Dascha Polanco to Appear on Season Two of “The Walking Dead: Dead City”

Posted on July 26, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Dascha Polanco has entered a Dead zone…

The 41-year-old Dominican actress and Orange Is the New Black and Poker Face star is among four new actors joining the action for season two of The Walking Dead: Dead City in 2025.

Executive producer Eli Jorné revealed the cast additions at the AMC show’s Hall H panel on Friday at San Diego Comic-Con.

In addition to Polamco, who will portray Major Lucia Narvaez, new cast additions include Keir Gilchrist, Jake Weary and Pooya Mohseni.

The Walking Dead: Dead City follows Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as they travel into a post-apocalyptic Manhattan, long ago cut off from the mainland. The crumbling city is filled with the dead and denizens who have made New York City their own world full of anarchy, danger, beauty, and terror. In season two, in the growing war for control of Manhattan, Maggie and Negan find themselves trapped on opposite sides. As their paths intertwine, they come to see that the way out for both is more complicated and harrowing than they ever imagined.

Hulu Releases First Look Images of Tyler Dean Flores’ Coming-of-Age Comedy “Miguel Wants to Fight”

Posted on July 19, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Tyler Dean Flores is a brawler…

Hulu has released first look photos of Miguel Wants to Fight, its coming-of-age comedy starring the Puerto Rican actor.

The film, the streamer’s eighth Original Film from American High, will premiere on the streaming platform on August 16.

Starring Flores, who rose to acclaimed after appearing in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the film has him playing high school junior Miguel, who despite living in a neighborhood where fighting is stitched into the fabric of everyday life, has never found himself in one. And, to be honest, he’s perfectly fine with that. But when a combination of events turn his life upside down, Miguel and his three best friends — the stoic David (Christian Vunipola), the rowdy Cass (Imani Lewis) and the quick-tongued Srini (Suraj Partha) — enter into a series of hilarious misadventures as he tries to get into his first ever fight.

Emmy winner Oz Rodriguez (SNL) directed from a script by Jason Concepcion and Shea Serrano of Amazon Freevee’s Primo.

Raúl Castillo, Dascha Polanco and Andrea Navedo round out the cast.

Luis Guzmán to Star in Rian Johnson’s Peacock Series “Poker Face”

Posted on September 7, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Luis Guzmán is playin’ poker…

The 66-year-old Puerto Rican actor will star in Peacock’s Poker Face, a mystery drama series starring Natasha Lyonne, hailing from Rian Johnson, his T-Street banner and MRC Television.

Guzman is among a roster of new cast additions that includes Cherry Jones, Hong Chau and Reed Birney.

Details of their roles, as well as plot details of the 10-episode anthology-like series are being kept under wraps.

In addition to Lyonne, the four join previously announced cast members Adrien Brody, Angel Desai, Audrey Corsa, Benjamin Bratt, Charles Melton, Chloe Sevigny, Clea DuVall, Danielle MacDonald, Dascha Polanco, Ellen Barkin, Jasmine Aiyana Garvin, Jameela Jamil, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Judith Light, Leslie Silva, Lil Rel Howery, Niall Cunningham, Nicholas Cirillo, Nick Nolte, Ron Perlman, S. Epatha Merkerson, Shane Paul McGhie, Simon Helberg, Stephanie Hsu, Tim Blake Nelson and Tim Meadows.

Johnson is the creator, writer and director of Poker Face and will also executive produce alongside T-Street partner Ram Bergman and the company’s television president Nena Rodrigue. Nora Zuckerman and Lilla Zuckerman (Prodigal Son, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D) serve as showrunners and executive producers. Lyonne also will serve as an executive producer via her Animal Pictures. The company’s Maya Rudolph and Danielle Renfrew Behrens will co-executive produce.

Guzmán is best known for his roles in Steven Soderbergh’s films such as Out of Sight, The Limey, and Traffic, and in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love.

On television, he has had key roles on Showtime’s Shameless, Epix’s Godfather of Harlem and Perpetual Grace, LTD.

HBO Max Releases First Trailer for “Gordita Chronicles,” Starring Olivia Goncalves

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Olivia Goncalves is heading back to the 80s…

HBO Max has released the first trailer for its coming-of-age series Gordita Chronicles, starring the Latina Hollywood newcomer.

The series, which is about family, opportunity, love, resilience and boldly defying the status quo in pursuit of the “American Dream,” will premiere on Thursday, June 23 on HBO Max.

