Tori Kelly to Appear on CBS’ Christmas Special, “Josh Groban & Friends Go Home for the Holidays”

Posted on November 14, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Tori Kelly will be helping get Americans into the holiday spirit…

The 31-year-old part-Puerto Rican will join Josh Groban for the festive-season special for CBS, Josh Groban & Friends Go Home for the Holidays, which is scheduled to air on December 20.

Musical performances include holiday classics, new releases and duets with Groban and his guests, including Tori, James Bay, Jennifer Hudson and The War And Treaty.

Hosted and executive produced by Groban, the special is said to feature a new format combining compelling stories, music, comedy and a live adoption on stage, celebrating the creation of a new family.

“I am honored and excited to host a show with friends old and new to celebrate the unity and togetherness of the holidays,” Groban said in a statement. “It’s especially important because it will spread the importance of adoption and will feature the most incredible kids. I can’t wait for everyone to watch with their families, sing along and hopefully make room in their hearts and homes for a child who needs one.”

For the last 25 years, Home for the Holidays has shined a light on the thousands of American children in foster care, and has inspired tens of thousands of adoptions.

Josh Groban & Friends Go Home for the Holidays continues its legacy of showcasing the transformative power of adoption and the true meaning of family.

Josh Groban & Friends Go Home for the Holidays is produced by Triage Entertainment and Goldsmith Entertainment.

Michael Simon is director.

The special was filmed in the Bram Goldsmith Theater at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Beverly Hills, Calif.

Groban’s previous specials include Josh Groban in Concert (2002) and Josh Groban’s Great Big Radio City Show (2022), both for PBS.

Josh Groban & Friends Go Home for the Holidays is set to air on December 20 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on CBS (live and on-demand for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers, or on-demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs).

Aimee Garcia to Appear on Paramount+’s “Criminal Minds: Evolution” for Season Three

Posted on September 14, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Aimee Garcia’s career evolution continues…

The 45-year-old Puerto Rican & Mexican American actress has joined the cast of Paramount+’s Criminal Minds: Evolution for the show’s third season.

In a multiple-episode arc, Garcia will portray Dr. Julia Ochoa, one of the country’s leading neuropsychiatrists who is assigned to help a high-profile patient recover from his injury-induced brain trauma. She clashes with Alvarez (Adam Rodriguez) who, by contrast, believes in a more aggressive approach than her gentle approach.

Criminal Minds: Evolution is an expansion of the original CBS series, which ran from 2005-2020. In the current season, the FBI’s elite team of criminal profilers comes up against an UnSub who has used the pandemic to build a network of other serial killers. As the world opens back up and the network goes operational, the team must hunt them down, one murder at a time.

The series stars Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Zach Gilford, Ryan-James Hatanaka with Rodriguez and Paget Brewster.

ABC Signature and CBS Studios produce the series. Erica Messer serves as showrunner and executive producer.

Currently, Garcia stars opposite Adam Scott in Netflix’s upcoming animated series Strip Law and headlines The Cases of Mystery Lane franchise for Hallmark/Peacock. Garcia starred on Netflix’s Lucifer for five seasons and headlined Netflix’s film Christmas With You opposite Freddie Prinze Jr.

Additional credits include Hulu’s Woke, Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K, ABC’s The George Lopez Show, which earned her an Impact and ALMA Award, José Padilha’s RoboCop, The Addams Family with Charlize Theron and Oscar Isaac and James L. Brooks’ Spanglish.

Clifton Collins Jr. to Star in Paramount+‘s Limited Series “JonBenét Ramsey”

Posted on September 14, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Clifton Collins Jr. is stepping into the investigation…

The 54-year-old Mexican American actor has been cast in Paramount+‘s limited series JonBenét Ramsey (w/t), which hails from MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios.

Collins is among a roster of new cast additions that includes Chris Bauer, Rory Cochrane and Angus K. Caldwell.

Collins Jr. plays Detective Trujillo, a Boulder Colorado police detective who does his job but without exhibiting much initiative. Bauer plays Boulder Police Chief Tom Koby, whose department is the first on the scene after JonBenét was reported kidnapped. Cochrane portrays John Eller, the Detective Division Commander of the Boulder Police Department. Caldwell is Burke Ramsey, the eldest child of John and Patsy Ramsey.

