Wilmer and Griffith are both new additions to the new season of Greg Garcia’s Raising Hope on FOX
Wilmer Valderrama has had a busy couple of years, including a stint on the woefully under-appreciated Awake last year on NBC, his work as an activist on voting registration with Voto Latino, and producing an online dance competition. Now he’s making his way back to where he began–on a FOX sitcom–appearing in a recurring role on Raising Hope. Both Entertainment Weekly and The Hollywood Reporter tell us that he’ll be the guest star in at least three episodes next season, appearing as the love interest to Shannon Woodward’s mother…Melanie Griffith.
Born in Miami, of Colombian and Venezuelan descent, Wilmer is a young man who’s been a TV star for almost half his life, starting in 1998 as he played Fez, the foreign exchange student from…somewhere else…on the wildly successful That 70’s Show. When the series ended in 2006, Wilmer kept going, hosting Yo Momma on MTV and providing the voice of Manny on the wildly successful children’s program Handy Manny. His post-70’s movie work has included America Ferrera’s The Dry Land, Larry Crowne with Tom Hanks, and From Prada to Nada, which earned him an Imagen Award nomination last year. He also appeared in a multi-episode arc on USA’s Royal Pains before (or around) Awake.
The irreverent and quirky Raising Hope, starring Emmy-nominated Martha Plimpton, has been a modest but persistent cult-hit on FOX. It returns with new episodes beginning October 2.
Photo: ©2012 Angela María Ortíz S.