Here’s the logline for the series from Sony Pictures Television and executive producers Eva Longoria and Zoe Saldana: The year is 1985 and Cucu “Gordita” Castelli (Goncalves) has just said goodbye to all of her friends and family in Santo Domingo. She has moved to Miami with her marketing-executive father Víctor (Juan Javier Cardenas), bold and vivacious mother Adela (Diana Maria Riva) and status-obsessed older sister Emilia (Savannah Nicole Ruiz). While life in America is far from what they imagined — “The song said ‘America the Beautiful,” Cucu says, “I think they oversold it” — the Castellis are determined to take charge of their strange new world. The coming-of-age series is about family, opportunity, love, resilience, and boldly defying the status quo in pursuit of the “American Dream.”

After immigrating from their home in the Dominican Republic, 12-year-old Cucu Castelli (Goncalves) and her eccentric family must discover and define their version of the “American Dream” in 1980s Miami. Cucu meets head-on the challenges of being an immigrant in a strange new world with humor, bravado and some really bad choices.

Noah Rico, Cosette Hauer and Dascha Polanco also star in the series, whose first episode was directed by Longoria. Patrick Fabian and Loni Love are guest stars.

Showrunner Brigitte Munoz-Liebowitz executive produces alongside writer Claudia Forestieri, Longoria, Saldana, Josh Berman, Jennifer Robinson, Chris King, Mariel Saldana and Cisely Saldana.

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.

Dascha Polanco to Star in the NBC pilot “Dangerous Moms,” Based on Spanish Series “Señoras del (h)AMPA”

Posted on June 14, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a dangerous time for Dascha Polanco…

The 38-year-old Dominican actress has been cast as a co-lead opposite Shanola Hampton in the NBC pilot Dangerous Moms, from Warner Bros. Television and Universal Television.

Written by Janine Sherman Barrois and based on the Spanish series Señoras del (h)AMPA, Dangerous Moms is an off-center dark dramedy about four diverse mothers — two of them played by Hampton and Polanco — who accidentally kill the queen bee of their school’s PTA during the demonstration of a new high-end food processor.

The story becomes a female anthem about friendship and family as it tells the story of one completely unprepared group of women who must juggle their everyday lives while their worlds are turned upside down.

Polanco will play Pia, the impeccable nemesis of Monique (Hampton). Pia is the No. 1 salesperson for the state-of-the-art TurboThunder3000 food processor and a popular mommy blogger. She also is the landlord of a few apartment buildings in the community, which she hopes to gentrify.

Barrois executive produces with Rachel Kaplan, Intrigue Entertainment’s Tariq Jalil and Lucas Carter as well as Arantxa Écija from Mediaset España Comunicación and Santi Botello from Producciones Mandarina SL, who produced the original series.

Polanco, currently co-starring in Warner Bros.’ In the Heights, is best known for her work on Orange Is the New Black, for which she shared in three comedy ensemble SAG Awards.

She’s set to star in the upcoming MGM superhero thriller film Samaritan, opposite Sylvester Stallone, and will make her leading film role debut in Adrian Martinez’s indie dark comedy iGilbert.

Warner Bros. to Release Anthony Ramos’ “In The Heights” on June 11

Posted on March 20, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Anthony Ramos’ moment in the heights to happen a week earlier…

Warner Bros.’ has announced plans to release the Jon M. Chu-directed feature musical In The Heights, starring the 29-year-old Puerto Rican actor/singer on June 11, a week earlier than previously scheduled.

The movie, the feature adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’ Tony Award-winning musical, recently dropped a new trailer.

In the Heights is set in the titular Latinx community of New York City’s bustling Washington Heights. When the neighborhood’s charismatic local bodega owner, and the film’s humble narrator, finally decides to fulfill his dream of going to the island his parents called home, his departure will change his beloved block forever.

In the Heights stars Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Olga Merediz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Gregory Diaz IV, Stephanie Beatriz, Dascha Polanco and icon Jimmy Smits.

The film was originally scheduled to be released last summer before COVID-19 pushed it to this year.

Dascha Polanco to Star in Fox’s Forensic Genealogy-Themed Crime Drama Pilot “Blood Relative”

Posted on July 11, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

It’s all relative for Dascha Polanco…

The 37-year-old Dominican actress will star opposite Tate Donovan and Melissa Leo in the Fox pilot Blood Relative.

The forensic genealogy-themed crime drama hails from writer-producer Chris Levinson and producer Liza Chasin.

Blood Relative is based on James Renner’s 2018 article “Beyond the Jungle of Bad: The True Story of Two Women from California Who Are Solving All the Mysteries,” about Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick and Dr. Margaret Press, who combined their genealogy expertise to push the boundaries of forensic science and helped law enforcement identify Joe and Jane Does and track down serial killers.

