Jessica Meraz to Star on the Upcoming Season of TNT’s “Major Crimes”

Posted on May 16, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Jessica Meraz has landed a Major project…

The half-Mexican American actress has been cast as a series regular on the upcoming sixth season of TNT’s hit drama series Major Crimes from Warner Bros. TV.

Meraz will play Det. Camila Paige, who’s still recovering financially from having to raise all five of her younger siblings after the death of her parents in a car accident almost fifteen years ago. A favorite of Chief Mason (Leonard Roberts), she made a name for herself inside Criminal Intelligence before her transfer to Missing Persons. She has a personal relationship with Lt. Provenza (G.W. Bailey) from before her time on the LAPD.

Meanwhile, Lourdes Benedicto has landed a recurring role on the series.

The 42-year-old part-Spanish American actress will recur as Sara Garza, the wife of a prominent surgeon, his office manager, and mother to their missing fifteen-year-old son who tries to maintain her sanity in the face of kidnapping, murder and her husband’s health problems.

Meraz and Benedicto join an ensemble cast that includes Mary McDonnell, Tony Denison, Michael Paul Chan, Phillip P. Keene and Raymond Cruz.

Meraz played Natalie Ortiz on Freeform’s Chasing Life and also appeared on Baby Daddy.

Benedicto’s recent credits include Pure Genius and NCIS.

Rodriguez Lands Recurring Role on ABC’s “Quantico”

Posted on March 14, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Krysta Rodriguez is heading to the Alphabet Network…

The 32-year-old Latina actress and Broadway star has landed a recurring role for the second half of the second season of ABC’s Quantico.

Rodriguez will play Maxine “Max” Griffin, the intelligent, passionate and fiercely driven founder of “the Roster,” a network and visibility platform for professional women committed to helping one another rise. A DC insider who wants to change the way politics treat women, Max is not to be messed with – in her personal or professional life.

Rodriguez, who originated the role of Wednesday Addams in the 2009 Broadway musical The Addams Family, stars in the NBC mockumentary Trial & Error. She previously starred in the second season of Smash as Ana Vargas, followed by the Broadway musical comedy First Date.

Additional television credits include Mysteries of Laura, Gossip Girl and Chasing Life.

Aguilera to Star in “Predator” Reboot “The Predator”

Posted on March 6, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

It’s preying time for Augusto Aguilera…

The Latino actor has been cast in the final main role in 20th Century Fox’s Shane Black-directed reboot The Predator.

Aguilera is the final piece of the alien-hunter team alongside Sterling K. Brown, Trevante Rhodes, Boyd Holbrook, Jacob Tremblay, Olivia Munn and Keegan-Michael Key.

The plot is being kept under wraps, but the film is part of the original franchise that began with 1987’s Predator.

Black co-wrote the script with Fred Dekker.

Production began last month and Fox has already slated the film for release on February 9, 2018.

Aguilera, who appeared as Kieran on Chasing Life, has guest-starred on Major Crimes and Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. His other credits include the Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s Hulu pilot Citizen, Ice for Antoine Fuqua and John Singleton’s FX pilot Snowfall.

Telefe’s Telenovela “Un Año Para Recordar” Getting an American Makeover for NBC

Posted on October 2, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

It looks like NBC could be the latest network to get into the telenovela remake business…

The network has given a script plus penalty commitment to A Year to Remember, a drama based on the Telefe telenovela Un Año Para Recordar, from Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment and Telefe USA.

It marks the first network sale for Telefe USA since the LA-based outpost of Argentina’s largest broadcaster, Telefe, was launched in March.

The adaptation, written by Michael Folley, is a crime procedural that centers on a Boston homicide detective who’s confronted by her husband over an affair she’s having with her partner. In their ensuing fight, she accidentally kills him – only to wake the next day to find it’s a year earlier — her husband still alive, the affair not yet begun. Given a second chance, she somehow must find a way to keep the memory of that tragic night from becoming reality.

The original telenovela, which aired in Argentina in 2011, starred Carla Peterson and Gastón Pauls.

Kaplan has experience with Latin American formats. His company developed and produced the well-reviewed Freeform drama series Chasing Life, which was based on a Televisa telenovela.

Rodriguez to Star in NBC’s Documentary-Style Comedy Pilot “The Trail”

Posted on February 28, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Krysta Rodriguez is blazing new trail…

The 31-year-old Latina actress and former Smash star has been cast opposite John Lithgow in The Trail, NBC’s documentary-style procedural comedy from comedy veteran Jeff Astrof, Forever creator Matt Miller and Warner Bros. Television.

