Karol G Teams Up with Five Telenovela Legends in Promotional Clip for Her New Album “Tropicoqueta”

Posted on June 17, 2025 by Tom Castaneda

Karol G is living her telenovela fantasy in preparation for her upcoming album.

The 34-year-old Colombian singer teamed up with five telenovela icons for a new promotional clip for her forthcoming album, Tropicoqueta.

Inspired by ‘90s Latin soap operas, Karol G released a nearly two-minute Spanish-language video starring herself alongside actresses Anahí, Itatí Cantoral, Gaby Spanic, Ninel Conde and Azela Robinson.

In true telenovela fashion, Karol and Anahí are in love with the same man — who is revealed via photo to be a long-haired Ricky Martin from the ‘90s — and later confront each other in a heated fight.

Cantoral rushes in with her iconic Soraya Montenegro phrase from Maria la del Barrio, and screams, “What are you doing? Don’t mess with my daughter, maldita lisiada!” To which Conde then breaks up the argument by responding to Cantoral, “Mamacita, you’re still doing this? It’s been so many years, please get over it!”

Toward the end of the skit, Spanic and Robinson drive up in a red van listening to an upcoming track from the album. “The woman is iconic/ she has dreams/ she has goals,” the lyrics go.

In an Instagram post with photos from the shoot, Karol revealed that she first called Anahí for the project, and then everything else fell in place. “How crazy!!! Nothing like having the opportunity to make a dream come true!!!” she captioned the post. “You touched our lives with each of your roles. What energy on set, what laughter, the most fun shoot ever!!!! What an incredible time we had!! Thank you, queens, for saying yes! It’s an honor to be in the same room with you!”

Tropicoqueta, Karol G’s fifth studio album, will drop Friday, June 20.

t’s set to be a nostalgic and personal project on which La Bichota says she’s “going back to the roots, to the songs I grew up listening to, to the sounds that made me fall in love with music.”

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Netflix to Release Vadhir Derbez’s “Yo No Soy Mendoza” Series in Latin America

Posted on March 31, 2025 by Tom Castaneda

Vadhir Derbez’s latest project is expanding across Latin America.

Netflix has snapped up Yo No Soy Mendoza, starring the 34-year-old Mexican actor, for Latin America.

The humorous drama is the last original story from Fernando Gaitán, the late Colombian screenwriter and producer who created some of the most popular telenovelas, including Yo Soy Betty, La Fea.

The Sony-produced and distributed series is set in Mexico City.

It turns on the story of Julian Garcia, an unassuming debt collector whose life takes a shocking turn when he is kidnapped and forced to assume the identity of a wealthy businessman with a dangerous past.

The synopsis elaborates: Thrust into a world of luxury and deadly secrets, Julian must navigate Mendoza’s complicated life, including a forced marriage to Laura Santander and the powerful enemies who want him dead.

Derbez plays the dual roles of Garcia and Mendoza. Laura Londoño stars as Laura.

Gaitán had inked a development deal with Sony shortly before he suffered a fatal heart attack in 2019. He created scores of shows including Yo Soy Betty, La Fea, which aired in 180 territories and was adapted in numerous markets, including the U.S.

Yo No Soy Mendoza is made by Sony Pictures Television, which also handles international sales and cut the Netflix deal. The streamer has acquired the series and will play it across its LatAm footprint.

“With its blend of drama, humor, and intricate storytelling, Yo No Soy Mendoza is poised to captivate audiences and pay tribute to Gaitán’s enduring legacy in television,” said John Rossiter, EVP, Distribution, Networks & Production, Latin America, SPT. “We can’t wait for viewers throughout the region to get to know these unforgettable characters.”

Alejandro Garcia executive produces Yo No Soy Mendoza alongside Carlos Quintanilla Sakar who is also creative director. It’s developed by Miguel García Moreno, Mariana Palos, Alejandra Rodriguez, Luis Gamboa and Celia Kim.

Amazon’s Prime Video to Release Ana Maria Orozco’s “Betty la Fea: The Story Continues” In July

Posted on May 8, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Ana María Orozco is back in ‘Betty-ful’ action….

Amazon’s Prime Video has revealed the premiere date for Betty la Fea: The Story Continues, the sequel to the Colombian telenovela starring the 50-year-old Colombian actress that inspired ABC’s, Ugly Betty.

The new series will premiere on July 19 in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

Betty la Fea: The Story Continues, will see Orozco reprise her role of Betty alongside Jorge Enrique Abello. Returning cast members include Julián Arango, Natalia Ramírez, Lorna Cepeda, Luces Velásquez, Marcela Posada, Mario Duarte, Julio Cesar Herrera, Ricardo Vélez, Alberto León Jaramillo and Estefanía Gómez.

Rodrigo Candamil, Juanita Molin, Zharick León and Sebastián Osorio join the cast.