Written by Levinson and Renner and to be directed by Phillip Noyce, Blood Relativecenters on genetic genealogy, the best new tool in crime scene forensics, and nobody knows it like Louise Kelly (Leo). Too bad she’s impossible to deal with.

Polanco will play Maria Alvarez, a woman making lemonade out of lemons. She and her hearing-impaired 8-year-old son Sam live with her home psychic mother while Maria goes to night school to get her Ph.D. in psychology (she will eventually go to work at the same Parish Precinct as John (Donovan). Maria’s reason for wanting to work with cops? She’s spent her entire life in their world. Twenty years ago, her father Diego was convicted of murder. Maria is stunned to learn that the police have discovered the body of Gary Northrup – the very man her father is accused of killing. Lou’s DNA genius might prove her father’s innocence. Maria’s life will be changed by this new science and this oh so unique woman. She’ll also prove to be one of the only people alive who speaks “Lou,” making her an invaluable asset.

Paramount Television Studios and Anonymous Content co-produce with Fox Entertainment.

Polanco rose to acclaim as Dayanara Diaz on all seven seasons of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black. She’ll next co-star in Lin Manuel-Miranda’s In the Heights and as the female lead alongside Sylvester Stallone in Samaritan.

Polanco’s other credits include Netflix’s When They See Us, The Irishman and FX’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.

Polanco was high on Fox’s wish list of talent for pilots this season. Her deal for Blood Relativewas in negotiations when pilot season ground to a halt in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Dascha Polanco to Star in the Superhero Thriller “Samaritan”

Posted on February 9, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Dascha Polanco is a good Samaritan…

The 37-year-old Dominican actress is set to star in MGM’s superhero thriller movie Samaritan.

Polanco joins a cast that includes Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton, Sylvester Stallone, Martin Starr, Pilou Asbækand Moises Arias.

Walton will play a young boy who’s out to discover if a mythic superhero, who vanished 20 years earlier following a tragic event, is still alive.

Julius Avery is directing from a screenplay by Bragi F. Schut, with additional writing by Mark L. Smith, Zak Penn, and Chuck MacLean.

The story is based on Schut’s original idea.

The film is scheduled for release on December 11 via United Artists Releasingwith Universal handling foreign.

Polanco portrayed Dayanara Diaz on Netflix’s Orange is the New Blackfor seven-seasons and starred in Ava DuVernay’s 2019 Netflix limited series When They See Us. She’ll soon be seen in her first lead film role in Adrian Martinez’s indie dark comedy iCreep, and Warner Brothers’ adaption of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heightsthis summer. Her additional credits include the FXanthology series The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Storyand films including Joy, The Perfect Match, The Cobblerand Gimme Shelter.

Arias first made a name for himself as series regular on the Disney Channel hit original series Hannah Montana, and has since gone on to appear in several Sundance films including Kings of Summer, The Land and Stanford Prison Experiment. Last year, he appeared in CBS Films’ Five Feet Apart as well as the Sundance World Dramatic Competition Special Jury Award winner Monos and the SXSW opening weekend film The Wall of Mexico.

Daddy Yankee Leads Team World to Victory at MLB’s Annual Celebrity Softball Game

Posted on July 8, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Daddy Yankee is always ready to play ball…

The 42-year-old Puerto Rican rap superstar joined several celebrities over the weekend at Cleveland’s Progressive Fieldfor Major League Baseball’s annual celebrity softball game.

This year’s roster was divided into two celebrity teams:Team Cleveland, which included Drew Carey, Machine Gun Kelly, Quavo, and Hall of Famer Jim Thome; and Team World, including Daddy Yankee, Anuel AA, Jamie Foxx, and Dascha Polanco.

Yankee, who aspired to become a professional baseball player before becoming one of the pioneers of reggaeton,played third base and was pitcher during Sunday’s game, his publicist Mayna Nevareztold Billboard.

In true Daddy Yankee fashion, his global hit “Con Calma” blasted throughout the field when it was his turn to bat.

A true baseball aficionado, Daddy Yankee owns a softball team in Puerto Rico called “El Cartel Softball,” which focuses on doing charitable games.

On Instagram, Latin trap sensation Anuel AA shared a photo of him and Daddy Yankee in the locker room. “Smile at life because it’s only one!!!!” he expressed before Team World ultimately won the game with a final score of 21-16.

Hispanically Yours

Celebrating the Latino Influence

Tag Archives: Dascha Polanco