is comprised of Eduin’s brother Jhonny Caz, Abraham Hernández, Joaquín Ruiz, Christian Gutiérrez, José Rubio and Dylan Camacho.

Touring titans, in 2021, the band secured a historic booking at Los Angeles’ 20,000-capacity Staples Center as the first Latin act to perform the most shows in a single calendar year at the venue with seven sold-out concerts this summer. (The only other artist who has done more in one year is Adele, with eight performances in 2016.)

Grupo Firme joins the already announced star-studded lineup that includes Romeo Santos, Camilo, Chayanne, Ivy Queen, Nicky Jam, Eslabon Armado, Bizarrap, Blessd, Yahritza Y Su Esencia, Luis R. Conriquez, Ovy on the Drums, Kunno, and The Rivera Family.

More participants will be announced in the weeks leading up to the 2022 Latin Music Week. Registration is now open at BillboardLatinMusicWeek.com.

For 30 years, Billboard Latin Music Week has been the longest running and biggest Latin music industry gathering in the world. After a sold-out 2021 edition that featured Q&As with Daddy Yankee and Karol G, as well as show-stopping performances by Anitta, Rauw Alejandro, and Natti Natasha, the event returns, coinciding with Hispanic Heritage Month.

Billboard Latin Music Week will also coincide with the 2022 Billboard Latin Music Awards on Thursday, Sept. 29, in Miami. The Billboard Latin Music Awards will broadcast live on Telemundo, and will also broadcast simultaneously on the Spanish entertainment cable network, Universo, and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean on Telemundo Internacional.

Cattleya Producciones Acquires Rights to Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s Novel “The Italian” with Plans to Adapt as a Miniseries

Posted on July 13, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

It appears another of Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s novels is coming to life…

ITV Studios-owned Spanish drama house Cattleya Producciones has acquired the rights to the 70-year-old Spanish novelist and journalist’s bestselling novel El Italiano and will adapt it as a miniseries.

Inspired by real events, El Italiano is a story of love, spies and the sea set at the height of World War II in the Bay of Algeciras, where Italian combat divers are causing chaos among the Allied forces.

Arturo Díaz, Managing Director and Executive Producer of Cattleya Producciones, and Ricardo Tozzi, founder and President of Cattleya, are leafing the project.

Cattleya Producciones is searching for an international cast to bring El Italiano‘s Spanish, Italian and English characters to life.

Screenwriter Beto Marini, co-creator of Movistar+ series La Unidad and feature films such as Retribution and Extinction is adapting the story.

Pérez-Reverte was trained in underwater activities at Spain’s Centro de Buceo de la Armada (Navy Diving Center) in Cartagena in the late 1960s and part of El Italiano comes from a story told to him by his father when he was a child.

“I’m positive that this series from Cattleya, whose productions I have always admired for their quality, will be faithful to the story I wrote,” he said.

Pérez-Reverte’s previous work La Reina del Sur (2002), about a Mexican woman who becomes a leader of a drug trafficking cartel in the south of Spain, was adapted into a Spanish-language telenovela starring Kate del Castillo, and later an English-language series (Queen of the South) starring Alice Braga.

Ana Brenda Contreras Signs with AFA Prime Talent Media

Posted on July 2, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Ana Brenda Contreras has new representation…

The 35-year-old Mexican American actress has signed with AFA Prime Talent Media, a division of Kenan Thompson’s Artist for Artist company, which launched earlier this year.

In her English language debut, Contreras starred as Crystal Jennings in Season 2 of the CW series Dynasty, a reboot of the 1980s series of the same name.

Up next, Contreras will star in Telemundo’s El Conde: Amor y Honor, an adaptation of the 1844 novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. She portrays Mariana Zambrano in the series—set to premiere in 2023— co-starring Fernando Colunga and Marjorie de Sousa.

She will also appear in the crime thriller Toda La Sangre for Pantaya opposite Aaron Diaz. She plays Edith Mondragon, a lieutenant who teams up with a journalist (Diaz) to uncover the truth behind a series of visceral murders that resemble Aztec sacrifices in modern-day Mexico City.

The series reunites Contreras and Diaz, who previously starred in the 2005 Spanish-language telenovela Barrera De Amor for Televisa. In her acting debut, she recurred as Juanita Sanchez in the Ernesto Alonso production.

Contreras stays in touch with her fans via social media, where she boasts more than 13 million followers across all platforms.

Diego Boneta Signs Overall Deal with Prime Video

Posted on April 25, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Diego Boneta is bringing his amigos to Amazon Prime Video…

The 31-year-old Mexican actor, singer and producer and his production company Three Amigos have signed an overall deal with Prime Video.

As part of the deal, Boneta will produce and star in a full slate of shows in development while also creating movies, series, and reality shows coming to the streaming service beginning in 2023.