Others in the cast include Melissa McCarthy, Clive Owen, Shea Whigham, Will Patton, Emily Mitchell, Garrett Hedlund, Alison Pill and Owen Teague.

Mitchell has landed the title role of JonBenét, a girl from an affluent family and child beauty queen, with McCarthy and Owen set to portray her parents, Patsy and John.

Executive-produced by Richard LaGravenese ,who serves as showrunner,

JonBenét Ramsey explores the tragic unsolved murder of the six-year-old beauty queen of the same name. The show follows the Ramsey family, before and after the tragedy, as they go through the painful loss of a child, while facing intense public scrutiny caused by a media frenzy that caused this case to captivate an entire nation. At the heart of the series is the story of Patsy and John Ramsey – exploring the unbreakable partnership of these two complex people – as husband and wife, as mother and father – who had committed themselves and their children to building the narrative of a perfect, privileged life, only to have it destroyed one Christmas night in 1996.

Harrison Query and Tommy Wallach sold the project to MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios and serve as writers alongside LaGravenese.

Winning Sundance’s U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for his leading turn in Clint Bentley’s drama Jockey, which he also exec produced, Collins Jr. has recently been seen in films including The Bricklayer, Prime Video’s hit rom-com Red, White & Royal Blue and Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, among others.

His recent TV credits include Westworld, Veronica Mars, and Ballers.

Up next, he’ll be seen in Apple’s series The Last Frontier, Ari Aster’s contemporary A24 Western Eddington, and Bentley’s Train Dreams.

Trailer Released for Adam Rodriguez’s “Criminal Minds: Evolution”

Posted on May 17, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Adam Rodriguez is ready for an evolution…

The 10-episode new season of Criminal Minds: Evolution, starring the 49-year-old Puerto Rican and Cuban American actor, released its key art and trailer in advance of its debut next month.

Produced by ABC Signature and CBS Studios, Criminal Minds: Evolution premieres on Thursday, June 6, exclusively on Paramount+.

The first two episodes will be available to stream at launch, with subsequent new episodes dropping weekly on Thursdays.

In the wake of last season’s finale, the upcoming all-new season of Criminal Minds: Evolution picks up as the FBI’s elite team of profilers investigates the deadly mystery of Gold Star.

As the conspiracy unfolds, the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) is met with an unexpected complication when serial killer Elias Voit negotiates a deal that transfers him to federal custody in the BAU’s own backyard. The team faces its biggest threat yet and cannot emerge unscathed from the mind-bending consequences.

Criminal Minds: Evolution stars Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler, Zach Gilford, Ryan-James Hatanaka with Rodriguez and Paget Brewster.

Guest stars this season include Clark Gregg, Felicity Huffman, Paul F. Tompkins, Tuc Watkins and Brian White.

Ismael Cruz Cordova to Star in Amazon MGM Studios’ Forthcoming Film “The Bluff”

Posted on May 4, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Ismael Cruz Cordova is bluffing…

The 37-year-old Afro-Puerto Rican actor will star in Amazon MGM Studios’ forthcoming film The Bluff from director Frank E. Flowers.

Cruz Cordova, who starred in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, is part of a roster of new cast additions that includes Safia Oakley-Green and Vedanten Naidoo.

The trio joins an ensemble led by Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Karl Urban.

The parts they’ll be playing are under wraps.

Written by Flowers and Joe Ballarini, the film set in the 19th century Caribbean follows a former female pirate (Chopra Jonas) who must protect her family when the mysterious sins of her past catch up to her.

Recently landing a Critics’ Choice Award nomination for his performance as Arondir on Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which is heading into its second season, Cordova has also previously been seen in Paramount+’s Finestkind, HBO’s miniseries The Undoing, Focus Features’ Mary Queen of Scots and Sony’s remake of Miss Bala.

Jorgeous to Compete on Season Nine of Paramount+’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars”

Posted on April 27, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Jorgeous is getting back in the race…

The 24-year-old Mexican American drag performer, whose real name is Jorge Meza, will compete on the ninth season of Paramount+’s RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars.

