Pilots are strange, temporary things–the mayflies of the TV business. It’s great for an actor to get one, the potential is huge and the payoff impressive…but the vast majority of them never make it past the one-and-done stage, and even fewer are ever seen outside a network screening room.
Last season, more than a third of the pilots authorized for production by the five networks (we’re thinking ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, and NBC) had Latinos in supporting role, and a few in lead roles. Only a tiny fraction made it to network, and almost none of those survived for a full season. Though a significant portion of those had Latino actors actually playing Latinos, virtually none of them featured Latinos-and-Latinos in lead roles, or had premises that intrinsically involved Latino culture, lifestyles or issues.
This year the field has widened to include pilots on almost every cable net and even online giants like Amazon. A few have even already been authorized to go straight to air, like Michael J. Fox’s project. The rest, regardless of their origin, still have the same horrible odds against ever making it to air as any other year…but the trend towards Latinos in the lead and Latino themes has improved (you should pardon the expression) dramatically.
Here’s a roughly alphabetical list of the Latino actors and their shows that have been announced and cast, bit at a time, over the last few weeks. And there are plenty of casting decisions still to be made. It’s as comprehensive as we can make it, but even with almost thirty shows in the mix already, there’s more to come: things keep changing almost on a daily basis.
Odette (Yustman) Annable is in the new Bruce Greenwood nighttime soap, Venice, for ABC. Jennifer Beals is part of the cast as well (see below)
Jake T. Austin is in the Jennifer Lopez-produced pilot The Fosters for ABC Family. (So is and Cierra Ramirez; see below)
Jennifer Beals of Flashdance fame has landed one of the lead roles in ABC’s Venice, along with Odette Annable.
Stephanie Beatriz
Stephanie Beatriz is in Andy Samburg’s untitled Fox comedy from Dan Goor and Mike Schur, centering on a diverse group of detectives at a New York precinct. Melissa Fumero has joined the cast as well (see below).
Demián Bichir, who earned an Academy Award nomination last year for his role in A Better Life, stars in FX’s drama pilot The Bridge. It’s a sure thing: the network has already given it a 13-episode order.
Rosa Blasi is inThe Thudermans, a superhero family comedy that’s not actually a pilot–it went straight to 13 episodes for Nickelodeon. Diego Velazquez (see below) is part of production as well.
Angelique Cabral, who was in the Devious Maids pilot, actually has two pilots in the mix. She’s in the Fox comedy pilot Enlisted, about three very different brothers working together in the Army at a small base in Florida…AND she’s in the ABC Family pilot Continuing Fred. Keeping busy!
Telenovela star Manolo Cardona has been cast in USA’s untitled hour-long drama pilot based on the short story When The Women Come Out To Dance. The project centers on a Miami businessman considering running for political office. and Miss Bala’s breakout Stephanie Sigman (see below) is part of the program, too.
Mark Consuelos was part of FX’s American Horror Story: Asylum; now he’s been cast in the lead roles of Amazon’s Alpha House, a comedy pilot centering on four senators, including Latino politician Andy Guzman. Yara Martinez is part of the cast, as well. (See below) Ana de la Reguera moves from one Western movie (Cowboys and Aliens) to a Western pilot: Big Thunder for ABC, based–seriously, now–on a Disneyland theme ride, just like Pirates of the Caribbean. She’ll play, Selena Morales, “a strong, independent, take-no-guff woman who lives by her own moral code that was shaped by a very hard life.” Another strong Latino character.
Miguel Ferrer is playing his growly boss in yet another spin-off of NCIS, this one called NCIS: Red, about a ‘floating” NCIS team, for CBS. We’ll see it as a “back door pilot” in a near-future episode of NCIS: Los Angeles.
Melissa Fumero is part of Andy Samburg’s comedy-drama-cop-show, still not titled, for Fox. Stephanie Beatriz is in the cast as well.
Young Luke Ganalon, so impressive in Bless Me, Ultima, has just been cast as John Leguizamo’s son in Leguizamo’s semi-autobiographical pilot for ABC (see below)..
