Juliana Aidén Martinez Joins Cast of NBC‘s “Law & Order: SVU”

Juliana Aidén Martinez is ready to take a bite out of crime…

The Colombian American actress has joined the cast of NBC‘s Law & Order: SVU  as a new detective.

Juliana Aidén MartinezThe new season begins on October 3 at 9:00 pm ET/PT on NBC and next day on Peacock.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit follows detectives from the Special Victims Unit as they investigate and prosecute sexually based crimes. Some episodes are loosely based on real crimes that have been ripped from the headlines.

The fight for justice never ends as Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and her squad provide a tireless voice for the voiceless. Benson’s compassion for victims and pledge to protect the innocent stand as a beacon of hope for all.

Law & Order: SVU also stars Ice T, Peter Scanavino and Octacio Pisano, among others.

Dick Wolf is creator and executive producer of Law & Order: SVU.

The series is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group and Wolf Entertainment.

Martinez is best known for her breakout role in Netflix’s Emmy-nominated Griselda, opposite Sofia Vergara.

She previously starred in the independent 2022 thriller Boundary, directed by Anthony Faust.

Her other credits include 9-1-1, The Blacklist and Prodigal Son.

During her time at the Yale Drama School, Martinez was selected for Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Mentorship Lab.

Maurice Compte Signs with Zero Gravity Management for Representation

Maurice Compte has zeroed in on new representation…

Zero Gravity Management has signed the Cuban-American actor-producer.

Maurice CompteCompte is best known for portraying Pablo Escobar’s nemesis, Colonel Horacio Carillo, in the first two seasons of Netflix’s Narcos.

His other major credits include his villainous turn opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña in David Ayer’s police actioner End of Watch, and the STXfilms crime drama, Den of Thieves, in which he appeared alongside Gerard Butler.

Compte currently appears as Detective Mike Duarte on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and has also been seen on such notable series as Mayans M.C.Breaking Bad, Power and From Dusk Till Dawn, among others.

Other notable film credits include Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Ayer’s DEA crime pic, Sabotage.

As a burgeoning producer, Compte’s goal is to spotlight elevated and visceral stories with authentic cultural underpinnings. He is currently a co-executive producer on Hotel Cocaine — an upcoming crime drama from Narcos creator Chris Brancato that’s headed to MGM+. The show tells the story of Miami’s infamous Hotel Mutiny, where Compte’s father Roman was general manager during the drug-fueled 1980s.

Annelise Cepero to Star in Christmas-Themed Romantic Drama “Holiday Harmony”

Annelise Cepero is anticipating a harmonious holiday

The Latina actress will star in the Christmas-themed romantic drama Holiday Harmony, directed by Shaun Paul Piccinino.

Annelise Cepero

Hailing from producers Ali Afshar, Lauren Swickard and Daniel Aspromonte, the film follows singer-songwriter Gail, who lands an opportunity to compete for a once-in-a-lifetime shot at the big time, and heads cross country—only getting as far as Harmony Springs, Oklahoma when her ride, her budget and all her hopes are stalled. With just two weeks to get to the iHeartRadio Christmas Eve performance of her dreams, she takes the advice of local Jack-of-all-trades, Jeremy, and takes on a group of misfit kids hoping to perform in a Christmas Eve gala of their own. Gail and Jeremy grow close, but if she’s going to fulfill her lifelong dream, she may have to leave him and the town she’s grown to love behind.

In addition to Cepero, the cast also features Jeremy Sumpter, Carla Jimenez, Sisanie, Amy Brown, Michael Wiseman, Seth Colton, Sophia Reid-Gantzert, Jordyn Curet, Richard Perrie, Kayden Franco, Ryder Franco and Brooke Shields.

HBO Max will release Holiday Harmony on November 24.

Cepero’s previous credits include West Side Story and appearances on Blue Bloods, Pose, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Chicago P.D.

Guillermo Diaz to Appear on Season 2 of NBC’s “Law & Order: Organized Crime”

Guillermo Diaz is getting organized

The 46-year-old Cuban American actor will appear on Season 2 of NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime.

Guillermo Diaz

Diaz will appear in a recurring role on the upcoming season of Dick Wolf’s Special Victims Unit (SVU) spinoff series.

Diaz will play Sgt. Bill Brewster. His character description is being kept under wraps.

Law & Order: Organized Crime brought Christopher Meloni’s Elliot Stabler character back to the venerable franchise for the first time in 10 years, and revolves around the NYPD organized crime unit led by Stabler.