Jorgeous, who finished in 6th place on Season 14 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, will join seven other queens from past seasons to compete for a cash prize of $200,000 — but this time, all eight queens will be competing on behalf of a charity of their choice.

Jorgeous will compete for the National Alliance of Mental Illness.

But Jorgeous isn’t the only Latina drag artist set to compete.

Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, who competed on seasons 10 and 11, will compete for the ASPCA.

The other queens include: Angeria Paris VanMichaels (season 14), competing for the National Black Justice Collective; Gottmik (season 13), competing for Trans Lifeline; Nina West (season 11), competing for The Trevor Project; Plastique Tiara (season 11), competing for The Asian American Foundation (TAAF); Roxxxy Andrews (season five, All Stars 2), competing for Miracle of Love; and Shannel (season one, All Stars 1), competing for Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

This year’s $200,000 cash prize will be provided by The Palette Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing grants and funding to the organizations supporting under-represented communities, including LGBTQ+ people.

All Stars 9 will mark the first time in the history of the Drag Race franchise in which queens will compete for charities.

The news comes on the heels of the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16, which aired Friday, April 19.

After a series of solo numbers and one final lip sync to Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam,” Nymphia Wind took home the grand prize, becoming the first Taiwanese-American queen to win in the history of the franchise.

RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 9 premieres with two new episodes on Friday, May 17, on Paramount+.

Paramount+ Renews Diana Zermeño’s Animated Preschool Series “Dora” for Second Season

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Diana Zermeño is preparing for more explorations…

Paramount+ has renewed the animated preschool series Dora, with the 11-year-old Latina actress leading the voice cast, for a second season.

The iconic Latina heroine returned this month in the CG-animated revival series produced by Nickelodeon Animation.

Dora, based on the original series Dora the Explorer, follows everyone’s favorite bilingual explorer, Dora (Zermeño), and her best monkey friend, Boots (Asher Colton Spence) as they embark on epic adventures in a fantastical rainforest. Guided by trustworthy Map (Anairis Quiñones), Dora and her friends must work together to overcome many obstacles while being challenged by the sneakiest fox, Swiper (Marc Weiner). Kathleen Herles, the original voice of Dora the Explorer, voices Mami.

“Kids and family programming is consistently one of the most popular genres on Paramount+ and we’re thrilled that our audience has already embraced Dora,” said Jeff Grossman, Executive Vice President, Programming, Paramount+. “It’s an incredible opportunity to introduce this beloved character and iconic franchise to a whole new generation.”

Dora is currently available to stream exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, Latin America, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and also on Nick Jr. internationally.

Dora is produced by Nickelodeon Animation in Burbank, California, and created by Chris Gifford and Valerie Walsh Valdes. Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh Valdes and Rich Magallanes serve as executive producers. Henry Lenardin-Madden serves as co-executive producer, and Alejandro Bien-Willner serves as story editor. Marielle Kaar is Nickelodeon’s Executive in Charge of Production for the series. Dora the Explorer was created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh Valdes and Eric Weiner.

“Our audiences have embraced the new Dora series with open arms, and it’s incredible how she continues to capture the imaginations of preschoolers around the world with her extraordinary rainforest adventures,“ said Ramsey Naito, President, Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation. “We can’t wait for kids to discover all of the new fantastical places and colorful characters in the second season while learning and playing along with their good friend Dora.”

Octavio Rodriguez to Appear on Paramount+’s Drama “Landman”

Posted on April 7, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Octavio Rodriguez is officially a landman….

The Latino actor has landed a recurring role in the Paramount+ drama Landman from Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace.

Rodriguez is joined by Freeridge actor J.R. Villarreal on the recurring actor roster.

They join series regulars Billy Bob Thornton, Ali Larter, Michelle Randolph, Jacob Lofland, Kayla Wallace, James Jordan, Mark Collie, Paulina Chávez and Demi Moore; and recurring stars Jon Hamm, Colm Feore and Mustafa Speaks.

Set in the proverbial boomtowns of West Texas, Landman is a modern-day tale of fortune seeking in the world of oil rigs. Based on the 11-part podcast Boomtown, the series is an upstairs/downstairs story of roughnecks and wildcat billionaires fueling a boom so big, it’s reshaping our climate, our economy and our geopolitics.