Betty, la fea: The Story Continues is an RCN Estudios production for Prime Video and tells the story of Beatriz Pinzón Solano 20 years after the conclusion of the original show. While an empowered and wiser Betty works hard on rebuilding her relationship with her teenage daughter Mila, her relationship with Armando begins to deteriorate, making her question if she made the right decision 20 years ago.

Yo soy Betty, la Fea, created by Fernando Gaitán, has aired in 180 countries, dubbed into 15 languages, and has been adapted in up to 28 territories, including India, South Africa, and the U.S.

After the telenovela’s original run, Colombia’s RCN produced a sequel series in 2001 which ran for one season.

Ugly Betty, starring America Ferrera, was inspired by the Colombian telenovela and ran for four seasons on ABC.

Telemundo most recently produced its own version in 2019, titled Betty in NY and starred Elyfer Torres.

Eduardo Cisneros Signs with Independent Artist Group

Posted on May 6, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Eduardo Cisneros has new representation…

Independent Artist Group has signed the 46-year-old Mexican writer and producer, who is the co-creator of Apple TV+’s Eugenio Derbez-starrer Acapulco and co-writer of Focus Features’ comedy Half Brothers, for representation.

Cisneros also serves as executive producer and writer of Acapulco, a comedy series now in its third season, which has been a critical success, with an average audience score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, winning the Imagen Award for Best Primetime Comedy, as well as earning nominations at the Critics’ Choice Awards and the HCA Television Awards.

Cisneros teamed up with his Acapulco creative partner and frequent collaborator Jason Shuman to script Half Brothers, which became a Top 10 hit around the world when it was released on Netflix last year.

The duo’s production company Raqmar recently wrapped up a multi-year first look feature deal at Sony.

Development projects emerging from that deal include Telenovela, which Cisneros is writing to direct with Montecito producing, and The Big Day, which Shuman and Cisneros are co-writing and producing.

Outside of that deal, the pair wrote a reboot of the sci-fi comedy Short Circuit for Spyglass and are developing a series project with Warner Bros. Television.

Cisneros’s other work as a producer includes the drama To Leslie, which brought star Andrea Riseborough her first Academy Award nomination, and the critical darling The Obituary of Tunde Johnson, which premiered at TIFF in 2019.

Currently, he’s working on his feature directorial debut, The Resurrectionist, as well as the short Bespoke, which will shoot in Amsterdam in May.

The creative’s career started at a young age in his native Mexico, where he would go on to co-create two of the most successful Spanish-language television comedy shows of recent years: XHDRBZ and La familia P. Luche.

Born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico, he’s on the advisory board of the Los Angeles Academy of Arts and Enterprise and is a founding member of LA Clubhouse, a professional organization devoted to empowering film and television writers of LGBTQIA+ Latinx background.

Mariel Molino to Star in CBS‘ Young Gibbs Drama “NCIS: Origins”

Posted on March 17, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Mariel Molino is celebrating her origins…

The Mexican American actress will star as the female lead opposite Austin Stowell in CBS‘ Young Gibbs drama NCIS: Origins, a prequel to the venerable procedural, which has a straight-to-series order for the 2024-2025 broadcast season.

Narrated by Harmon, the CBS Studios-produced show begins in 1991, years prior to the events of NCIS, and chronicles Leroy Jethro Gibbs’ younger years.

In the prequel, Gibbs (Stowell) starts his career as a newly minted special agent at the fledgling NIS Camp Pendleton office where he forges his place on a gritty, ragtag team led by NCIS legend Mike Franks.

Molino will play Special Agent Lala Dominguez, a former Marine who navigates her 1990s male-dominated field with a steely resolve and a dark sense of humor. When a tormented Leroy Jethro Gibbs joins her team, the ensuing story between these two enigmatic outsiders is filled with sparks and turns that will keep the audience guessing.

This is a new character to the NCIS universe who has not been featured on the mothership series. In the NCIS timeline, the prequel takes place in the aftermath of the murder of Gibbs’ first wife and their daughter.

Mark Harmon and his son Sean Harmon, who portrayed Gibbs in flashbacks on NCIS and was a driving force behind the prequel, executive produce alongside David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal who are co-writing the premiere episode and serving as co-showrunners.

Origins is one of two newly greenlighted extensions of CBS Studios’ ever-growing NCIS franchise, along with an Europe-set Tony & Ziva spinoff starring Michael Weatherly and Cote De Pablo for Paramount+. They join the mothership series, now in its 21st season, NCIS: Hawai’i, now in Season 3 and the franchise’s first international installment, NCIS: Sydney.

Molino, who was born in California, splits time between Los Angeles and Mexico City.

