Tag Archives: Lords of Dogtown

Ferrera Among 683 Stars Invited to Become Members of The Academy

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America Ferrera is joining the Academy…

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has invited a record 683 people to joins its ranks, including the 32-year-old Honduran American actress, more than double last year’s 322 invitees.

America Ferrera

Best known for her Golden Globe-, Screen Actors Guild Award and Emmy-winning role on ABC’s Ugly Betty, Ferrera has also starred in several acclaimed films including Real Women Have Curves, Under the Same Moon, End of Watch, Cesar Chavez and Lords of Dogtown.

The Academy was careful to include a breakdown by gender and race, with the new list comprising of 46% women, including Girl in Progess star Eva Mendes and Fast & Furious star Michelle Rodriguez, and 41% people of color, including Luis Guzman, Oscar Isaac and Spanish director J.A. Bayona.

“We’re proud to welcome these new members to the Academy and know they view this as an opportunity and not just an invitation — a mission and not just a membership,” Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs said in a statement. “This class continues our long-term commitment to welcoming extraordinary talent reflective of those working in film today. We encourage the larger creative community to open its doors wider and create opportunities for anyone interested in working in this incredible and storied industry.”

The new invitees include 28 Oscar winners, range in age from 24 to 91 and represent 59 countries.

 

Other Latinos invited to join AMPAS include Enrique Castillo, Sal Lopez, Marisa Paredes, Jacob Vargas, Daphne Zuniga, Ciro Guerra and Nicole Garcia.

 

Check out the complete list here.

Rasuk to Star in “Fifty Shades of Grey” Film Adaptation

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Prepare for fifty shades of Victor Rasuk…

The 29-year-old Dominican American actor has been added to the ensemble cast of Fifty Shades of Grey, the film adaptation of the hit novel of the same name.

Victor Rasuk

Rasuk, the former star of HBO’s How to Make It in America, will portray Jose Rodriquez, an aspiring photographer and Anastasia Steele’s classmate. His close relationship with the co-ed pits him against Christian Grey.

Jamie Dornan will play the bondage enthusiast Christian, replacing Charlie Hunnam who abruptly left the project earlier this year. Dakota Johnson will portray the college student Anastasia, Jennifer Ehle stars as her on-screen mother and Luke Grimes as Christian’s brother Elliot.

The filming was supposed to kick off in November but has been pushed to December, just eight months before the planned August 1, 2014 release date, as the script is being polished by The Wolverine scribe Mark Bomback.

Sam Taylor-Johnson will direct the film.

Rasuk had a breakout performance as the lead in Peter Sollett‘s 2002 indie Raising Victor Vargas and then went on to play a skateboarding pioneer in Catherine Hardwicke‘s 2005 Lords of Dogtown. He has also appeared in Steven Soderbergh‘s The Argentine and most recently in the Steve Jobs biopic jOBS.

He will next star in Godzilla long with Taylor-Johnson’s husband Aaron Johnson.