Rodriguez will play Antonio, a hard man who is angry when his family suffers a tragedy.

Villarreal will play Manuel, an oil crewman who is looking for reprisal after a disaster.

Currently filming in and around Fort Worth, Texas, Landman is produced by MTV Entertainment Studios, 101 Studios and Sheridan’s Bosque Ranch Productions exclusively for Paramount+.

Rodriguez’s credits include Chicago P.D., Grey’s Anatomy and Homeland.

Adriyan Rae to Appear on Mara Brock Akil’s Netflix Series “Forever”

Posted on April 2, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Adriyan Rae has found her Forever home…

The part-Venezuelan actress has landed a recurring role on Netflix’s Forever.

Created by Mara Brock Akil, Forever is a reimagining of the 1975 novel by Judy Blume and follows the epic love story of two Black teens exploring their identities through the awkward — and moving — journey of being each other’s firsts in 2018 Los Angeles.

Like its inspiration, the show will examine “the idea of your first love being with you forever,” said Brock Akil, who created acclaimed stories of Black love and growth like sitcom Girlfriends and drama Being Mary Jane. She was also a writer on the YA comedy Moesha.

Oscar winner Regina King will serve as executive producer and will direct the first episode.

Rae will portray Brittany, one of Keisha’s older cousins, and is described as a social climber who looks out for Keisha and her well-being like an older sister—even if she usually does it with a sarcastic sense of humor and blunt direct attitude. Brittany is a loyal support system for Keisha and her mom Shelly, and always brings a sense of fun to wherever she goes —including affectionately calling Keisha ‘Urkel’ due to her book smart nature.

Lovie Simone will star as Keisha Clarke and Michael Cooper Jr. will portray Justin Edwards. Karen Pittman, and Wood Harris round out the cast so far.

Within the television sphere, Rae currently stars as ‘Brittany Pitts’ in Paramount+’s reboot of The Game. Additionally, she recently led the cast of SYFY’s series Vagrant Queen, starred in NBC’s Chicago Fire and Hulu’s horror-thriller series Light As A Feather, and has guest starred on various shows including FX’s Atlanta, BET’s American Soul, and FOX’s musical drama Star, from the producers of Empire.

In film, she has had roles in Sony’s Superfly with Jennifer Morrison, Trevor Jackson and Michael Kenneth Williams, and Netflix’s Burning Sands alongside Alfre Woodard and Trevante Rhodes.

Ariana DeBose to Host Tony Awards for Third Consecutive Year

Posted on March 27, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Ariana DeBose is heading back to Broadway for a special night…

The 33-year-old half-Puerto Rican Oscar-winning actress, singer and dancer will return as host of this year’s Tony Awards, marking her third consecutive year fronting Broadway‘s biggest night.

The 77th Annual Tony Awards airs live nationwide (8:00 pm ET/5:00 pm PT) on Sunday, June 16, on CBS, streaming on Paramount+.

The ceremony will take place at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.

DeBose, an Oscar winner (West Side Story) and previous Tony nominee (Summer: The Donna Summer Musical), will serve as a Tony producer and will choreograph the opening number for this year’s show.

“I couldn’t pass up the chance to host the Tonys one more time, at Lincoln Center,” DeBose said in a statement. “I’m excited to collaborate with the team to create an incredible celebration of this season’s achievements on Broadway for our community and for everyone at home.”

“Ariana’s unique sense of artistry, creativity and talent continues to elevate the show and captivate nominees and viewers alike,” shared Heather Hitchens, president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing and Jason Laks, interim president of the Broadway League. Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner, executive producers for White Cherry Entertainment, said, “The third time is definitely going to be a charm for a host who is as charming and insanely talented as Ariana DeBose.”

Tony organizers also announced today that CBS and Pluto TV will once again partner to present The Tony Awards: Act One, the pre-show of live, exclusive content leading into awards ceremony. Act One, available on Pluto TV, includes the presentation of a first round of Tony Awards. Hosts and further details will be announced in the coming weeks.

This year’s Tonys will recognize and honor the Broadway productions of the 2023- 2024 theater season. Nominations will be announced on Tuesday, April 30.

The Tony Awards are produced in collaboration with Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, and White Cherry Entertainment.

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