Ana Villafañe is ready to make history…
The 28-year-old Cuban and Salvadoran-American actress/singer, the star of the Gloria Estefan Broadway musical On Your Feet!, will star as the female lead in CBS’ comedy project History of Them.
From One Day at a Time co-creator/executive producer Gloria Calderon Kellett. the semi-autobiographical project is a multi-cultural (Latinx & white) romantic comedy about how two friends, Luna (Villafañe) and Adam, fell in love, narrated by their future daughter, using the couple’s social media from present-day (Instagram/Twitter/Facebook) as a guide.
Villafañe’s smart and spunky Luna runs a successful Latinx food truck business with her parents. Despite this, she struggles with what she wants and doesn’t feel like a fully-fledged grown up yet. She wants to find love and figure out who she is separate from her very tight-knit family, and her journey will be full of bumps and bruises as she navigates the rest of her twenties.
Director Pam Fryman, who helmed several episodes of Netflix’s One Day at a Time reboot, including the key opening one, has come on board as director/executive producer.
History of Them, from Sony Pictures Television Studios and CBS Television Studios, landed at CBS in August in a very competitive situation with a big pilot production commitment. While it hasn’t been formally picked up to pilot yet, attaching Villafañe and Fryman, combined with the size of the commitment, a green light is expected.
Kellett executive produces via her Glo Nation banner alongside Marc Provissiero of Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment and Fryman.
Villafañe made her Broadway debut as Gloria Estefan in the hit musical On Your Feet!, earning the 2016 Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut Performance. On the screen, she played the female lead in Max Steel and starred in the Hulu original series South Beach. Her other credits include Los Americans, Rizzoli & Isles and Mozart in the Jungle.
History Of Them marks Kellett’s return to CBS and to the hybrid comedy format. She began her writing career as a staff writer on the network’s hybrid comedy series How I Met Your Mother, which was executive produced and directed by Fryman.