The 39-year-old part-Cuban American reality television personality, actor and activist is set to appear in the Freeform’s Valentine’s Day-themed road-trip movie The Thing About Harry.
Jake Borelli and newcomer Niko Terho lead the cast, with Brown, Britt Baron and the film’s director Peter Paige also starring in the romantic comedy.
Production on the movie underway in Chicago for a February premiere.
Borelli will play Sam, a handsome, funny, neurotic, intelligent young gay man who combines a scathing wit with an overly idealistic worldview. Sam came out when he was still in high school, something that took a lot of courage in his small Missouri town, but was bullied constantly. Terho will portray Harry, an emotionally uncomplicated, promiscuous player who has always left a string of broken hearts in his wake. Under the surface, Harry actually yearns for love, family and stability, but the thought of commitment still terrifies him.
Karamo will play Paul, an exceedingly well put-together yet overbearing and pretentious gay man.
“It’s been an honor to partner with Freeform in making great television with LGBTQ+characters as leads,” The Thing About Harry executive producers Paige, Greg Gugliottaand F.J. Dennyin a statement. “True equality can only be achieved when you see yourself reflected in the movies, music and stories that paint our culture. “As young gay men in the ’90s, whenever a rom-com opened, we would watch the leading lady fall in love and imagine what it would be like if the boy was saying all those things to another boy. We’ve always wanted to make a movie — an unabashedly romantic comedy — that queer boys wouldn’t have to translate. It’s rewarding to take the genre to a new, all-inclusive level.”
Brown, who appeared in 2004’s MTV reality show The Real World: Philadelphia, currently appears as the culture expert on the Emmy-winning Netflix series Queer Eye.
The 30-year-old Cuban-American actor has landed a recurring role on the upcoming third season of Grown-ish, Freeform’s popular comedy spinoff from ABC’s Black-ish.
Grown-ishis a contemporary take on the issues that students face in the world of higher education, and follows Zoey (Yara Shahidi) and her friends as they return to CalU with confidence and swagger. Learning from the ups and downs of their freshman year, they all think they’ve got their second year on lock, but quickly realize that they’re not as grown as they think.
The cast also includes Luka Sabbat, Trevor Jackson, Francia Raisa, Emily Arlook, Jordan Buhat, Chloe Bailey, Halle Bailey, Deon Cole, and recently upped-to-series-regular Diggy Simmons.
Esteve will play Javier, a gorgeous grad student whom Ana (Raisa) interns with at Cal U. A well-educated Cuban Republican activist, Javi is able to cross party lines with his unwavering morals and his James Deanmystique. Despite having everything in common on paper, Ana will find that Javi challenges her in a way she never expected — both in the workplace and out.
Esteve had a recurring role on Amazon’s Homecomingand most recently appeared on the Syfy pilot(Future) Cult Classic. Hit other credits include appearances on Revengeand NCIS.
Season 3 of Grown-ish premieres at 8:00 pm ET Thursday, January 16, on Disney-owned Freeform.
Freeform has set a January date for the midseason return of Good Trouble, starring the 24-year-old Latina actress & singer.
Season 2B of The Fostersspinoff begins at 10:00 pm on Wednesday, January 15
As the series returns, the Coterie residents are dealing with the consequences of their personal and professional decisions and realize that sometimes standing up for what you believe in comes at a price. The season picks up with Callie and Mariana’s relationship on the rocks after Callie has decided to move in with Jamie and leave the “Coterie Biatches” behind. Alice finds herself balancing her stand-up career with her love life, Davia learns the education system may be broken, Mariana navigates a new world at work, Malika faces legal consequences from her protesting, Dennis finds a new outlet to manage his depression and Gael’s creative spark is reignited.
In addition to Ramirez, who portrays Mariana Adams-Foster, Good Trouble also stars Maia Mitchell, Sherry Cola, Tommy Martinez, Zuri Adele, Emma Hunton andJosh Pence.
Francia Raisa is heading back to college next semester…
Freeform has set a January premiere date for the new season of Grown-ish, which features the 31-year-old Mexican and Honduran American actress in the ensemble cast.
The Season 3 premiere of the Black-ish spinoff will serve as the lead-in for the network’s new comedy Everything’s Gonna Be Okayat 8:00 pm on Thursday, January 16.
The gang returns as confident, eager and seasoned upper-classmen, with Zoey and her girls (… and Vivek) moving into an off-campus home, ready to take on the school year. They quickly realize that they have been mistaken about the disillusionment of adulthood, with real-life problems coming for them, including student loans, work/ life balance and, of course, messy breakups. Plus, the season premiere picks up with some of the crew having to deal with the repercussions of their big mistakes before summer break.
