Juliana Aidén Martinez to Star on Eighth Season of CBS’ “FBI”

Posted on July 14, 2025 by Tom Castaneda

Juliana Aidén Martinez is joining the Fed.

The Latina actress will star on CBS’ FBI series as a series regular for its upcoming eighth season.

No details about Martinez’s character are being provided.

With FBI‘s Stuart Scola (John Boyd) still looking for a permanent partner after the departure last fall of Tiffany Wallace (Katherine Renee Kane), Martinez could play a new agent paired with him.

Lisette Olivera was initially cast as a series regular last season to succeed Kane but left after a handful of episodes as Scola’s new partner Syd Ortiz.

Emily Alabi was subsequently added as a recurring, playing Dani Rhodes, a temporary partner for Scola. Alabi will return in the fall to wrap Dani’s story, sources tell Deadline.

In addition to Boyd, Martinez joins returning FBI series regulars Missy Peregrym, Zeeko Zaki, Jeremy Sisto and Alana de la Garza.

Martinez previously starred on Law & Order: SVU as a series regular.

Both Law & Order: SVU and FBI hail from Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television

Other actors who have moved from one Wolf Entertainment show to another as new characters include Dylan McDermott (Law & Order: Organized Crime to FBI: Most Wanted), Jesse Lee Soffer (Chicago P.D. to FBI: International) and, most recently, Brandon Larracuente (On Call to Chicago Fire).

Known for her breakout role in Netflix’s limited series Griselda opposite Sofia Vergara, Martinez played Detective Kate Silva on Season 26 of SVU.

Martinez also starred in the 2022 indie thriller Boundary and guest starred on 9-1-1, The Blacklist and Prodigal Son.

Dominic Colón Signs with M88 for Representation

Posted on June 17, 2025 by Tom Castaneda

Dominic Colón has new representation.

The 49-year-old Puerto Rican award-winning actor, writer, producer and filmmaker has signed with M88 for representation.

Colón, who hails from the Bronx, New York, made The Blacklist’s inaugural Latinx TV List with his television pilot Papi.

As one of the top three finalists, he received a blind pilot deal at Hulu. He has had projects in development at Hulu, ABC & UTV and is a 2024 WGAE Showrunner Training Academy graduate.

Colón has been set as the co-writer/creator of the television adaptation of Joseph “Fat Joe” Cartagena’s memoir The Book of Jose, alongside Kenya Barris, which is currently in pilot development at Starz with BET Studios. The series will follow the rags-to-riches story of Grammy-nominee Fat Joe and chronicle his evolution from growing up in the Bronx to becoming a global superstar with a career spanning over three decades.

Colón was a writer on the Netflix series, Boots (fka The Corps), the final project produced by Norman Lear, set to premiere later this year. In collaboration with Steven Canals, Colón recently developed a one-hour medical drama for ABC and UTV. In the podcast space, he wrote the episode “Our Lady of the Six Train” for the GLAAD-nominated scripted podcast anthology, Love In Gravity.

As a playwright, Colón’s plays have been developed by Atlantic Theater Company, LAByrinth Theater Company, Latinx Playwrights Circle, The SOL Project and The National Queer Theater. His play The War I Know received the inaugural Write-It-Out Prize, a cash award given to a playwright living with HIV.

Additionally, his play, The Empty Space or White People Ruin Everything, was a finalist for the Relentless Award.

As an actor, Colón has appeared in over 60 television shows and movies. He will soon be seen in a recurring role on Brad Inglesby’s upcoming HBO limited series Task, starring Mark Ruffalo.

In addition to his career as a professional writer and actor, Colón has taught acting and playwriting at various high schools, hospitals, prisons, and juvenile detention facilities throughout NYC.

Diany Rodriguez to Star in “NCIS: Origins,” CBS’ “NCIS” Prequel Series

Posted on March 26, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Diany Rodriguez has found her origin(s) story…

The Latina actress joined the cast of NCIS: Origins as a series regular.

CBS’ prequel to the venerable procedural has a straight-to-series order for the 2024-2025 broadcast season.