She started her career acting in Spanish-language projects, including the telenovela Papis Muy Padres, Amazon’s comedy series El Juego De Las Llaves and thriller drama series La Negociadora. She has also appeared on Netflix’s Narcos: Mexico and Luis Miguel: The Series.

Molino most recently starred in the Freeform thriller series The Watchful Eye and in the ABC family drama Promised Land. On the film side, Molino was be seen in upcoming features The Shade and Dead Man’s Switch.

The Gersh Agency Signs Jaime Camil

Posted on February 28, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Jaime Camil has new representation…

The Gersh Agency has signed the 50-year-old Mexican actor, singer and producer for representation in all areas.

Camil is best known for starring in all five seasons of The CW’s telenovela satire Jane the Virgin.

He is coming off of Apple TV+’s acclaimed musical comedy Schmigadoon!, which ran for two seasons.

Up next, the actor will be seen recurring on the second season of NBC’s Lopez vs. Lopez, also taking on a guest arc on the upcoming season of Acapulco for Apple TV+.

Additionally, he’s set to narrate and executive produce Desde La Raíz, a Roku series exploring the origins of Mexican products like coffee, chile, corn and mezcal.

Previously, Camil starred in and executive produced the CBS comedy series Broke, starred as the lead villain opposite Zoë Kravitz in Steven Soderbergh’s thriller Kimi, and hosted and executive produced the game show Lotería Loca for CBS.

He also played Mexican musical icon Vicente Fernández on Netflix’s El Rey, Vicente Fernández, which spent five weeks in the streamer’s Global Top 10 TV (Non-English) when it debuted in 2022, peaking at #1 worldwide and #2 in the U.S. in that time period.

Before making a splash in the English-language market, Camil was already a bonafide star in his native Mexico and all across Latin America for his work in Spanish-language projects both in TV and film. Some of his hits include the telenovela La Fea Más Bella (Ugly Betty), Por Ella Soy Eva and Qué Pobres Tan Ricos, to name a few.

Kate del Castillo to Star on the Third Season of Fox’s “The Cleaning Lady”

Posted on December 14, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Kate del Castillo is cleaning up her resume…

The 51-year-old Mexican actress and former telenovela star and 45-year-old Chilean actor Santiago Cabrera will play siblings Ramona and Jorge Sanchez in series regular roles on the third season of Fox’s The Cleaning Lady.

del Castillo’s character is described as the elegant, beautiful and regal matriarch of the Sanchez family who has the grace and quiet wisdom that belies a ruthless cunning below the surface. To the world, she’s a benevolent philanthropist, art collector and loving aunt to a young child, but behind closed doors, she’s shrewd, powerful and fiercely protective of her family, her business and her many dark secrets.

Her brother, portrayed by Cabrera, is intelligent and intuitive with a deep inner strength. He was born in Mexico but raised in the U.S. with all the privileges that newfound wealth has brought to his family. A Harvard Law grad, Jorge has been working as a successful businessman using legitimate business fronts to launder money and serve as a fixer in his family’s organization. Struggling with his wife’s untimely death, he cycles through stages of grief and an insatiable rage at the world, often making him volatile and unpredictable. The only joy left in his life is his daughter, Violeta, whom he strives to protect above all else.

Based on the hit original Argentine series, The Cleaning Lady follows Thony De La Rosa (Élodie Yung), a whip-smart Cambodian doctor who comes to the U.S. for a medical treatment to save her ailing son, but when the system fails and attempts to push her down, Thony refuses to be marginalized, and instead takes matters into her own hands. Forced to use unconventional measures to protect her family and save the ones she loves; Thony further crosses the moral line as she gets deeper entwined in the criminal underbelly of Las Vegas.

The series also stars Adan Canto, Martha Millan, Sebastien & Valentino LaSalle, Sean Lew, Faith Bryant and Eva De Dominic.

Miranda Kwok developed the series. Kwok and Jeannine Renshaw serve as showrunners and executive producers of season three.

Rose Marie Vega and Paola Suarez also are executive producers. Shay Mitchell and David Dean Portelli are executive consultants.

del Castillo’s previous credits include the career-defining hit telenovela La Reina del Sur, Ingobernable and Dallas.

Cabrera’s previous credits include The Flight Attendant, Star Trek: Picard and Merlin..

Anahi & Her RBD Group Mates Getting Their Own Barbie Dolls

Posted on November 14, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Anahi is getting all dolled up…

In the midst of their Soy Rebelde Tour, the 40-year-old Mexican singer, songwriter and actress and her RBD group mates are getting their own Barbie dolls.

The news was shared on the Barbie Instagram page on Monday, November 13, where the dolls were officially unveiled. “¡Y soy Rebelde! Pop stardom meets pop culture icons with the special edition RBD x Barbie dolls,” read the caption.

The collector’s Barbie dolls — which are available in a set of five or sold individually as Rebelde characters Mia (Anahí), Roberta (Dulce Maria) and Lupita (Maite Perroni) — commemorate the Mexican group’s triumph comeback after a 15-year hiatus.