From ABC Signature Studios,Grown-ishstars Yara Shahidi, Trevor Jackson, Raisa, Emily Arlook, Jordan Buhat, Chloe Bailey, Halle Bailey,Luka Sabbatand Diggy Simmons.
The series will continue to explore important topics including college athletics, cultural appropriation, toxic masculinity, anxiety, burnout and more.
The 22-year-old half-Cuban American actress/singer has signed on to direct her first feature film, an elevated thriller written by Zander Coté, the plot of which is being kept under wraps.
Thorne will also take on a supporting role in the film, which will begin shooting this coming summer.
“We are thrilled to partner with Bella on her feature directing debut,” says Bernon, “She’s about to leave an indelible mark on the genre, and we can’t wait for audiences to discover her bold vision.”
Thorne is also a best-selling author, director, philanthropist musician and entrepreneur. She entered the entertainment business at six months of age and at 21 has built an empire that stretches from acting to various entrepreneurial ventures and philanthropic endeavors.
Her unapologetic authenticity and ability to be raw with her fans has generated a loyal and diehard following on her social media pages, which consists of 21.5M on Instagram, 6.9M on Twitter, 529k subscribers on YouTube.
Thorne’s feature credits include Netflix’s The Babysitterfranchise, Blended, Stuck on You, The DUFF, Midnight Sunand the Sundance AGBO Studiosfeature Assassination Nation.
Her television credits include Disney Channel’s Shake It Up, HBO’s Big Love, ABC’s Dirty Sexy Money and Freeform’s Famous in Love.
Her first foray into directed came in an unusual way… Thorne directed PornHub’s Visionaries Director’s Serieswith the short Her & Him.
The 26-year-old Colombian and Cuban American actor has landed a recurring role on the upcoming eighth season of NBC’s Chicago Fire.
Rosende will portray Blake Gallo, a young firefighter who loves his job and joins Firehouse 51 as the Chicago Fire Department expands the number of firefighters on second shift. Casey (Jesse Spencer), Herrmann (David Eigenberg) and Severide (Taylor Kinney) — impressed with Gallo’s relentless energy — take him under their wings.
From executive producer Dick Wolf and co-creator Derek Haas, Chicago Fire looks into the lives of the firefighters, rescue squad and paramedics of Chicago Firehouse 51 who risk their lives week in and week out to save and protect the citizens of their city.
In addition to Spencer, Eigenberg and Kinney, the cast includes Eamonn Walker, Kara Kilmer, Miranda Rae Mayo, Annie Ilonzeh, Christina Stolte, Joe Minoso and Yuri Sardarov.
Rosende is best known for his starring role as Simon Lewis on Shadowhunters, which aired for three seasons on Freeform. He’s currently the face of Old Spice’s new ad campaign entitled “Never Let a Friend Lose His Swagger.”
Chicago Fire‘s Season 8 premieres on September 25 on NBC.
The 26-year-old Colombian American actress and singer and Descendants star is set to star in Feel the Beat, a Netflix dance film being directed by Elissa Down.
The plot follows April (Carson), who, after failing to find success on Broadway, returns to her small hometown and reluctantly is recruited to train a misfit group of young dancers for a big competition.
In addition to Carson, the ensemble family film will also star Wolfgang Novogratz, Donna Lynne Champlin, Enrico Colantoni, Lidya Jewett, Eva Hauge, Johanna Colón, Sadie Lapidus, Shiloh Nelson, Shaylee Mansfield, Justin Allan, Kai Zen, Carina Battrick, Brandon Kyle Goodman, Ken Pak, Dennis Andresand Amy Stewart.
Emmy-winning choreographer and former So You Think You Can Dance judge Mia Michaels is choreographing the film, which was written by Michael Armbruster and Shawn Ku.
Filming is underway in Toronto.
Carson soon will be seen reprising her role as Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen from Snow White, in Descendants 3, which will premiere in August.
Her other credits include appearances on Freeform’s Pretty Little Liars spinoff PLL: The Perfectionists, Famous in Love, and Adventures in Babysitting.
The 32-year-old Mexican-American actor has been cast in the 10-episode half-hour Latinx dramedy Gentefied.
Soria joins a main cast that includes Karrie Martin, Carlos Santos and Joaquín Cosio.
The project hails from Gente-fied: The Digital Series creators Marvin Lemusand Linda Yvette Chávez, showrunner Monica Macer, America Ferrera, Teri Weinbergand Macro.
Written by Lemus and Chávez, Gentefied is adapted from the web series which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.
Described as a badass bilingual series about family, community, brown love, and the displacement that disrupts it all, Gentefiedis about three Mexican-American cousins (Martin, Soria, Santos) who struggle to chase the American Dream, even while that same dream threatens the things they hold most dear: their neighborhood, their immigrant grandfather (Cosio), and the family taco shop. Set in a rapidly changing Los Angeles, the Spanglish dramedy will navigate important themes like identity, class, and balancing insta-fame with translating memes for their parents. But most importantly,Gentefiedwill settle once and for all how to pronounce Latinx.