In the CBS Studios-produced series, Rodriguez joins previously cast stars Austin Stowell, Mariel Molino and Kyle Schmid, as well as new addition Tyla Abercrumbie.

Executive produced and narrated by Mark Harmon, Origins 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 (Schmid).

Rodriguez will portray Special Agent Vera Strickland, a no-nonsense, sharp-witted Brooklynite who’s tough as nails and never minces words. She’s spent her entire career being underestimated by misogynistic morons (as she calls them), but if it’s a fight those good ol’ boys are looking for, then it’s a fight they’re going to get.

Molino plays Special Agent Lala Dominguez.

Mark Harmon and his son Sean Harmon executive produce alongside David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal who are co-writing the premiere episode and serving as co-showrunners. Jason Kennedy, Krysti Baxter and Meredith Goble are the casting directors.

Rodriguez recurred as Weecha Xiu on NBC’s The Blacklist.

Her recent credits include an arc on Peacock’s Twisted Metal and a guest spot on CBS’ drama series The Equalizer.

Marc Menchaca to Star in Apple TV+’s Limited Series “The Big Cigar”

Posted on July 6, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Marc Menchaca is going undercover…

The 46-year-old half-Mexican American actor has joined the cast of Apple TV+’s six-episode limited series The Big Cigar, which is centered on Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton.

Menchaca, who most recently starred on Netflix’s Ozark, will star alongside André Holland, Don Cheadle, Alessandro Nivola and Tiffany Boone in the project.

Based on the eponymous Playboy magazine article by Joshuah Bearman, the series tells the extraordinary, hilarious, almost-too-good-to-be-true story of how Newton relied on his best friend, Bert Schneider (Nivola), the Hollywood producer behind Easy Rider, to elude a nationwide manhunt and escape to Cuba while being pursued into exile by the FBI.

Menchaca will portray Agent Sydney Clark. A former lawyer and Vietnam vet from Oklahoma, Clark lives undercover as a dirty hippie while pursuing Newton, who is wanted on charges of killing a teenage prostitute.

NAACP Image Award winner Janine Sherman Barrois is serving as The Big Cigar‘s showrunner. Jim Hecht wrote the show’s first episode, with Cheadle directing and executive producing the first two.

The show hails from Warner Bros. Television, where Barrois and her Folding Chair Productions are under an overall deal. Barrois and Hecht are executive producing alongside Bearman, Joshua Davis and Arthur Spector through their production company Epic, a division of Vox Media Studios.

Menchaca is best known for his scene-stealing turns as Jack Hoskins on HBO’s hit series The Outsider, and as Russ Langmore on the Emmy-winning Netflix drama series Ozark.

He will next be seen in Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, HBO’s miniseries The White House Plumbers, John Hyams’ thriller Sick and Gareth Edwards’ sci-fi pic True Love for New Regency.

His additional television credits include Black Mirror, Homeland, MacGyver, Blue Bloods, Chicago P.D., Sleepy Hollow, The Blacklist, Law & Order: SVU, CSI and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Enrique Murciano to Star in Michelle Danner’s Courtroom Drama “Miranda’s Victim”

Posted on June 8, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Enrique Murciano is heading to court…

The 48-year-old Cuban American actor will star in Michelle Danner’s courtroom drama Miranda’s Victim.

Murciano appears on a list of new cast additions that includes Emily VanCamp, Sebastian Quinn, Brent Sexton and Josh Bowman.

They join a stacked ensemble led by Abigail Breslin, which also includes Luke Wilson, Andy Garcia, Donald Sutherland, Ryan Phillippe, Mireille Enos, Kyle MacLachlan and Taryn Manning, as previously announced.

The film will tell the true story of Trish Weir (Breslin), who in 1963 was kidnapped and brutally raped by Ernesto Miranda (Quinn). Committed to putting her assailant in prison, Trish’s life is destroyed by America’s legal system as she triggers a law that transforms the nation. Her case notably results in the establishment of the Miranda rights afforded to criminal suspects taken in police custody, to ensure the admissibility of statements made during interrogation, as part of subsequent criminal proceedings.

