Since the cancellation of the summer TV series she co-starred in with Mike Epps – “Uncle Buck” – Nia Long is more than making up for that loss, booking roles in Netflix’s ‘Dear White People’ series, headlining an upcoming Roxanne Shanté film produced By Forest Whitaker, and co-starring in Lifetime’s “Beaches” remake with Idina Menzel, to name 3 projects on her upcoming slate.

Announced today, we can also add a recurring role during the 3rd (current) season of Fox’s primetime soap opera “Empire.”




Long has signed up to play a character named Giuliana (aka Giusi), a “sleek, sexy, and cold-blooded” Las Vegas nightclub owner who is further described as a “queenpin… who makes brash moves in the gangster underworld of New York to secure a deal with Empire.”

Naturally her dealings will see her go up against the Lyon family; especially Cookie (Taraji P. Henson). So expect some fireworks there.

Long joins a growing list of other players appearing on “Empire” this season, including Mariah Carey, Taye Diggs, Birdman and French Montana.