Eva Longoria has landed a mother of a role…
The 37-year-old Mexican American actress and former Desperate Housewives star has signed on to voice the character of Rudi Wilson, a former music exec turned hopeless suburban mom, in the animated series Mother Up! for Canadian broadcaster City and Hulu.
“She’s a crazy, irresponsible mother, that all mothers fear they are,” Longoria tells The Hollywood Reporter about her character’s misguided, yet comedic child-rearing.
“She barely keeps her kids alive with bizarre, improvised solutions to the endless challenges of parenting,” she adds.
City and Hulu have ordered 13 episodes of the half-hour adult animated comedy series that Longoria will also executive produce.
The Canadian series was created by Michael Shipley (Family Guy, My Name is Earl), using original material from Marnie Nir and Katie Torpey.
“It is without a doubt an irreverent and edgy series, and yet still a network friendly show,” Claire Freeland, director of original programming at City-parent Rogers Media said of Mother Up!
City already has a primetime schedule heavy with popular American comedies like Modern Family and 2 Broke Girls, as well as a pipeline filled with homegrown sitcoms Seed and Package Deal.
Despite its motherhood storyline, Freeland added Mother Up! will appeal to both a female and male demo, given its variety of male characters.
The Canadian series also stars Jesse Camacho as the voice of Dick, Gabrielle Miller as Sarah, Cle Bennett as 2Bit, Helen Taylor as Jenny, Rebecca Husain as Apple and Scott McCord as Greg.
For Longoria, Mother Up! marks a return to television following starring roles in movies like The Baytown Outlaws, The Truth and more recently Michael Berry’s Frontera, following her final bow last season as Gabrielle Solis on Desperate Housewives.
The animated comedy also allows Longoria to bring her acting chops to a Toronto sound booth.
“I always find you have so much more freedom as an actor with your voice when you’re hiding behind an animated character, as opposed to live action,” she observes.
City plans a fall 2013 debut for Mother Up!