E.L. Losada to Appear on Netflix’s Upcoming Shondaland Mystery Series “The Residence”

Posted on March 11, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

E.L. Losada has found his residence…

The 39-year-old Cuban American actor will appear on Netflix’s upcoming Shondaland mystery series The Residence.

Losada, who has starred in Loot and Los Frikis, will appear in a recurring role.

Losada joins series lead Uzo Aduba in the series along with cast members: Andre Braugher, Edwina Findley, Molly Griggs, Jason Lee, Ken Marino, Al Mitchell, Dan Perrault, Bronson Pinchot, Susan Kelechi Watson, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Mary Wiseman, and Randall Park.

The official logline for the show states, “132 rooms. 157 suspects. One dead body. One wildly eccentric detective (Aduba). One disastrous State Dinner. The Residence is a screwball whodunnit set in the upstairs, downstairs, and backstairs of the White House, among the eclectic staff of the world’s most famous mansion.”

Losada will play energy healer St. Pierre.

Paul William Davies is the showrunner and executive producer on The Residence. Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers executive produce on behalf of Shondaland via the company’s Netflix overall deal.

Liza Johnson will direct the first four episodes.

Lisa Vidal to Star in the Crime-Action Heist Feature “Shelter”

Posted on July 4, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Lisa Vidal is sheltering…

The 56-year-old Puerto Rican actress will star in the crime-action heist feature Shelter.

Vidal joins a cast that includes Cam Gigandet, Jaina Lee Ortiz, Carlos Miranda and Hollywood newcomer Sasha Merci.

In pre-production, filming is scheduled to start shortly in Los Angeles on the movie about the head of a secret organization who assembles a crew to steal back artwork from a neo-Nazi billionaire oligarch who plundered it during World War II.

Produced by Jolene Rodriguez of Broken English productions and financed by Ruben Islas’ Grandave Capital, the film is an original screenplay by Michael Corcoran, directed by Anthony Nardolillo.

“I’m thrilled to work with such a talented group. I’ve followed many of their careers and to make a movie with them is such a privilege. Shelter is a great example of taking any script and making it inclusive. It takes effort but it’s possible and it matters,” said Rodriguez.

Vidal has starred on ABC’s The Baker and The Beauty, BET TV series Being Mary Jane and Grey’s Anatomy.

Ortiz will star in her fifth season of Shondaland’s ABC series Station 19 after a successful run in Fox’s Rosewood and a consequent role in Shooter.

Miranda will join the cast of ABC’s Station 19 as a series regular in the coming season and has had recurring roles in Amazon Original series Bosch and Comedy Central’s Ana as well as being a series regular in Starz series Vida.

Merci recently starred in the HBO feature film De Lo Mio.

Tracy Vilar to Star in the Netflix Dramedy “Maid”

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Posted on October 12, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Tracy Vilar is maid to order…

The 52-year-old Latina actress has been cast as a series regular opposite Margaret Qualley in Maid, Netflix’s dramedy series from writer Molly Smith Metzler, John Wells Productions, Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television.

Written by Metzler, Maid is inspired by Stephanie Land’s bestselling memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive. It revolves around Alex (Qualley), a single mother who turns to housekeeping to — barely — make ends meet as she battles against poverty, homelessness, and bureaucracy. Told primarily through her point of view, Maid is described as a beautiful, alive, gritty and inspiring exploration of poverty in America.

Vilar will play Yolanda, the owner of “Value Maids,” the cleaning business that eventually employs “Alex” (Qualley). A woman who suffers no fools and runs a tight ship, Yolanda has managed to survive in a world (and economy) that is not always kind to her.

In addition to Qualley, Vilar joins previously cast Andie MacDowell, Nick Robinson and Anika Noni Rose. Maid is currently filming in Vancouver.

Vilar co-starred on the CBS comedy series Partners. Her television series credits include major roles on Fox’s House and TNT’s Saved and guest shots on three Shondaland/ABC series, Grey’s Anatomy, How To Get Away with Murder and For the People. She also appeared in the features Grace of My Heart and K-Pax.

Gina Torres to Star in ABC’s Supernatural Drama Pilot “The Brides”

Posted on March 3, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Gina Torres is vampin’ things up…

The 50-year-old Cuban American actress will lead the cast of The Brides, ABC’s supernatural drama pilot from Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina developer/executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television.

Written by Aguirre-Sacasa and directed by Maggie Kiley, The Brides, a sexy contemporary reimagining of Dracula, is a family drama with a trio of powerful female leads at its heart. With strong horror elements, The Brides is a vampire soap about empowered, immortal women and the things they do to maintain wealth, prestige, legacy — and their nontraditional family.

Torres plays Cleo Phillips. One of the three Brides of Draculaand the leader of this vampire trio, Cleo is an imperious woman with a queenly manner —understandably, as she was a queen in her former life who was turned by Dracula after the death of her husband. Now a maven of New York City real estate, Cleo is challenged professionally by a mysterious newcomer — even as her ties to her sisters are dangerously fraying.