In true RBD fashion, the dolls are decked out in emblematic concert outfits or their signature Elite Way school uniform. Mia, for example, comes with a star sticker on the forehead and Roberta with her distinct cherry-red locks.

Furthermore, the official Barbie website states “Barbie is celebrating RBD’s reunion with a set of five dolls ready to take the stage! Roberta, Mia, Lupita, Diego and Giovanni wear outfits that pop with their personality and style. The clothes are trendy, the accessories cool and the hair spot on! Fans of the popular pop-rock music group and Rebelde telenovela will love the instant collection of the beloved group. Dolls cannot stand alone. Colors and decorations may vary.”

News of the Barbie dolls come just days after a wave of Música Mexicana acts — including Calibre 50, Chiquis, Banda Carnaval, Banda Los Sebastianes and Los Socios del Ritmo, among others — teamed up for Somos Rebeldes, a 15 track-set with reimagined versions of “Sólo Quédate en Silencio,” “Qué Hay Detrás” and “Sálvame.”

“I think that people connect with us because each one of us is so different, but we’re a family,” band member Christopher von Uckermann previously said at the 2023 Billboard Latin Music Week. “We know each other. We understand each other without having to speak. We are family and that is something you can feel.”

Fans can pre-order the RBD Barbie dolls here.

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Eva Longoria Teams Up with Cris Abrego to Launch Hyphenate Media Group

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Eva Longoria is proving to be a real (multi)hyphenate…

The 48-year-old Mexican American actress, director and producer and Cris Abrego, two of the most high-profile Latinos in Hollywood, have joined forces.

Longoria and Abrego have launched Hyphenate Media Group, a new Banijay-backed venture that will develop and produce its own slate as well as invest in creator-led companies.

The company, which has been in the works for months, was announced during a keynote with the duo, who have been friends for years, at Mipcom.

Abrego will serve as the CEO of the company, and Longoria will serve as its Chief Creative Officer.

As part of its launch, Hyphenate has acquired the full slate of Longoria’s UnbeliEVAble Entertainment, which has been behind series such as NBC’s Telenovela, ABC’s Grand Hotel and CNN’s Searching for Mexico.

As such, Hyphenate will take on Apple TV+’s Land of Women, a six-part series starring and exec produced by the Desperate Housewives star that will launch in 2024.

The company will develop and produce both scripted and unscripted series and both of them will produce for the business with all television projects directed by Longoria also coming under the new banner, which is set to firm up its leadership team later this year.

Abrego, who founded Below Deck producer 51 Minds Entertainment in 2003, will remain Chairman of Americas for Banijay and he also serves as Chair of the Television Academy Foundation and a member of the Executive Committee for the Television Academy.

The move marks Banijay’s first investment into the scripted space in the U.S.

Speaking at Mipcom, Abrego spotlighted the decision-making behind launching a diverse content company, as he quoted research that found 50% of American under-18s are not white.

“Supporting creatives in their vision is what we will do,” he added. “The train has left the station and the content has to reflect that.”

He cited influential and talented diverse creatives such as Jordan Peele and Ali Wong, whose work “used to be niche but is now the center.”

Reflecting on the company’s name and MO, Longoria said people had always mistaken her for an actor-turned-producer but she is in fact a “producer-director that fell into acting.”

“That multi-hyphenate is not surviving in Hollywood because the industry wants you to stay in your lane, particularly women,” she explained. “So it was my frustration and Cris’s ambition a couple of years ago after I realized it’s not just me who feels this way. I know creators who are being suffocated by the system so Hyphenate will create the ultimate model.”

Longoria added that the current U.S. labor action is “a direct result of creators taking control back.”

Blanca Soto to Star in A+E Studios & Telemundo Global Studios’ Drama Series “The Many Names of Aura”

Posted on October 5, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Blanca Soto is embracing her aura…

The 44-year-old Mexican actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder will star in a new drama series, The Many Names of Aura, which is being developed by A+E Studios and Telemundo Global Studios.

Soto, who stars in Netflix’s You Cannot Hide and the telenovela Señora Acero, is fronting The Many Names of Aura.

The project marks the first time that A+E Studios, which is behind Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer, and Telemundo Global Studios have teamed up.

Telemundo will produce and hold the U.S. rights and A+E Studios will oversee international distribution.

Created and written by Luis Zelkowicz (El Señor de los Cielos), the series follows fashion designer and con artist Aura (Soto), along with her father Tiago and grandfather Facundo, run a tight operation conning the wealthy businessmen of Mexico. As Aura juggles her two professional lives and her personal with her daughter, she struggles to balance it all. Finally, she makes a decision to turn on her team and risk everything, to perhaps finally put her family first.

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