Danielle Moné Truitt, Tamara Taylor, Ainsley Seiger and Dylan McDermott also star.

Law & Order: Organized Crime was created by Wolf, who executive produces along with showrunner Ilene Chaiken, Terry Miller, Fred Berner, Arthur W. Forney and Peter Jankowski.

Known for his many seasons on Showtime’s Weeds and Chapelle’s Show for Comedy Central, Diaz starred as Huck on the ABC hit series Scandal and most recently co-starred in the ABC comedy United We Fall.

He was also a series regular on the NBC drama Mercy and guest-starred opposite Lena Dunham in HBO’s Girls, Comedy Central’s Broad City and HBO’s High Maintenance.

Universal Pictures to Release Film Adaptation of “Dear Evan Hansen,” Starring Danny Pino, in September

Danny Pino is set to have a dear fall season…

The movie adaptation of Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen, starring the 46-year-old Cuban American actor, will hit theaters on September 24, according to Universal Pictures.

Danny Pino

Ben Platt is reprising his Tony-winning title role alongside Amy AdamsJulianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, Colton Ryan, Nik Dodani, DeMarius Copes and Pino, who portrays Larry Murphy.

The story follows Evan Hansen (Platt), a high schooler with social anxiety who unintentionally gets caught up in a lie after the family of a classmate who died by suicide mistakes one of Hansen’s letters for their son’s suicide note.

Stephen Chbosky directed the film from a script by Steven Levenson, who wrote the book for the stage musical, with music and lyrics by La La Land Oscar winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

Pino, an Imagen Award winner, previously starred in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Cold Case and Mayans M.C.

Eva Noblezada Among Broadway Stars to Guest Star on NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” While Curtains Remain Closed

There’s some law and order in Eva Noblezada’s future…

The half-Mexican American actress and Broadway star will appear on next week’s episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

The Tony Award-nominated Hadestown actor is among several Broadway stars who will appear on the long-running series.

“We are trying to hire every Broadway actor we can while we and they wait for the curtains to rise again,” says showrunner Warren Leight to Deadline.com.

“We know how hard the community has been hit here. The goal is to get as many jobs to as many theater actors as we possibly can.”

The National Endowment for the Arts recently released figures indicating that while the overall unemployment rate has averaged 8.5 percent, the average among actors was 52 percent. (The figures do not distinguish between Broadway, film and TV performers.)

The NBC New York-based Law & Order franchise has long been known as a steady source of employment for the city’s theater performers – rare is the stage actor whose Playbill credits don’t include at least one of the L&O series – but the coronavirus pandemic has pushed Leight’s team to ramp up even those efforts for the current Season 22.

Stage actors already cast in parts for this season include the Tony-winning Adriane Lenox, Elizabeth Marvel, Jane Bruce, Jelani Alladin, Michael Mastro and Betsy Aidem.

Even Raúl Esparza, a four-time Tony nominee known to the wider television audience for his six-season SVU run as Assistant D.A. Rafael Barba, is making a temporary franchise comeback to reprise the role for this week’s episode “Sightless in a Savage Land.”

Leight says the Broadway-filled roles range in scope from one-day parts to more substantial turns, but have an important practical impact for the actors, adding to the work day minimums required for Actors Equity-Broadway League health insurance.

The casting offers a significant logistical benefit to the show as well: casting New York actors is the more practical and efficient option during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the prospect of long-distance flights from Hollywood and required quarantine protocols can complicate using Los Angeles-based actors.

“In the past we’ve done what you could call Hollywood stunt casting,” Leight says, “but a lot of those players aren’t going to be willing to get on a plane and quarantine right now. We realized early on that we’ll have to cast locally much more.”

The Broadway shutdown also allows the show to get around the planning issues that Broadway’s usual performance schedule demands: Coordinating a shoot around the identical eight-performance weeks of working stage actors is daunting. There’s only so much guest-starring that can be crammed into a dark Broadway Monday.

Marisol Nichols’ Real-Life Work in the Fight Against Sex Trafficking Being Developed Into a TV Series by Sony Pictures Television

Marisol Nichols’ important work off camera has inspired a television series…

The 46-year-old half-Mexican American actress, who has starred on the CW’s drama series Riverdale, has spent the last few years working as an undercover agent in the fight against sex trafficking.  If you’ve never tried a Sex Toys before and aren’t sure what you’d like, start with one of the simplest vibrators. Most likely, you’ll appreciate the experience and then wonder what other pleasures might be obtained with more advanced vibrators and other sex toys.