While the focus will be on the women, the character of Dracula is featured in the show.

Torres recently played Jessica Pearson, first on USA Network’s popular original series Suits and then in the network’s Chicago-set spinoff series Pearson, which Torres headlined and executive produced. The role has earned Torres an ALMA Award, an Imagen Awardand the National Hispanic Media Coalition’s Award for Outstanding Performance in a Television Series.

At ABC, Torres co-starred on the Shondalanddrama series The Catch, recurred on Revenge and toplined the 2016 pilot The Death of Eva Sofia Valdez. Angel and Firefly alumna Torres also did an arc on HBO’s Westwood.

Torres Lands Recurring Role on ABC’s “The Catch”

Posted on September 15, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Gina Torres has landed The Catch of the day…

The 47-year-old Cuban American actress has landed a recurring role on the second season of the ABC drama series The Catch, from Shonda Rhimes’ ShondaLand and ABC Studios.

As usual with ShondaLand shows, no details about Torres’ character have been revealed.

Executive produced by Rhimes, The Catch centers on Alice Vaughan (Mireille Enos), a private investigator for high-end clients. Torres joins T.R. Knight, who also was recently cast in a recurring role.

Torres just wrapped her starring role as Jessica Pearson on USA Network’s Suits in this week’s Season 6 summer finale, having been with the legal drama series since its launch.

At ABC and ABC Studios, Torres toplined the drama pilot The Death of Eva Sofia Valdez this past season and previously recurred on Revenge.

Her other notable television roles include the shotgun-toting mercenary Zoe Washburne on Joss Whedon’s Firefly, (she also played the character in Whedon’s feature Serenity), the soul-eating Jasmine on Whedon’s Angel and a recurring gig on NBC’s Hannibal.

Torres film work includes The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions and I Think I Love My Wife opposite Chris Rock.

Ferrer to Star in Shonda Rhimes’ ABC Comedy Pilot “Toast”

Posted on March 9, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Tessa Ferrer is the toast of the town…

The 29-year-old part-Puerto Rican actress and Grey’s Anatomy alumna, the granddaughter of José Ferrer, has been cast in Toast, ABC’s hybrid comedy pilot from Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers’ Shondaland, Scott Foley and Greg Grunberg.

Written by Foley and Grunberg and directed by Gail Mancuso, the project revolves around engaged couple Max Leeds (Jono Kenyon) and Paige (not yet cast), who, over their wedding rehearsal dinner, have their eclectic family and friends give toasts recalling anecdotes about the couple — but flashbacks reveal that the toasts don’t always get it right, as we watch the true story of their complicated, funny and relatable road to marriage.

Kenyon’s Max is awkwardly handsome, charming and unassuming, and worried about what his bride-to-be’s family thinks about him. After all, they couldn’t be more different: Paige is a sorority girl from a close-knit wealthy Austin family, and he’s a college dropout with a questionable credit history and a father in prison.

Ferrer is Jules, an up-for-anything Texas tomboy who is Max’s closest friend, his biggest champion and business partner. Fiercely loyal and protective, she knows Max better than he knows himself, and worries that he is too focused on the wrong things when it comes to meeting the right woman.

Ferrer played Dr. Leah Murphy on Grey’s Anatomy on Seasons 9 and 10, and she recurred on CBS’ Extant and on Stephen Falk’s FX comedy You’re The Worst.

Nolasco’s “American Crime” to Premiere on January 6 on ABC

Posted on November 7, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Elvis Nolasco is ringing in the New Year with a little Crime…

ABC has slated John Ridley’s American Crime, starring the Dominican actor, to premiere on January 6.

The second season of the critically acclaimed series will return for a second season on a new night, Wednesday, where it will air in Nashville’s 10:00 pm time slot while the country music drama is on winter hiatus.

American Crime‘s second season is set in the U.S. Midwest at two high schools, one public and one private.

The first season of the show, which followed a racially charged murder and the subsequent trial, aired in the Thursday 10 PM slot, succeeding How To Get Away With Murder, which has shorter (18-episode) seasons per star Viola Davis’ contract.

This season, the plan is to keep the Shondaland branding on the night intact with the latest Shonda Rhimes-produced drama, The Catch, following HTGAWM in the 10:00 pm hour.

In Season 2, issues of sexual orientation and socioeconomic disparity come to a boil when lurid photos of a high school boy are posted on social media following a school party. Circumstances become more complicated when the boy accuses two players on an elite private high school’s championship basketball team of drugging, assaulting and then posting the pictures of him online.

Many of the Season 1 cast members are back, including stars Felicity Huffman and Timothy Hutton, as well as co-stars Regina King — who won an Emmy for her role — Lili Taylor and Nolasco, who are joined by Trevor Jackson, Connor Jessup, Joey Pollari and Angelique Rivera.

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