Written by Astrof and Miller and to be directed by Jeffrey Blitz, The Trail, whose title is a scrambled version of “trial,” follows Josh Simon (Nick D’Agosto), a young big-city lawyer and his oddball defense team during a high-profile murder trial in a small Southern town. Sent from his big New York law firm to small town South Carolina to prep a ragtag team in defending a poetry professor Larry Henderson (Lithgow) accused of murdering his wife, Josh tries to keep his optimism while feeling a bit out of his element — both professionally and as the first “Northeasterner” many of the townspeople have seen.

Rodriguez will play Summer Henderson, Larry’s free-spirited adopted daughter, who comes back to town to help her father.

Rodriguez, who appeared on ABC Family’s Chasing Life, also appeared on Broadway in The Addams Family musical.

Higareda Signs on for Televisa USA’s Scripted Action Drama Series “Coma”

Posted on July 8, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Martha Higareda is preparing for double-duty on Televisa USA’s new project.

The 30-year-old Mexican actress will executive produce and star in Televisa USA’s scripted action drama series Coma.

Described as an hourlong action drama with sci-fi elements, Coma focuses on 10,000 comatose patients around the world who in the course of three days suddenly wake up fighting for their lives. Inexplicably, they all have the same message: Stop Ian Wallace, the man they say will be responsible for starting World War III.

Higareda will portray Dr. Victoria Neves in the pilot.

The division of Televisa, a subsidiary of Spanish-language producer-distributor Grupo Televisa, acquired the spec series written by Francesco Papini and Noé Santillán López.

Televisa USA will shop the series to broadcast, cable and digital outlets including Netflix and Amazon.

The deal comes as Televisa USA continues its push into original scripted fare. The banner co-produces ABC Family‘s Chasing Lifeas well as Lifetime‘s Devious Maids.

ABC to Preview Aguilera’s “Chasing Life” Two Weeks Early

Posted on May 27, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

It appears Augusto Aguilera’s close-up will come earlier than previously planned…

ABC Family has announced it will make Chasing Life, which stars the Latino up-and-comer,available two weeks ahead of its television debut.

Based on the Mexican telenovela Terminales, Chasing Life follows an aspiring journalist, 24-year-old April Carver (portrayed by Italia Ricci), who finds out she has terminal cancer.

Aguilera portrays Kieran, a bad-boy slacker who is actually an extremely intelligent and educated young man.

Beginning Tuesday, the first episode of the series will be available for preview on the free WATCH ABC Family app through Monday, June 9. Additionally, the premiere can be viewed early on-demand through participating television providers starting Tuesday, June 3. The show’s official Facebook page also will show the episode, beginning Sunday, June 8.

It’s common for networks to debut new shows on digital platforms before they make their respective premieres on TV. Most recently AMC teamed with Tumblrto offer consumers an early look at the 1980s tech drama Halt and Catch Fire prior to its June 1 kickoff.

In addition to Aguilera and Ricci, the series also stars Mary Page Keller, Aisha Dee, Richard Brancatisano and Haley Ramm, along with Scott Michael Foster, Steven Weber, Rebecca Schull and Andy Mientus.

Chasing Life, a Lionsgate/Televisa production, debuts Tuesday, June 10 at 9 p.m. on ABC Family.

ABC Family Orders the Mexican Telenovela Remake of “Chasing Life”

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Lifetime’s Devious Maids isn’t the only new U.S. television program based on a Mexican series…

ABC Family has given a series order to the drama Chasing Life, which was originally called Terminales, for an early 2014 launch.

Chasing Life, which received a 13-episode order, according to Deadline.com, joins new ABC Family drama series The Fosters and Twisted, meaning all three of the network’s pilots from the most recent cycle are going to series.

Chasing Life is an adaptation of the successful Televisa Spanish-language series Terminales. The pilot was produced by Lionsgate in association with Televisa.

Chasing Life stars Italia Ricci as April, an ambitious young newspaper reporter who tries to balance her career aspirations with her family — her widowed mom Sara (Mary Page Keller), rebellious little sister Brenna (Haley Ramm), and her grandmother. Just as things start to look up at work, home and on the romance front with co-worker Dominic (Richard Brancatisano), April gets the devastating news from an estranged uncle that she has cancer.

The Mexican version, which premiered in September 2008, stars Ana Claudia Talancón, Alfonso Herrera, Andrés Almeida, Isela Vega, Opi Domínguez and Danny Perea.

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