The 47-year-old Cuban & Honduran American drag queen, comedian, actor and formerRuPaul’s Drag Racewinner, whose real name is Roy Haylock, has signed with CAA for representation.
Named on New York Magazine’s list of “most powerful drag queens in America,” Del Rio is best known as the winner of Season 6 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, when she was crowned America’s Next Drag Superstar.
As an actor, Del Rio starred in Matt Kugelman’s 2016 feature film Hurricane Bianca, and its sequel, 2018’s, Hurricane Bianca: From Russia With Hate. That same year, she published her first book, Blame It On Bianca Del Rio: The Expert on Nothing With An Opinion on Everything.
In 2019, she made her West End debut in the hit musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, where she played the role of Hugo/Loco Chanelle.
Del Rio made history during her 2019 “It’s a Jester Joke” tour, becoming the first drag queen to ever headline sold-out shows at both Wembley Arena in London and Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Last fall, she completed her fifth global stand-up comedy tour, Unsanitized, performing in 99 cities and 27 countries across five continents.
London’s West End smash Death Drop, starring the 45-year-old half-Salvadoran American drag queen, is coming to New York this summer.
Death Drop is set to begin its Off-Broadway previews on June 30, followed by opening night on July 13 at New World Stages.
In addition to Shuga Cain, the stage name of Jesus Martinez, the show also stars RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Jujubee as Summer Raines, Willam as Shazza and Shuga Cain as Lady Rosebud von Fistenberg.
Joining the Drag Race alumni include Peachez Iman Cummings as Morgan Pierce, Wang Newton as Phil Maker and the Death Drop writer Holly Stars as the Bottomly Sisters. Kiki Ball-Change will serve as an understudy. Additional casting will be announced soon.
Here’s the official description: On Tuck Island a gaggle of girls join each other for a soirée, but when the tension rises as the peculiar guests reveal their sordid pasts, one by one they “sashay away.” That is until at the last shocking moment when the surviving girls find out how earlier guests dropped to their deaths.
Based on an original idea by Christopher D. Clegg , Death Drop was written by drag queen and comedian, Holly Stars.
Stars is joined behind the curtain by director Jesse Jones, scenic designer Justin Williams, costume designer Isobel Pellow, lighting designer Jack Weir, sound designer Beth Duke, wig designer Florencia Melone, vocal supervisor Jacob Yates and composers Nicola Dempsey and Rosie Dempsey.
The Off-Broadway show is produced by TuckShop, Tom Smedes, Heather Shields, Peter Stern, Bruce Robert Harris and Jack W. Batman, Andres Martinez, Marc DavidLevine, Scott Johnson, M&E Productions, Bryan McCaffrey, Kyle Valentine, and Michael McCrary. Cody Lassen serves as executive producer. Alex Wyse and Wes Taylor are dramaturgs.
The 41-year-old Colombian and Bolivian American actress will star in Peacock’s Twisted Metal, the live-action video game adaptation starring Anthony Mackie.
Beatriz will play the character of Quiet, a ferocious, badass car thief who acts purely on instinct – you couldn’t stop her any more than a manhole could stop a volcano. Coming from a community that oppressed her into silence, Quiet’s wish is to find her place in this dark, chaotic world. But when she becomes clouded by her need for revenge, Quiet forms an unlikely, antagonistic bond with John Doe (Mackie).
From Cobra Kaiwriter Michael Jonathan Smith, Twisted Metal is a half-hour, high-octane action comedy, based on an original take by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick about a motor-mouthed outsider offered a chance at a better life, but only if he can successfully deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. With the help of a trigger-happy car thief, he’ll face savage marauders driving vehicles of destruction and other dangers of the open road, including a deranged clown who drives an all too familiar ice cream truck.
Alongside Mackie and showrunner Smith, executive producers also include Kitao Sakurai—who will also direct multiple episodes—Reese, Wernick, Will Arnett, and Marc Forman via their Electric Avenue production company, Jason Spire of Inspire Entertainment, Peter Principato of Artists First, Asad Qizilbash, and Carter Swan from PlayStation Productions, Hermen Hulst, Head of PlayStation Studios.
The series is co-produced by Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions, and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.
