The 51-year-old Panamanian-American dancer, singer-songwriter nand actress, who most recently starred on the CW’s short-lived series Katy Keene, has signed with Stewart Talent.
Rubin-Vega can next be seen in the upcoming Warner Bros. feature In the Heights for director Jon Chu, playing ‘Daniela.’ She also just wrapped the Netflix series Social Distance, produced by Jenji Kohan and Tara Herman.
She previously recurred on the Netflix series Tales of the City.
A staple of the New York theatre community, Rubin-Vega earned a TonyAward nomination for her portrayal of ‘Mimi’ in the original cast of Rent, and another for Anna in the Tropics.
Rubin-Vega recently starred in Miss You Like Hellat The Public Theatre, and in the one-woman show Empanada Loca, which was written for her. She went on to help adapt the play into the scripted podcast The Horror of Dolores Roach, and is currently developing it into a series for Blumhouse Television.
The 61-year-old Cuban actor and comedian has been cast in Netflix’s upcoming quarantine anthology series Social Distance.
Hailing from Orange is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan, the series will also star Scandal’s Guillermo Diaz, Love Victor’s Isabella Ferreira, Katy Keene & In The Heights star Daphne Rubin-Vega, Danielle Brooks, Mike ColterAsante Blackk, Peter Scanavino, Lachlan Watson, Max Jenkins and Marsha Stephanie Blake.
Set in the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Social Distance is an eight-part anthology series that showcases the power of the human spirit in the face of uncertainty and isolation. Each standalone episode is told through a virtual lens and captures the unique emotional experience of being forced apart by circumstance and having no choice but to communicate remotely and rely on technology to maintain any sense of connection. Through these varied and deeply human stories, Social Distance aims to provide some much-needed catharsis during a tumultuous time while also capturing a snapshot of this singular moment in history.
The project was conceived, cast and executed entirely remotely during quarantine. The writers never met during the writing process, Diego Velasco directs talent remotely, Hilary Weisman Graham runs production from her living room and the cast acts and films themselves from home. Some of the actors’ real-life relatives also guest star in the series.
“Many of these stories required casting actors who were quarantined with other actors. That hurdle seriously hindered our options and so casting non-actors was sometimes essential,” said Weisman Graham on the decision to cast actors’ family members. “It was definitely a roll of the dice, but thankfully, we were thrilled to discover that talent really does breed talent. These family members may not have had aspirations to be in front of the camera when we first started, but they should all quit their day jobs immediately.”
Weisman Graham, who also serves as showrunner, executive produces with Tara Herrmann, Blake McCormick and Kohan. Velasco, who directed an episode of Orange Is the New Black and is working with Kohan on her upcoming series Teenage Bounty Huntersis directing and will co-executive produce.
Social Distance cast members include (in no particular episodic order):
Danielle Brooks with real-life mother LaRita Brooks and brother DJ Brooks; Marsha Stephanie Blake with real-life daughter Rocco Luna; Misha Brooks; Isabella Ferreira; Oscar Nunez; Daphne Rubin-Vega with real-life husband Tom Costanzo and son Luca Costanzo; Guillermo Diaz; Miguel Sandoval; Camila Perez; Olli Haaskivi; Giana Aragon; Mike Colter; Okieriete Onaodowan; real-life spouses Heather Burns and Ajay; Shakira Barrera; Steven Weber with real-life son Jack Hohnen-Weber; Helena Howard; Asante Blackk with real-life father Ayize Ma’at; Lovie Simone;
Max Jenkins; Brian Jordan Alvarez; Peter Vack; Rana Roy; Peter Scanavino with real-life son Leo Bai-Scanavino; Ali Ahn; Tami Sagher; Barbara Rosenblat; Michael Mulheren; real-life spouses Becky Ann Baker and Dylan Baker; Sunita Mani; real-life spouses Raymond Anthony Thomas and Marcia Debonis; Kylie Liya Page; Lachlan Watson; David Iacono; Will Meyers; Niles Fitch;and Ava Demary.
Nuñez is best known for starring on NBC’sThe Office.
Starring Denis Leary and Elizabeth Perkins, the show is based on Australian series A Moody Christmas. It started as a holiday event comedy series with the first installment airing during the holiday season last year.
The second season, targeted for the 2020-21 season will not be holiday-themed, with a bigger order size than the six-episode original limited run. It’s believed to be a 6 to 13-episode season.
“With The Moodys, we set out to brand the holidays in the only way Fox can – bold and unconventional. What we ended up with was a special show – and a family – everyone at the network fell in love with,” said Michael Thorn, president, Entertainment, Fox Entertainment.
Written by Bob Fisher, Rob Greenberg and Tad Quill,The Moodys follows the tight-knit, but slightly dysfunctional, Moody family through their misadventures.
