The 44-year-old Mexican American stand-up comedian and actor will be bringing the laughs to Netflix with his first original comedy special Felipe Esparza: Bad Decisions.
And, the bilingual special will go by the title: Felipe Esparza: Malas Decisiones in Spanish.
Esparza’s specials will be released globally on Tuesday, September 1.
Filmed in Santa Ana, California as two separate performances — one in English and one in Spanish — the specials showcase Esparza’s edgy style of humor as the perfect vehicle to weave through difficult anecdotes of his childhood and mistakes in his adult life with ease.
Bad Decisions/Malas Decisiones mark the first time a Netflix comedian has recorded a stand up special in two languages that are set to be released simultaneously.
The comedian won Last Comic Standing in 2010. Prior to Bad Decisions/Malas Decisiones, Esparza had two comedy specials including They’re Not Gonna Laugh At You(2012) on Showtime and Translate This (2017) on HBO.
He can be seen in the upcoming Steve Byrne comedy feature The Opening Act, as well as the feature 7th & Union. His television credits include NBC’s Superstoreand the Netflix series Gentefied. He’s also the host of the podcast What’s Up Fool, where he talks to random people he finds interesting.
Netflix has picked up an eight-episode second season of its half-hour Latinx dramedy Gentefied, starring the 39-year-old Puerto Rican actor.
The series hails from Marvin Lemus and Linda Yvette Chávez, the duo behind the Sundance Film Festival darlingGente-fied: The Digital Series, and Macro.
In celebration of the renewal, Gentefied‘s cast and creators will reunite for a live virtual table read, hosted by George Lopez, on Wednesday, May 20 on Netflix is a Joke YouTube channel. They’ll be raising awareness for Proyecto Pastoral, a nonprofit in Boyle Heights that is addressing the impacts of COVID-19 on the low-income families and residents they serve in the Boyle Heights community.
Created by Chicano first-gen writers Lemus and Chávez, Gentefied is a half-hour dramatic comedy adapted from the 2017 Sundance digital series of the same name. Described as a badass bilingual series about family, community, brown love, and the displacement that disrupts it all, Gentefied follows three Mexican-American cousins who struggle to chase the American Dream, even while that same dream threatens the things they hold most dear: their neighborhood, their immigrant grandfather, and the family taco shop. Set in a rapidly changing Los Angeles, the Spanglish dramedy navigates important themes like identity, class, and balancing insta-fame with translating memes for their parents. But most importantly, Gentefied settles once and for all how to pronounce Latinx.
In addition o Santos, who portrays aspiring chef Chris Morales, the series also stars Karrie Martin, JJ Soria and Joaquín Cosio.
Lemus and Chávez executive produce with Charles D. King of Macro, America Ferrera of Take Fountain, Teri Weinberg of Yellow Brick Road, Kim Roth and Aaliyah Williams.
Netflix has scheduled the launch of Gentefied, its 10-episode Latinx dramedy starring the 33-year-old Mexican American actor, for February 21.
The project hails from Marvin Lemusand Linda Yvette Chávez— the duo behind Gente-fied: The Digital Series, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festivalin 2017 — and Macro.
Described as a badass Spanglish series about family, community, brown love and the displacement that disrupts it all, Gentefied follows three Mexican-American cousins and their struggle to chase the American Dream, even while that same dream threatens the things they hold most dear: their neighborhood, their immigrant grandfather and the family taco shop. Set in a rapidly changing Los Angeles, the series will navigate important themes such as identity, class and balancing insta-fame with translating memes for their parents. And it will settle once and for all how to pronounce Latinx, Netflix notes.
In addition to Soria, the series also stars Joaquín Cosío, Karrie Martin and Carlos Santos.
Executive Producer America Ferrera and Wilmer Valderrama are confirmed to guest star. Ferrera directed two episodes along with co-creator Lemus, Marta Cunningham, Aurora Guerrero and Andrew Ahn.
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.
Netflix has given the green light to Gentefied, a half-hour bilingual dramedy executive produced by the 34-year-old Honduran American actress and former Ugly Betty star.
The project hails from Marvin Lemus and Linda Yvette Chávez, the creators of Gente-fied: The Digital Series, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festivalin 2017.
Ferrera is executive-producing alongside Teri Weinbergvia their production company. Netflix is the studio.
Described as a badass Spanglish series about family, community, brown love and the displacement that disrupts it all, Gentefied follows three Mexican-American cousins and their struggle to chase the American Dream, even while that same dream threatens the things they hold most dear: their neighborhood, their immigrant grandfather and the family taco shop. Set in a rapidly changing Los Angeles, the series will navigate important themes such as identity, class and balancing insta-fame with translating memes for their parents. And it will settle once and for all how to pronounce Latinx, Netflix notes.
Co-creators Lemus and Chávez will write and co-exec produce the 10-episode series, with Lemus also directing.
Lemus and Chávez call Gentefied a love letter to the Latinx and Boyle Heightscommunities and hope the series will let their little cousins rocking Adidas, hoops and big dreams see themselves on the big screen in ways they themselves only dreamed of growing up.