Beatriz most recently made a splash as the voice of Mirabel in Disney’s Encanto. Prior to that, she starred in Matthew Dunster’s hit theatrical production 2:22 on London’s West End and also played Carla in the Warner Bros. film adaptation of Lin Manuel Miranda’s musical In The Heights.
Beatriz is best known for playing fan-favorite Detective Rosa Diaz in the NBC comedy Brooklyn Nine-Ninethroughout the show’s eight-season run.
The 89-year-old Puerto Rican actress, singer and dancer, an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar & Tony Award winner) has landed a starring role in the feature film The Prank, which will be directed by Maureen Bharoocha.
Moreno will star opposite Connor Kalopsis and Ramona Young.
The Prank follows two high school students who play a prank on their physics teacher, Mrs. Wheeler, played by Moreno. When she fails them on a test; they teach the imperious, demanding, insulting instructor a lesson by falsely accusing her of the murder of a missing student.
Other cast in The Prank includes Keith David, Meredith Salenger, Jonathan Kimmel, Nathan Janak and Kate Flannery.
Filming begins this month in and around Los Angeles.
The dark comedy is written by Rebecca Flinn-White & Zak White.
“Rita Moreno is a force of nature and an icon who continues to redefine herself,” said Bharoocha. “Her brilliant comedic mind lends itself to the perfect ‘Mrs. Wheeler’, a character we have never seen her play, and one that will no doubt surprise audiences.”
Moreno has won an Oscar (West Side Story), a Tony (TheRitz), two Emmys (for her turns respectively in 1977 and 1978 on The Muppet Showand Rockford Files), and a Grammy (Best Children’s Album for The Electric Company).
Moreno has starred on Broadway and London’s West End, appeared in more than 40 feature films and has performed in numerous regional theaters, including her one-woman show, Life Without Makeup, at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. She recently co-starred in the critically acclaimed Latinx reimagining of Norman Lear’s classic sitcom One Day At A Time.
Her documentary, Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It, produced by Lear, Lin Manuel Miranda and Brent Miller had its world debut at the Sundance Film Festival this year. The film, which was met with acclaim from critics and audiences alike, will have its television debut on PBS’ American Mastersnationwide on October 5.
Moreno also co-stars and is an executive producer of the Steven Spielberg remake of West Side Story, set to open on December 10.
The recipient of the Peabody Career Achievement Award and the Kennedy Center Honor for her lifetime contributions to American culture, she was also honored by her peers as the 50th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
Moreno’s all-Spanish-language album, Una Vez Más, was produced by her good friend Emilio Estefan, and she is a New York Timesbestselling author with her first book, Rita Moreno: A Memoir. Moreno has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush and the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama.
The 54-year-old part Spanish actress will star opposite Pierce Brosnan in Not Bloody Likely, a romantic comedy exploring the true story of the 1914 West End production of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion.
In the film, Shaw (Brosnan) has written his masterpiece Pygmalion (which would later be adapted into the Oscar-winning musical My Fair Lady) and is determined for the great Mrs. Pat Campbell (Bonham Carter) to play the role of Eliza Doolittle. But is her casting just a chance for Shaw to rekindle his once great love, the one that got away?
Joel Hopkins has written and is directing the film, he previously helmed the comedy The Love Punchstarring Brosnan.
Production is set for the UK in Spring 2021.
The pairing of Bonham Carter, coming off the back of The Crownand Enola Holmes, with Brosnan, who was in Eurovision Song Contest: The Story Of Fire Sagathis year and has Cinderellacoming up, should be a hot one; and word on the street right now is that comedy is high in demand after the bruising year that has been 2020.
“This is exactly the kind of film the world needs right now. A feel-good story that will make you laugh and make you cry for the right reasons. We can’t wait to get started,” said producers Rolston and Braithwaite.
“Joel’s wonderfully entertaining script breathes new life into the most beloved of Shaw’s plays and the casting of Helena Bonham Carter and Pierce Brosnan will make this a strong commercial proposition for buyers around the world,” added Cornerstone’s Alison Thompson and Mark Gooder.
The 2019 Tony Award nominations have been announced, with the 27-year-old part-Spanish American actor/singer earning recognition.
Fontana, previously nominated in 2013 for his starring role as Prince Topher in the Broadwaymusical Cinderella, is nominated in the Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical category for his work in Tootsie.