Nestor Serrano
Jorge Garcia and Nestor Serrano are both in The Ordained for CBS, a drama about the son of a Kennedy-esque family who leaves the priesthood and becomes a lawyer to prevent his politician sister from being assassinated
Nicholas Gonzalez has been cast as a series regular on Lifetime Witches of East End pilot.
Jay Hernandez is a key player in Gang-Related, a cop-and-gang undercover drama for Fox. Ramon Rodriguez is in the cast as well (see below).
John Leguizamo is done trying to fit in to other people’s projects for the moment, and is getting some traction with an as-yet-untitled ABC pilot based on his own life in New York. Luke Ganalon (Bless Me, Ultima) has recently been cast as one of his sons.
Justina Machado is in Paging Dr. Freed, a medical comedy-drama for USA.
James Martinez is in Intelligence, a CBS pilot about the U.S. Cyber Service.
Yara Martinez is joining Mark Consuelos in Alpha House, the political drama pilot for Amazon. She will be playing a Cuban-American billionaire heiress who dates Consuelos’ character.
Esai Morales
Esai Morales and CCH Pounder are The Advocates for CBS: a female lawyer and a male ex-con who team up as “victim advocates,” “going to the very edge of the law to right wrongs and fight for the underdog.” From the creator who brought us The Mentalist, a long-time hit for the same network.
Natalie Morales is part of Trophy Wife, a family drama for ABC Ana Nogueira is in the as-yet-untitled Michael J. Fox pilot for NBC, playing his put-upon co-worker.
Hayley Orrantia a finalist on The X Factor a while back, has landed a role on ABC’s How the Hell Am I Normal, a dysfunctional family comedy pilot set in the ’80s.
John Ortiz co-stars with Greg Kinnear in the Rake, a Fox pilot about a brilliant but self-destructive criminal defense lawyer.
Michael Peña is the lead–and a Latino–in The List, the Fox drama about the U.S. Witness Protection Program falling apart.
Daniella Pineda will be part of a The Vampire Diaries spin-off The Originals for the CW, which revolves around the show’s original family of vampires.
Cierra Ramirez joins Jake T. Austin in the Jennifer Lopez-produced pilot The Fosters for ABC Family.
Diana Maria Riva co-stars in The Gates, an NBC comedy pilot about…well, they say it’s about “the parents and staff who navigate the twice-daily social landmine that exists at the school drop-off gates of an elementary school” Really? That’s it?
Freddy Rodriguez is part of the ensemble in NBC’s After Hours, a medical drama following Army doctors working the late shift at a San Antonio Hospital.
Cierra Ramirez
Ramon Rodriguez, last seen as the twenty-first century Bosley on Charlie’s Angels, is among the Latinos cast in Gang-Related, a cop-and-gang undercover drama for FOX. Jay Hernandez is part of the show as well.
Nestor Serrano part of The Ordained, a CBS drama pilot about politics, the priesthood, and assassination. He is joined by Jorge Garcia of Lost and Alcatraz.
Miss Bala’s breakout star Stephanie Sigman joins telenovela star Manolo Cardona in USA’s untitled drama pilot about a Miami businessman running for political office.
Diego Velazquez joins Rosa Blasi for The Thundermans, a superhero family comedy that’s going straight to series for Nickelodeon.
Maiara Walsh, most recently seen playing opposite Constance Marie on ABC Family’s Switched at Birth, will take over the role made famous by Emma Stone in the television series adaptation of the 2009 hit movie Zombieland. Walsh will portray tough girl Wichita in the comedy pilot for Amazon.
It’s heartening to see so many new names and fresh faces, as well as some attention to long-standing talent like Leguizamo and Riva.
All in all, however, a much larger proportion of these Latino actors are playing Latino characters, and equally exciting: most of the characters are admirable and accomplished people–politicians, police officers, professional, doctors, caring parents, and even the occasional zombie hunter and superhero. Regardless of the final outcome, it’s a positive sign: not only are Latinos playing any role making more headway than ever in episodic TV; Latino themes and culture are finally making a multi-network appearance as well. The challenge is a long way from being resolved, but things are definitely improving.