All new productions launched as part of this partnership will join Prime Video’s growing slate of Mexican Amazon Originals, along with the thousands of television shows and movies from Hollywood and around the world in the Prime Video catalog.

“We are excited to expand our relationship with Diego Boneta and the entire Three Amigos team,” said Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, in a statement to Deadline. “We can’t wait for our customers to see what’s in store from Diego and Three Amigos as we work to bring compelling new content to Prime Video’s audiences across Mexico and all around the world.”

“As a leading streaming service, Prime Video empowers the incredible creators we work with, and we could not be more excited to begin building new stories with Diego and his team,” said Alonso Aguilar, head of local Amazon Originals, Prime Video Mexico.

Boneta most recently wrapped a successful three-season run on the Telemundo/Netflix bio-series Luis Miguel: The Series, portraying the titular multi-Grammy-winning singer.

He also appeared in Rebelde, 90210, Pretty Little Liars, Underemployed and Scream Queens.

His feature film debut was in 2012’s Rock of Ages from Adam Shankman. Other big-screen credits include The Titan, Terminator: Dark Fate, Love, Weddings, & Other Disasters, and Die in a Gunfight.

Up next, Boneta will star opposite Andy Garcia, Gloria Estefan, Isabela Merced, and Adria Arjona in The Father of the Bride by director Gaz Alazraki. The film premieres on June 16, 2022.

Kate del Castillo Signs with Buchwald

Posted on March 21, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Kate del Castillo has new representation…

The 49-year-old Mexican actress and telenovela star has signed with Buchwald.

del Castillo stars in Telemundo’s hit drama La Reina del Sur.

One of the highest rated Spanish-language series in the world, La Reina del Sur adapts the bestseller by Spanish novelist Arturo Perez-Reverte. In the crime drama, which recently wrapped filming for Season 3, del Castillo plays Teresa Mendonza, a woman from Mexico who becomes the most powerful drug trafficker in southern Spain.

Castillo recently completed a two-series deal with Telemundo. Her production company, Cholawood, has a first-look development deal with Boomdog, the Mexico City-based division of Endemol Shine North America.

The actress starred opposite Will Smith as the villain in Sony’s Bad Boys for Life, also recently featuring on NBC’s sitcom Mr. Mayor, from creators Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, and the Netflix animated series Maya and the Three, created by Jorge R. Gutiérrez.

She rose to acclaim in America with her performance in Fox Searchlight’s Under the Same Moon, which is one of the highest-grossing Spanish-language theatrical releases in U.S. history, and has also featured in such films as Bordertown, No Good Deed and All About Nina.

del Castillo has also appeared in series including PBS’ Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated drama American Family, The CW’s Jane the Virgin and Showtime’s Weeds, among others. Her one-woman Off-Broadway show, The Way She Spoke, made her the first Latina actress to earn Drama Desk, Drama League and Lucille Lortel Award nominations.

A philanthropist and outspoken global activist, del Castillo was appointed Ambassador for the Mexican Commission on Human Rights to combat human trafficking in 2009.

Jesse & Joy to Perform at This Year’s Latin American Music Awards

Posted on March 17, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Jesse & Joy are preparing for the Latin AMAs…

The Latin American Music Awards have announced the first round of performers for its 2022 edition, with the Mexican sibling duo – comprised of brother Jesse Huerta and sister Joy Huerta – set to take the stage.

Jesse & Joy are among a roster of performers that includes The Black Eyed Peas, Boza, Calibre 50, Chiquis, Esteman, Gerardo Ortiz and Gloria Trevi.

The Latin AMAs will be broadcast on Telemundo from Las Vegas starting at 7:00 p.m. ET with the red-carpet pre-show.

Other acts confirmed to grace the stage include Jhay Cortez, Lit Killah, Los Ángeles Azules, María Becerra, Nicki Nicole, Sofia Reyes, Ozuna and Tiago PZK.

The awards show kicks off at 8:00 p.m. ET live from the Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

According to a press release, the forthcoming three-hour event will “pay tribute to today’s most influential and iconic Latin artists” in 26 categories, including favorite video and favorite social artist, selected by a committee of industry professionals who consider the quality, content, creativity and fan engagement.

As it was previously announced, Mexican songstress Lupita D’Alessio will be honored with the Legend Award and Regional Mexican chart-topping artist Christian Nodal will receive the Extraordinary Evolution Award. Nodal is also a five-time nominee at this year’s Latin AMAs.

The 10-time-nominated Bad Bunny leads the list of nominees. The Puerto Rican hitmaker is followed by Jhay Cortez with eight nominations, and Karol G, J Balvin and Rauw Alejandro with seven nods each.

This year’s nominees are based on key fan interactions with music, including streaming, sales, airplay and social activity tracked by Billboard through its data partners MRC Data and Next Big Sound for data covering the periods of February 6, 2021, through January 29, 2022. All Latin AMA categories are determined by fan voting.

To vote for your favorite artists, visit LatinAMAs.com.

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