Fontana portrays Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels in the Broadway musical adaptation of the film of the same name, which starred Dustin Hoffman as the lead character.
Eva Noblezadais now a two-time Tony Award nominee…
The half-Mexican American actress/singer, who received a Tony nomination in 2017 for starring in the 2017 revival of Miss Saigon, is nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for portrayingEurydice in Hadestown.
Prior to appearing on Broadway in Hadestown, Noblezada opened in the lead role of Eurydice in the Royal National Theatre‘s production of the musical on the West End.
Sergio Trujillowill be crossing his fingers on Broadway’s biggest night.
The internationally recognized Colombian choreographer is nominated in the Best Choreography category for his work in Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations.
Trujillo previously earned a Tony Award nod in the same category for his work on the Gloria Estefan and Emilio Estefan musical On Your Feet!
Hadestowntopped all nominees with nods in 14 categories including best musical, where it will go up against Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations, Beetlejuice, The Promand Tootsie.
This year’s Tony Awards will air at 8:00 p.m. on CBS on June 9 from Radio City Music Hall, with James Cordenserving as host.
Here’s the full list of nominations:
Best Play The Ferryman Choir Boy Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus What the Constitution Means to Me Ink
Best Musical Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations Beetlejuice Hadestown The Prom Tootsie
Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play Paddy Considine, The Ferryman Bryan Cranston, Network Jeff Daniels, To Kill a Mockingbird Adam Driver, Burn This Jeremy Pope, Choir Boy
Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Play Annette Benning, Arthur Miller’s All My Sons Laura Donnelly, The Ferryman Elaine May, The Waverly Gallery Janet McTeer, Bernhardt/Hamlet Laurie Metcalf, Hillary and Clinton Heidi Schreck, What the Constitution Means to Me
Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom Derrick Baskin, Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations Alex Brightman, Beetlejuice Damon Daunno, Rogers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! Santino Fontana, Tootsie
Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical Stephanie J. Block, The Cher Show Caitlin Kinnunen, The Prom Beth Leavel, The Prom Eva Noblezada, Hadestown Kelli O’Hara, Kiss Me, Kate
Best Orchestrations Michael Chorney + Todd Sickafoose, Hadestown Simon Hale, Tootsie Larry Hochman, Kiss Me, Kate Daniel Kluger, Rogers + Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! Harold Wheeler, Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations
Best Revival of a Play Arthur Miller’s All My Sons
The Boys in the Band Burn This Torch Song The Waverly Gallery
Best Costume Design of a Musical Michael Krass, Hadestown William Ivey Long, Beetlejuice William Ivey Long, Tootsie Bob Mackie, The Cher Show Paul Tazewell, Ain’t Too Proud to Beg — The Life and Times of the Temptations
Best Revival of a Musical Kiss Me, Kate Rogers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Best Scenic Design of a Musical Robert Brill + Peter Nigrini, Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations Peter England, King Kong Rachel Hauck, Hadestown Laura Jellinek, Rogers + Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! David Korins, Beetlejuice
Best Sound Design of a Musical Peter Hylenski, Beetlejuice Peter Hylenski, King Kong Steve Canyon Kennedy, Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations Drew Levy, Rogers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! Nevin Steinberg + Jessica Paz, Hadestown
Best Original Score Be More Chill,music & lyrics by Joe Iconis
Beetlejuice, music & lyrics by Eddie Perfect Hadestown, music & lyrics Anais Mitchell The Prom, music by Matthew Sklar & lyrics by Chad Beguelin Tootsie, music & lyrics by David Yazbek
Best Book of a Musical Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations, Dominique Morisseau Beetlejuice, Scott Brown & Anthony King Hadestown, Anais Mitchell The Prom, Bob Martin & Chad Beguelin Tootsie, Robert Horn
Best Choreography Camille A. Brown, Choir Boy Warren Carlyle, Kiss Me, Kate Denis Jones, Tootsie David Neumann, Hadestown Sergio Trujillo, Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations
Best Scene Design of a Play Miriam Buether, To Kill a Mockingbird Bunny Christie, Ink Rob Howell, The Ferryman Santo Loquasto, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus Jan Versweyveld, Network
Best Costume Design of a Play Rob Howell, The Ferryman Toni-Leslie James, Bernhardt/Hamlet Clint Ramos, Torch Song Ann Roth, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus Ann Roth, To Kill a Mockingbird
Best Sound Design of a Play Adam Cork, Ink Scott Lehrer, To Kill a Mockingbird Fitz Patton, Choir Boy Nick Powell, The Ferryman Eric Sleichim, Network
Best Lighting Design of a Play Neil Austin, Ink Jules Fisher + Peggy Eisenhauer, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus Peter Mumford, The Ferryman Jennifer Tipton, To Kill a Mockingbird Jan Versweyveld + Tal Yarden, Network
The 22-year-old half-Mexican American actress and singer will star in the musical drama Yellow Rose.