Martin will play Ana Morales, a sarcastic, woke, blunt, and endearing, queer artist. Ana is a Chicana who leads with her heart and fights for her art with untethered conviction. She loves her abuelo and her entire family almost to a fault.
Soria will portray Erik, a wisecracking, well-read, charismatic, but tough homie with a heart of gold. He’s a high school dropout, but there isn’t a book in the local library Erik hasn’t read. He’s a reluctant dreamer trying to find his way back to himself. But his loyalty to his grandfather who took him in keeps him from putting time into himself or Lidia, the love of his life.
Santos is Chris, the prodigal grandson, a fun-loving, know-it-all, chef-in-training. Chris is a homegrown Boyle Heights boy who moved to Idaho at a young age and was abruptly introduced to Weezer and cow-tipping. His cousins call him guero for acting and looking like a white boy, which always leaves him wondering if he’ll ever be Mexican enough for anyone.
Cosio is Pop, a hard-working, stoic, but warm, old-fashioned ranchero and the rock of the Morales family. Though gruff with his Tejanaand potty-mouth (“cabron” is his favorite word!), Pop has a huge heart, but that also means a lot of heartache trying to protect them.
“We are thrilled to have gathered a lead cast that captures the unique nuance of the chisme, chistes, and chingaderas that we grew up with in our multi-generational, bilingual, immigrant families,” said Lemus and Chavez. “Joaquin, JJ, Carlos, and Karrie are the abuelo, primos, y prima we shot the shit with as kids, the cousins we partied with, and the grandpa we cried with. They are the Morales family and we can’t wait for everyone to start sending them invites to the carne asada!”
Lemus directs the Netflix production.
A love letter to the Latinx and Boyle Heights communities, creators Lemus and Chavez hope Gentefiedwill let their little cousins rocking Adidas, hoops, and big dreams see themselves on the big screen in ways they only dreamed of growing up.
Martin has co-starred on shows like Pretty Little Liars, The Arrangement, The Purgeand will soon be appearing in David Ayer’s film The Tax Collector.
Soria most recently appeared in the series regular role of Pete Ramos on Crackle series The Oath, and has recurred on TNT’s Animal Kingdom and Freeform’s The Fosters. On the film side, Soria can next be seen in the indie John Henry alongside Terry Crews.
CBS Diversity Showcase alum Santos has appeared on CBS’ 2 Broke Girls, truTV’s Adam Ruins Everything and Seeso’s Bajillion Dollar Properties. He also was the lead in the 2013 Slamdance comedy horror feature Ghost Team One and guest-starred on Fox’s The Last Man on Earth.
Cosio’s credits include the role of Angel de Plata on FX’s The Strain and Don Neto in Narcos: Mexico.He’s returning for Season 2 of Narcos: Mexicoand will be seen in a starring role in Amazon’s new series CDMX.On the film side, he’ll next be seen in Emilio Portes’ horror thriller Beelzebuth,as well as the sequel to Matando Cabos, where he’ll return to portray the title character.
Freeform has announced the midseason return of Grown-ish, starring the 30-year-old Mexican and Honduran American actress.
Grown-ish, a spinoff of Freeform corporate sibling ABC’s Black-ish, will kick off the second half of its Season 2 at 8:00 pm on Wednesday, June 5.
After the cliffhanger spring finale, Zoey (Yara Shahidi) and her friends find themselves at dramatic crossroads in their relationships, academics and adulthood. Topics explored in the new episodes will include cultural appropriation, mental health, academic scandal and more.
In addition to Raisa and Shahidi, the cast also includes Trevor Jackson, Emily Arlook, Jordan Buhat, Chloe Bailey,Halle Bailey, Luka Sabbat, Deon Coleand newly promoted series regular Diggy Simmons.
The 22-year-old part-Latin American actor, who who gained acclaim for his roles in Netflix’s film To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Freeform’s The Fosters, is in talks to take on the lead role of He-Man in Masters of the Universe, the film adaptation Mattel Films is developing with Sony Pictures.
It’s based on the best-selling toy line from the 1980s that spawned an animated TV show and a 1987 feature with Dolph Lundgrenas He-Man.
Adamand Aaron Neeare attached to direct the film and are writing the script with Art Marcumand Matt Holloway.
He-Man is a muscular medieval kind of guy who is trying to ward off the nasty Skeletor and his dark armies as both good and evil fight for control of Castle Grayskull.
Currently, Masters of the Universe is slated for a December 20 release.
Centineo recently began production on Netflix’s TATBILBsequel and is set to appear later this year in Sony’s Charlie’s Angels reboot.
