Tag Archives: The Long Road Home

E.J. Bonilla to Star in the NBC Drama Pilot “Getaway”

Posted on by
Reply

It’s getaway time for E.J. Bonilla…

The 32-year-old Puerto Rican actor has been cast as a series regular in the NBC drama pilot Getaway, which hails from The Blacklist duo John Davis and John Fox and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.

E.J. Bonilla

Bonilla will star opposite Matt Long, Marg Helgenberger, Jasmine Mathews and Annie Ilonzeh on the pilot.

Written and executive produced by JJ Bailey and Moira Kirland, Getaway centers on a destination wedding at an isolated luxury resort that quickly descends into chaos after a group of dangerous criminals takes the island hostage. The small group of guests, led by a fearless female Army vet (Ilonzeh), will do everything they can to stay alive.

Bonilla will play Rafi Salinas. Rafi claims to be a fisherman on the run with his friends from a gang of cartel members, but he’s hiding a dark secret that will put everyone at the resort in danger.

Bonilla is a series regular on the upcoming FX on Hulu series The Old Man, whose Season 1 production is currently on hold while star Jeff Bridges undergoes cancer treatment. Bonilla will reportedly be able to fulfill his obligation to the FX series before he segues to Getaway should the pilot go to series.

Bonilla most recently appeared in Nat Geo’s miniseries The Long Road Home and was previously a series regular on the final season of A&E’s Unforgettable.

Jorge Diaz to Star in Pilot for HBO Max’s “Head of the Class” Sitcom Reboot

Posted on by
Reply

Jorge Diaz is moving to the head of the class…

The 37-year-old Mexican American actor has joined the cast of HBO Max’s multi-camera comedy pilot Head of the Class, a reboot of the popular 1980s ABC sitcom.

Jorge Diaz

Diaz joins a roster of new additions to the cast that includes Dior Goodjohn, Brandon Severs, Adrian Matthew Escalona and Christa Miller.

They join previously announced Isabella Gomez, Gavin Lewis and Jolie Hoang-Rappaport in the reboot which hails from American Vandal writers Amy Pocha and Seth Cohen, Bill Lawrence and his Doozer Productions; and Warner Bros. Television, which produced the original series.

Written by Pocha and Cohen, based on the original series created by Rich Eustis and Michael Elias, the reimagined Head of the Class revolves around a group of overachieving high school students who meet their greatest challenge — a teacher Alicia Adams (Gomez), who wants them to focus less on grades and more on experiencing life.

Diaz plays Elliot Olsen, a goofy English teacher who loves his job and is genuine to a fault. Goodjohn is Robyn Rook. Stem queen turned Twitch streamer, Robyn’s the defacto leader of the class – though she’d never admit it. Severs will portray Terrell Smith, is a year-round athlete, who is uber-positive and all about team mentality. Escalona is Miles Mendelson, the shy, introverted, overthinking coder, who’d rather spend time with computers than people. Miller recurs as Principal Maris, an intimidating, tough love boss that always puts the students first.

Diaz has appeared on a number of hit comedies including the CW’s Jane The Virgin, NBC’s The Good Place and Netflix’s Arrested Development. He also starred as SPC Israel Garza in Nat Geo’s Critics Choice-nominated Iraq war drama, The Long Road Home. On the film side, Diaz portrayed Hector Estrella in Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, earning a nomination for an Imagen Foundation Award for his performance.

Escalona was first discovered in 2018, when a video of him singing “She Used To Be Mine” from the Broadway musical Waitress went viral with almost 4 million views and counting. He went on to be invited by Waitress writer and composer Sara Bareilles to make a guest appearance during her tour stop in Pittsburgh, near his home town. Head of the Class is Escalona’s first major TV role.