Noblezada, who received a Tony Award nomination for her lead role as Kim in the 2014 West End and 2017 Broadway revivals of Miss Saigon, will star opposite Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, who portrayed Kim in the original Broadway cast.
Directed by Diane Paragas, Yellow Rose tells the story of a 17-year old Filipino American girl from Texas who secretly dreams of becoming a country music star. When her mom is arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, she runs away and is forced to embark on a journey to forge her own path or face deportation with her mother back to the Philippines.
This will mark Noblezada feature film debut. In addition to Salonga, she’ll also star alongside country music artist Dale Watson, Liam Booth, Gustavo Gomez(Walking Dead, Animal Kingdom),Libby Villari (Boyhood) and Princess Punzalan.
The film will feature original music composed and performed by the cast and director.
Lynda Carter is going from superhero to super leader…
The 64-year-old part-Mexican and part-Spanish American actress/singer, best known for starring as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince on the cult classic ABC/CBS series, will portray the President of the United States on the second season of the CW’s superhero drama series Supergirl.
It had long been rumored that Carter was being eyed for the role on the Melissa Benoist-starrer and mentioned as an idea by the show’s executive producers, and now it’s all official.
Carter joins other superhero alums to appear on the series.Lois and Clarkstar Dean Cain and Supergirlactress Helen Slater play Kara’s (Benoist) adoptive parents.
Carter, who played Wonder Woman in the 1970s television series, more recently starred as Matron Mama Morton in the London West End production ofChicago. Her television appearances have included The Muppet Show, Partners in Crimeand Two and a Half Men.
She also has released three albums, including 1978’s Portrait, 2009’s At Lastand 2011’s Crazy Little Things.
Based on the DC Comics characters, Supergirl also stars Mehcad Brooks, Chyler Leigh, David Harewood, Jeremy Jordan and Calista Flockhart.
David Bedella’s career is reach new award-winning Heights…
The 53-year-old Mexican American television and musical stage actor took home the prize for Best Actor in a Supporting Role at last night’s Laurence Olivier Awards.
Bedella won the award for playing the role of Kevin Rosario in the Tony Award-winning musical In The Heights at the Kings Cross theatre in London.
It’s Bedella’s second Olivier award, following his win in the Best Actor in a Musical category for his performance in Jerry Springer – The Opera.
Meanwhile, the show’s star on BroadwayLin-Manuel Miranda won the Olivier Award for best score for the current London production of In the Heights — the show Miranda conceived, wrote, scored and starred in before doing the same for current musico-historico blockbuster Hamilton.
But that’s not all… In the Heights choreographer Drew McOnie won, as did Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman, the show’s orchestrators and arrangers.
2016 Olivier Award winners featuring Latinos:
Outstanding Achievement in Music:In The Heights, music and Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, orchestrated and arranged by Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman, at King’s Cross Theatre. Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical: David Bedella, In The Heights.
It’s bye, bye Betty… and Hello, Bethany for America Ferrera…
The 28-year-old Honduran American actress will be returning to Off Broadway this season to play the lead in Bethany.
Written by Laura Marks, the dark comedy is set in an American community hit hard by foreclosures and economic woes, the play revolves around a woman who tests the limits of her own morality as she scrambles to regain her financial footing.
Produced by Women’s Project Theater, the world premiere will be directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch.
The play is scheduled to run January 11-February 17, 2013 at New York City Center Stage II.
Named on New York Magazine’s list of “most powerful drag queens in America,” Del Rio is best known as the winner of Season 6 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, when she was crowned America’s Next Drag Superstar.