Murciano will portray Detective Cooley.

The film, written by George Kolber and J. Craig Stiles, is currently in production in New Jersey.

The production company involved is Navesink River Productions.

Murciano played Detective Marco Diaz on Netflix’s popular crime drama Bloodline and has also been seen on such series as Panic, Tell Me Your Secrets, Briarpatch, The Blacklist, Hap and Leonard and Power. Notable film credits include Bright, Rough Night, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Black Hawk Down. He’ll next be seen in the HBO Max rom-com Father of the Bride and Netflix’s series The Night Agent.

Floriana Lima to Star in NBC’s Drama Pilot “Blank Slate”

Posted on March 28, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Floriana Lima is going blank…

The 41-year-old part-Spanish American actress has been cast as one of the leads in NBC’s Blank Slate, a drama pilot from Dean Georgaris, John Fox, Davis Entertainment and Universal Television.

The series is created by Georgaris and Fox, written by Georgaris and will be directed by Richard Shepard.

Blank Slate draws some parallels to Davis Entertainment’s long-running NBC series The Blacklist.

In Blank Slate, Special Agent Alexander McCoy is a legend in law enforcement, the agent we all hope is out there, the agent we’d all like to be. The only issue is — he doesn’t actually exist. He’s a ghost, a phantom. So what happens when a man claiming to be Alexander McCoy walks through the door with all of his skills and knowledge but with an agenda nobody will see coming?

Lima plays Maya Logan, the seasoned head of a team of Homeland Security agents who’s always a step ahead of everyone else.

Georgaris executive produces via his Georgaris Inc. banner; John Davis and John Fox executive produce for Davis Entertainment. Shepard also executive produces. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, is the studio.

Lima recently starred in the third season of ABC’s drama A Million Little Things.

She previously was seen in the second season of Netflix and Marvel’s The Punisher, opposite Jon Bernthal.

She joined the CW’s Supergirl in the second season, starring as special crimes investigator Maggie Sawyer, one of the first openly gay characters in mainstream comics.

Marc Menchaca to Star in Gareth Edwards’ New Film “True Love”

Posted on January 23, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Marc Menchaca has found true love…

The 46-year-old Mexican American actor has joined the cast of Gareth Edwards’ New Regency film True Love, which has entered production in Thailand.

Menchaca, who has starred in Ozark and The Outsider, will star alongside John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Allison Janney, Benedict Wong and Sturgill Simpson in the film.

The latest film written and directed by Edwards is billed as an original sci-fi story set in the near future. Specifics as to its plot are currently undisclosed.

Edwards is producing the film with his Rogue One collaborator Kiri Hart and New Regency, which has provided the film’s financing.

Menchaca is perhaps best known for his scene-stealing turns as Jack Hoskins in HBO’s hit series The Outsider, and as Russ Langmore in the Emmy-winning Netflix drama series Ozark.

The actor most recently wrapped production on the Netflix feature No One Gets Out Alive, and the action-thriller Gypsy Moon alongside Lena Headey and Sam Worthington.

He made a recent appearance on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and will soon be featured in its upcoming series The White House Plumbers, as well as an upcoming episode of Amazon Prime’s Jack Ryan. His additional television credits include Black Mirror, Homeland, MacGyver, Blue Bloods, Chicago P.D., Sleepy Hollow, The Blacklist, Law & Order: SVU, CSI and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Ana Villafañe to Star in Apple’s Drama “Bad Monkey”

Posted on January 11, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Ana Villafañe isn’t afraid to monkey around…

The 32-year-old Cuban and Salvadoran American actress/singer has joined the cast of Apple’s drama Bad Monkey, written and executive produced Bill Lawrence.

Villafañe, best known for her portrayal of Latina icon Gloria Estefan in the Broadway musical On Your Feet!, joins an ensemble cast that Rob Delaney, newcomer Ahmed Elhaj and Arturo Luis Soria as series regulars, joining Vince Vaughn, who also serves as executive producer, Michelle Monaghan, Jodie Turner-Smith and Meredith Hagner.

