Annie Gonzalez to Star as the Late Jenni Rivera in Family-Authorized Biopic “Jenni”

Annie Gonzalez will be portraying a late banda legend…

The Latina actress will star in an authorized biopic about the life of Jenni Rivera has been greenlit at ViX.

Annie GonzalezIn addition to starring, Gonzalez will also executive produce the film.

Filming of Jenni (wt) is underway in Bogota, Colombia, and will be completed in Los Angeles.

The project is set to premiere exclusively via ViX and in select movie theaters in the United States and Mexico later this year.

Jenni (wt) will follow Rivera’s journey from her humble beginnings in Long Beach, California, to her meteoric rise to the top of the charts, and her final days before her tragic and unexpected death. The film will also share a look at the struggles she endured in her personal life and how she became the artist fans all know and love today, and how she persevered and found strength from within.

The streamer notes, Jenni is a story of resilience and bravery that shows the building blocks of what made Jenni Rivera—also known affectionately as “La Diva De La Banda”— who she was and the remarkable legacy she left behind.

“My siblings and I are very excited about this biopic and we know our mother’s story will impact generations to come,” Jacqie Rivera, daughter of Jenni Rivera and CEO of Jenni Rivera Enterprises said in a statement. “It has been an uphill battle, but we are happy to see one of our mom’s dreams come to fruition. Although we still haven’t gotten used to seeing someone portray our mother, we have faith Annie will do a great job.”

As a multiple award-winning artist—including multiple Billboard Music Awards, 22 Billboard Latin Music Awards, 18 Lo Nuestro Awards, and four Latin Grammy nominations— Rivera is not only known as one of the best-selling Regional Mexican artists of all time but also for her role in disrupting cultural precedent by crossing into banda, a male-dominated music genre and eventually into pop music, where her presence posthumously continues to shine. Rivera died in a plane crash in 2012.

“I am beyond honored to portray the essence of this phenomenal survivor that is Jenni Rivera who despite adversity at every turn was never a victim and showed her daughters, her family, and her audience what grace, forgiveness, and true authenticity is— liberating us all,” Gonzalez shared. “Jenni’s messages of feminism, civil rights, and nonconformity within her music were well before her time and made space for all of us to feel empowered. With the support of the Rivera family, I cannot wait to help tell the beautiful story and the impactful legacy of what Jenni means to me personally and what it will mean to women and Latinas everywhere.”

Manuel Uriza will star opposite Gonzalez in the role of Pedro Rivera, Jenni’s father, and Regional Mexican entrepreneur. The cast also includes Cinthya Carmona (East Los High) as Jenni Rivera’s eldest daughter, Chiquis Rivera, Jero Medina (Narcos: Mexico) and Miguel Angel Garcia (The Long Game) who will dually portray Trino Marín, Rivera’s first husband and father of her three eldest children at later and earlier stages in his life, respectively.

Additionally, Gabriela Reynoso (Si Nos Dejan) will be portraying Jenni’s mother Rosa Saavedra, J.R. Villarreal (Ultra Violet) will play Juan “Cinco” Lopez, Jenni’s late second husband, and newcomer Tatiana Juarez will portray Rivera during her early years.

“ViX is thrilled to be the official home and distributor of this powerful story about Jenni Rivera. Our commitment to this project is paramount and, along with a fantastic production team and director, we know we will have a film that will captivate our audiences,” stated Augusto Rovegno, Senior Vice President of Content ViX at TelevisaUnivision.

Gigi Saul Guerrero (Culture Shock) directs from a screenplay by Shane McKenzie (Bingo Hell).

Gonzalez is gearing up to promote Flamin’ Hot, the Eva Longoria-directed Searchlight Pictures film about how Frito Lay janitor Ricardo Montañez climbs the ranks at work and creates the spicy Cheeto snack. Flamin’ Hot premieres at SXSW on March 11 followed by a wide release via Hulu in June. The Chicana actress portrays the character of Judy, Montañez’s wife, opposite Jesse Garcia.

She also recently starred in Illegally Brown alongside Jessica Marie Garcia from filmmaker, Gabby Revilla Lugo, which is currently playing on the film festival circuit. Additionally, Gonzalez can next be seen in the upcoming independent thriller Body Language and an untitled Ethan Coen project.

Gonzalez is best known for her portrayal of Lidia Solis in the Netflix comedy series Gentefied and her guest roles in Apple’s Mr. Corman, Starz’s Vida, NBC’s Good Girls, Showtime’s Shameless, and FX’s American Horror Story, among other credits.

Jhené Aiko Teams Up with Big Sean to Reenact 90s Black Rom-Coms in “Body Language” Music Video

Jhené Aiko has a new body of work…

The 32-year-old part-Spanish and part-Dominican American singer – who earned three Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year for her latest studio album Chilombo – has joined voices with Big Sean and Ty Dolla $ign for the cinematic music video to their single “Body Language.”

Jhené Aiko, Big Sean

The mini-film shows the real-life couple (Aiko & Big Sean) taking on the roles of iconic onscreen duos from ’90s Black romantic comedies, from Tupac and Janet Jackson in Poetic Justice (1993) to Larenz Tate and Nia Long in Love Jones (1997). Aiko also serves big Angela Bassett energy from Waiting to Exhale (1995) when she burns her ex’s car with his clothes inside. And of course, the featurette has pop and R&B music’s favorite featured star Ty Dolla $ign popping up in each scene while he narrates the chorus.

“Big homage paying to a few of my favorite flicks growin up,” Big Sean wrote on Instagram about the movies he referenced in his music video.

Seems like Aiko did Jackson justice after the pop icon shared a still of the R&B singer’s portrayal of her Poetic Justice character on her Instagram Story with a heart emoji. “Thank you legend!!” Big Sean wrote back while resharing her IG Story with a goat emoji to symbolize that she’s the greatest of all time, or the G.O.A.T.

And the Chilombo singer’s nod to Waiting to Exhale came right around the time of the film’s 25th anniversary on Tuesday, December 22, which Bassett celebrated by posting a still from the same fiery scene on Instagram coincidentally on the same day of the music video’s release. “I didn’t plan that! Wow!” Big Sean mused on his own IG Story while resharing the actress’ post. “We did this scene in the video n dropped the same day! God will do it!”

 

“Body Language” is off the Detroit rapper’s fifth studio album Detroit 2, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in September.