Tatyana Ali to Star in Lifetime’s Holiday Movie “Secret Santa”

Tatyana Ali is getting into the Christmas spirit…

The 38-year-old half-Afro-Panamanian American actress and former The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star will star in the recently greenlit Lifetime holiday movie Secret Santa (working title).

Tatyana Ali

Ali will star opposite Mindy Sterling, Dan Lauria and Brendan Fehr in the two-hour original movie, which is currently shooting in Salt Lake City, Utah for a premiere this winter.

The plot: Christmas is Hillary Nash’s (Ali) least favorite time of year. As the Senior Financial Analyst at the upscale Hudson Valley Outdoor Mall, she has to be the annual Christmas Grinch and cancel the leases of under-performing stores by the end of the year. One afternoon, her 8-year-old niece Molly, asks the mall Santa to help find a boyfriend for her beloved aunt. Unbeknownst to Molly, and Hillary, the mall Santa is just a substitute filling in and is actually Ryan McCue (Fehr), a lawyer-turned-artist who is decorating the mall for Christmas and trying to find his way after quitting his job and losing his fiancee. As Hillary and Ryan begin to fall for each other, they each don’t realize the other’s true identity: Hillary who is tasked with closing a failing gift wrap shop run by Ryan’s Aunt Patty and Ryan who is too ashamed to tell Hillary that he is the acting mall Santa.

The cast also includes Kim Fields and Jasmine Guy.

Sterling plays cheery Agnes, who along with her husband, played by Dan Lauria, run the mall cookie store, bringing a combination of sweetness, advice and answers to all.

Ali’s recent credits include television

Mars: The Top Latino NAACP Image Award Nominee…

Talk about having a terrific Tuesday… Bruno Mars, who released his highly anticipated sophomore album today, is now the most-nominated Latino for the 44th annual NAACP Image Awards.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People which honors diversity in the arts, has just announced their nominations for their annual NAACP Image Awards; with the 27-year-old part-Puerto Rican singer picking up three nods.

Bruno Mars

Mars is nominated for Outstanding Male Artist, as well as Outstanding Music Video and Outstanding Song for his hit single “Locked Out of Heaven.”

Meanwhile, Miguel has picked up two Image Award nominations.

The 25-year-old half-Mexican American R&B singer/songwriter, who recently earned five most Grammy nods, will compete against Mars for Outstanding Male Artist and Outstanding Music Video for his hit single “Adorn.”

Former Fresh Prince of BelAir star Tatyana Ali has earned two nominations for her television work.

The 33-year-old part-Panamanian actress/singer, who will be starring in BET’s Second Generation Wayans, has been nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series for her starring role on TV One’s Love That Girl.

Ali is also up for Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series, an award she won earlier this year, for her role on CBSThe Young and the Restless.

Other Latino nominees include Hosea Chanchez for his role on BET’s The Game and Erik Valdez for his role on ABC’s General Hospital.

Winners will be announced at the 44th annual NAACP Image Awards on February 1 on NBC.

Here’s a look at the categories featuring Latino/as:

TELEVISION

Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series
• Anthony Anderson – “Guys with Kids” (NBC)
• Damon Wayans, Jr. – “Happy Endings” (ABC)
• Don Cheadle – “House Of Lies” (Showtime)
• Donald Faison – “The Exes” (TV Land)
• Hosea Chanchez – “The Game” (BET)

Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series
• Amber Riley – “Glee” (FOX)
• Cassi Davis – “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne” (TBS)
• Kellita Smith – “The First Family” (Syndicated)
• Tatyana Ali – “Love That Girl” (TV One)
• Wendy Raquel Robinson – “The Game” (BET)

Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series
• Aaron D. Spears – “The Bold and the Beautiful” (CBS)
• Erik Valdez – “General Hospital” (ABC)
• James Reynolds – “Days of Our Lives” (NBC)
• Kristoff St. John – “The Young and the Restless” (CBS)
• Rodney Saulsberry – “The Bold and the Beautiful” (CBS)

Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series
• Angell Conwell – “The Young and the Restless” (CBS)
• Julia Pace Mitchell – “The Young and the Restless” (CBS)
• Kristolyn Lloyd – “The Bold and the Beautiful” (CBS)
• Shenell Edmonds – “One Life to Live” (ABC)
• Tatyana Ali – “The Young and the Restless” (CBS)

MUSIC

Outstanding Male Artist
• Bruno Mars
• Lupe Fiasco
• Miguel
• Trey Songz
• Usher

Outstanding Music Video
• “Adorn,” Miguel
• “Girl On Fire,” Alicia Keys
• “Locked Out Of Heaven,” Bruno Mars
• “This Christmas,” CeeLo Green
• “You’re On My Mind,” KEM

Outstanding Song
• “Be Mine for Christmas,” KEM
• “Glorify the King,” KEM
• “I Look To You,” Whitney Houston and R. Kelly
• “Locked Out Of Heaven,” Bruno Mars
• “You’re On My Mind,” KEM

Tatyana Ali to Star in BET’s New Series “Second Generation Wayans”

Prepare to give Tatyana Ali a second… or two!