“Bob Fisher, Rob Greenberg and Tad Quill perfectly captured the hysterics of Christmas, with sharp banter and real moments of family togetherness brought to life by Denis Leary, Elizabeth Perkins and the rest of the incredible cast,” Thorn added. “Eric and Kim Tannenbaum and CBS Television Studios have been great partners on this series; and, simply put, we’re looking forward to The Moodys’ future adventures.”
The Moodys is co-produced by CBS Television Studios and Fox Entertainment.
The first installment of The Moodysfollowed Dan Moody as he returns home to spend Christmas with his dysfunctional family. When he arrives, he’s met with the inevitable madness of a family whose members are all hiding things from each other.
The Moodys family includes Sean Sr. (Leary), his wife, Ann (Perkins), and their three grown children – Dan (Francois Arnaud, the youngest of the siblings and the “creative one”; Bridget (Chelsea Frei), the middle sister and the “overachiever”; and Sean Jr. (Jay Baruchel), the oldest sibling and “screw-up,” still living at home with his parents. The Moodys also features María Gabriela de Faría, Segarra, Kevin Bigley and Gerry Dee.
Segarra’s previous credits include Orange is the New Black, Sirens, AJ and the Queen and Katy Keene.
Daphne Rubin-Vega has landed the mother of a role…
The 49-year-old Panamanian actress, singer and dancerwill appear in a major recurring role on the CW’s upcoming Riverdale off-shoot Katy Keene.
Rubin-Vega, the original Mimi in both the Off Broadway and Broadway landmark productions of Rentand coming off the Lin Manuel/Warner Bros. feature In The Heights, will play Luisa, the mother of a central character, Katy’s roomie Jorge/Ginger. She’s described as adoting mother, a former Rockette and now owner, with her husband Luis, of a bodega in Washington Heights. She supports her son Jorge’s ambitions to make it on Broadway, but doesn’t know about his drag alter ego, Ginger.
The Jorge/Ginger character, played by Jonny Beauchamp, is a central figure on the series and one of at least two characters expected to perform musical numbers on every episode.
In the Katy Keeneseries pilot, recently screened at the Tribeca TV Festival, Jorge is a Broadway hopeful by day and, as Ginger, a drag performer by night. When his Broadway dreams begin to fizzle – he is, he says, “too gay for Broadway” – he’s encouraged by Katy to make the audition rounds not as Jorge but as Ginger.
Katy Keeneis expected to debut during the CW’s winter/spring 2020 midseason.
Rubin-Vega was Tony-nominated in 1996 for originating on Broadway the lead female role of Mimi in Jonathan Larson’s Rent, which she’d debuted earlier that year Off Broadway to great acclaim. The actress received another Tony nomination in 2004 as featured actress in a play for Anna In The Tropics.
Her more recent credits include Broadway’s A Streetcar Named Desire opposite Blair Underwood, NBC’s Smash and Netflix’s Tales Of The City. Ruben-Vega was among the original Rentperformers who made an end-of-show appearance on Fox’s Rent: Live last January.
The 44-year-old Nicaraguan-American playwright, screenwriter, and comic book writer who is currently the Chief Creative Officer of Archie Comics and the key creative force behind Warner Bros. Television’s growing Archie comics-based TV universe, has signed a massive new multi-year overall deal with the studio.
No details are being disclosed but the pact is said to be for five years, and it’s in the high eight figures.
Under the agreement, Aguirre-Sacasa will develop, write, and produce new series through his banner, Muckle Man Productions, while also continuing as executive producer/showrunner on WBTV series Riverdaleand The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,as well as pilot Katy Keene, co-developed with Michael Grassi.
Shortly after he was named Chief Creative Officer of Archie Comics in 2014, Aguirre-Sacasa teamed with WBTV-based Berlanti Prods. to bring the Archie characters to television. He is the developer/executive producer behind Riverdale, which has been a major hit for the CWand Netflix, and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which quickly established itself as a breakout for Netflix, and the co-developer/executive producer on the Riverdale spinoff pilot Katy Keene, which has been garnering solid early buzz at the CW.
Before becoming Archie Comics COO, Aguirre-Sacasa wrote two of the company’s best-selling horror series: Afterlife With Archie and Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina. He previously worked for Marvel Comics, scripting the adventures of Spider-Man, Nightcrawler, and the Fantastic Four.
Aguirre-Sacasa’s TV series writing-producing credits include Fox’s Glee, HBO’s Looking and Big Love, as well as a stint on WBTV/Berlanti Prods.’ Supergirl.
Aguirre-Sacasa is an accomplished screenwriter and playwright. He penned the feature remakes of Carrie and The Town That Dreaded Sundown, as well as the musical adaptation of American Psycho, which had runs in London and on Broadway.
Aguirre-Sacasa was part of the team that was brought in to overhaul Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark. This summer, Pasadena Playhouse will produce his prep school thriller, Good Boys and True, and he wrote the book to the Broadway-bound Magic Mike the musical, with Brian Yorkey (lyrics) and Tom Kitt(music).