Marisol Nichols

And now Sony Pictures Television has optioned the rights to her story for a television series.

Nichols revealed her unusual side hustle in a long-form story in May’s Marie Claire.

In the article, written by Erika Hayasaki, she revealed that for the past six years she’s been hunting child sex predators. She has been working undercover with agents from the FBI, Operation Underground Railroad and local law enforcement to serve as the “bait” for sting operations domestically and internationally.

She has played the part of a parent pimping out a child, or, depending on what the situation calls for, the role of a child being pimped out to a guy who thinks he’s about to have sex with a 12-year-old.

Nichols, who will next star in Lionsgate’s Saw reboot Spiral next year, has taken part in numerous child sex stings around the world over the last few years.

Nichols, who has appeared on shows like 24, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, began to work in the world of human trafficking after her career slowed down around 2012.

She subsequently started a nonprofit, Foundation for a Slavery Free World, in 2014, and has regularly spoken publicly about the subject.

Sony Pictures Television is in the early stages of developing the project, which will see Nichols executive produce and likely star in the story.

Danny Pino to Star in Universal’s Film Adaptation of the Broadway Hit Musical “Dear Evan Hansen”

Danny Pino has landed a Dear role…

The 46-year-old Cuban American actor has joined the ensemble cast of Universal’s film adaptation of the Broadway hit musical Dear Evan Hansen, joining Ben Platt, Kaitlyn Dever, Amy Adams and Amandla Stenberg.

Danny Pino

The story follows Hansen, a high school student with social anxiety. He unintentionally gets caught up in a lie after the family of a classmate who committed suicide mistakes one of Hansen’s letters for their son’s suicide note.

Pino will play the stepfather to the classmate that commits suicide.

Steven Levenson, who wrote the book for the stage musical, wrote the script, and Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote the music and penned the original lyrics for the musical and film.

Stephen Chbosky will direct.

Pino is best known as the cartel boss Miguel on FX’s series Mayans M.C.

His other credits include Cold Case, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Across the Hall and The Burning Plain.

Pinzon to Star in Fox’s Comedy Pilot “Amy’s Brother”

Miguel Pinzon is ready to assist…

The Latino actor has been cast as a series regular in Fox’s single-camera comedy pilot Amy’s Brother.

Miguel Pinzon

Pinzon, who most recently starred in Mystery Girls, will star opposite Ursula Parker and Annie Mumolo in the comedy project, which is being produced by the husband-and-wife duo of Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone and Warner Bros Television.

Written and co-executive produced by Jim Cashman and Mitch Silpa, and directed by Beth McCarthy Miller, Amy’s Brother is about an unconventional family that is formed when a successful type-A man, Matthew, and his estranged sister, Amy (Mumolo), and her two children find themselves not only back in one another’s lives but also living under one roof.

Pinzon will portray Josh, Amy’s brother Matthew’s extremely devoted assistant at the real estate office.

Pinzon was nominated for Choice TV Breakout Star: Male at the 2014 Teen Choice Awards for starring as Nick opposite Tori Spelling and Jennie Garth on ABC Family’s Mystery Girls sitcom.

He also guest-starred on Young & Hungry, 30 Rock and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Pino to Star in Procedural Drama Series “Gone”

Danny Pino is going, going, Gone

The 42-year-old Cuban American actor and former Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Cold Case alum will star opposite Chris Noth and Leven Rambin in Gone, a 12-episode procedural drama series for NBCUniversal International Studios, Germany’s RTL and France’s TF1.

Danny Pino

The series, which eyes a launch in winter 2017-18, was created by Matt Lopez (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) based on Chelsea Cain’s novel One Kick.

The project tells the fictional story of Kit “Kick” Lannigan (Rambin), survivor of a famous child-abduction case, and Frank Booth (Noth), the FBI agent who rescued her. Determined never to fall victim again, Kick trains in martial arts and the use of firearms. She finds her calling when Booth persuades her to join a special task force he created dedicated to solving abductions and missing persons cases. Paired with former Army intelligence officer John Bishop (Pino), Kick brings her unique understanding of the mind of a predator. Bishop is initially skeptical about bringing Kick onto the team, but over the course of the season, he will come to appreciate her unique skill-set and they will become a formidable crime-solving duo.

Pino most recently starred opposite Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Tony Shalhoub in CBS’ critically praised series Braindead. He previously played Detective Nick Amaro on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for multiple seasons, and starred for seven seasons as Detective Scotty Valens on Cold Case. He also recurred on ABC’s Scandal.