The 33-year-old part-Panamanian actress/singer has signed on to become a regular on BET’s upcoming comedy series Second Generation Wayans, based on the lives of the members of the next generation of the Wayans family.

Tatyana Ali

The series stars Craig Wayans, Damien Dante Wayans and George O. Gore II.

Ali will play Maya, Damien’s quick-witted personal assistant who struggles to keep the guys in line.

The former Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air alumna most recently starred in the Martin Lawrence-produced sitcom Love That Girl for TV One and had a recurring role on CBS’ sudser The Young And The Restless.

She’ll next be seen starring in the independent film Home Again.

Zoë Saldaña Receives NAACP Image Award Nod

Zoë Saldaña has received an NAACP Image Award nod for playing a stone-cold assassin in Colombiana.

The 33-year-old half-Dominican/half-Puerto Rican American actress, currently at work on the latest Star Trek film, will face off against Pariah’s Adepero Oduye, The Help’s Emma Stone, Jumping the Broom’s Paula Patton and The Help’s Viola Davis at the 43rd Annual NAACP Image Awards.

Zoe Saldana

Presented by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music and literature. Members of the NAACP vote for their favorites in the 35 categories that make up the Image Awards.

The Help led the pack with eight nominations, including nods for Best Picture, writing and directing, as well as dominating the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories.

But Saldaña isn’t the only Hispanic celebrity receiving an Image Award nod. Here’s a look at the other Latino/a stars in the running:

Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
Laz AlonsoJumping the Broom

Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series
Tatyana AliLove That Girl!

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Sofia Vergara Modern Family

Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
Esai Morales – We Have Your Husband 

Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
Rosario Dawson – Five

Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series
Tatyana Ali – The Young and the Restless

Outstanding Male Artist
Bruno Mars

The Image Awards will be presented on February 17 on NBC.

For the complete list of nominees visit the Awards’ official site.

Ali Heading Home Again…

She may have starred in sitcoms like Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Love That Girl, but that doesn’t mean Tatyana Ali is afraid to play up the drama.

The 32-year-old part-Panamanian actress/singer has signed on to star in Home Again, an independent film that highlights the lives of three adults raised as outsiders from childhood.

Tatyana Ali tp star in Home Again

The characters are deported from Canada, the United States and London to Jamaica—where they were born—and find they have to fight for survival in a country where family support, friends and shelter are elusive, but where ultimately hope and thehuman spirit emerges.

Ali—who recently received a Black Girls Rock Award from BET—will shoot the Canadian drama on location in Trinidad and Jamaica for six weeks, starting in January 2012.

Tatyana Ali Receives BET’s Black Girls Rock Award…

She made her triumphant return to television in TV One’s first original scripted series, “Love That Girl”… And, now Tatyana Ali is getting a little love of her own…

The part-Panamanian actress/singer, who rose to fame in the 1990s on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” received the “Young, Gifted & Black Award” at BET’s 6th Annual Black Girls Rock Awards, which celebrate the talents, lives and strength of Black women.

The 32-year-old Harvard graduate and self-proclaimed “education activist” told The Huffington Post, “I was so touched, because when I was little, there wasn’t anything like what Beverly Bond and BET is doing, there wasn’t anything like ‘Black Girls Rock.'”

Ali added, “To find those positive images that look like you do and maybe share the same experiences and the same struggles, you really have to search. My confidence and my self-esteem when I was younger would have been so changed by something like this. I’m just really happy to be on the other side of that so I can provide for younger girls what I didn’t have.”

Hosted by Tracee Ellis Ross and Regina King, the awards show was held at New York City’s famed Paradise Theater on Saturday night. The A-list event was highlighted with stellar performances by Mary J. Blige, Melanie Fiona, Estelle, Mary Mary, Jill Scott and Erykah Badu.

Other honorees included: Academy Award-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson, political activist and scholar Angela Davis, WNBA President Laurel J. Richie and The Rebecca Project for Human Rights co-founders Imani Walker and Malika Saada Saar.

Meanwhile, Ali, who released her first album, “Kiss The Sky” in 1999 says she’s “hopeful” that a musical project will come to fruition.