Based on Carl Hiaasen’s popular 2013 novel, Bad Monkey tells the story of Andrew Yancy (Vaughn), a one-time detective demoted to restaurant inspector in Southern Florida. A severed arm found by a tourist out fishing pulls Yancy into the world of greed and corruption that decimates the land and environment in both Florida and the Bahamas. And yes, there’s a monkey.

Villafañe plays Rosa, a Miami medical examiner who is starting to realize she may not be cut out for her job, so is happy to ditch work and help Yancy try to figure out the story of the severed arm he brings into her lab.

Soria portrays Rogelio, a good Key West police detective who comes to his best friend and ex-partner, Andrew Yancy, with a life-changing assignment. It further complicates things that Rogelio’s husband is also Yancy’s attorney.

Villafañe was most recently seen in a recurring role on the final season of Younger. Her other previous credits include a heavily recurring role on NBC’s New Amsterdam. She was most recently seen in a starring role in the Broadway production of Chicago.

Soria’s guest star/recurring roles include Insatiable and The Blacklist.

Gravitas Ventures Acquires North American Rights to Adrian Martinez’s Feature Directorial Debut Film “iGilbert”

Posted on November 4, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Adrian Martinez’s latest project will be heading to a theater near you…

Gravitas Ventures has acquired the North American rights to iGilbert, the Latino actor’s feature directorial debut film, in which he also stars.

Martinez appears alongside Dascha Polanco (In the Heights, Orange Is the New Black) and Raùl Castillo (Army of the Dead, We the Animals).

The indie distributor will release the drama in theaters and on demand on December 31.

iGilbert centers on Gilbert Gonzalez (Martinez), who feels isolated from the world. He is 39, a virgin, obese and lives with his sarcastic, overprotective mother, who owns the Manhattan brownstone. Fearful of life and people, yet starving for human connection, Gilbert takes photos of women secretly, wherever and whenever he can. Enter Jana (Polanco), a tenant in the building and the source of innumerable fantasies.

Jana is a contradiction – beautiful but haunted by her own insecurities that inhibit her from standing up to her ex-boyfriend Tony (Castillo), an Iraq war vet with PTSD. Gilbert dreams of rescuing her, but doesn’t believe she could ever love him, especially if she knew about all the secret photos. This love triangle becomes a battle for human connection, which is increasingly difficult in our digital and disconnected world.

Martinez produced the film alongside Cynthia Hargrave, also exec producing alongside Jose Rivera.

Martinez’s previous acting credits include Curb Your Enthusiasm, Stumptown, The Blacklist and Gotham.

Diany Rodriguez to Appear on Season Nine of NBC’s “The Blacklist”

Posted on October 18, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Diany Rodriguez is makin’ the (Black)list…

The Latina actress has joined the cast of NBC’s long-running drama The Blacklist for its upcoming ninth season of the series.

Rodriguez, who has appeared on Law & Order: Organized Crime, will appear in a heavily recurring role.

Rodriguez will play Weecha Xiu. With a tough physical presence and a hardened demeanor, Weecha is more than capable of defending herself against anyone who might threaten her or her associates.

The Blacklist, starring James Spader, Diego Klattenhoff and Amir Arison, will jump forward two years in its season 9 return airing on October 21 (8/7c) on NBC.

In The Blacklist, in the two years following the death of Elizabeth Keen, Raymond Reddington (Spader) and the members of the FBI Task Force have disbanded – their lives now changed in unexpected ways and with Reddington’s whereabouts unknown. Finding themselves each at a crossroads, a common purpose compels them to renew their original mission: to take down dangerous, vicious and eccentric Blacklisters.

The Blacklist is produced by Sony Pictures Television Studios and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.

Rodriguez is best known for her role as A.D.A. Maria Delgado on NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime. She will soon be seen opposite Eugenio Debrez in Hulu’s upcoming rom-com The Valet.

Other credits include HBO’s The Outsider, Showtime’s Ray Donovan and NBC’s New Amsterdam, among others.

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