Some TV and film casting news you can use…
First, Lifetime’s hit primetime serial Devious Maids is now in its second season, with season 2/episode 2 airing last night, introducing what looks to be a new wealthy family to the soap opera – the Millers, an African American family – who employ Rosie (the character played by Dania Ramirez) as their maid.
The family is led by Kenneth Miller (Willie C. Carpenter), a post-stroke patriarch, and his dysfunctional family.
Their story in a nutshell:
Kenneth Miller had a stroke and doesn’t speak – he’s in a wheelchair. His wife Didi (Tiffany Hines), who is less than half his age – and an ex stripper – is constantly at war with his daughter Lucinda (Kimberly Hebert Gregory). They despise each other. And there’s his son Reggie (played by Reggie Austin) who prefers to stay out of the family drama. At stake in all this? The contents of the father’s will. Rosie’s presence adds a wrinkle it all.
Devious Maids is set in the mansions of Beverly Hills’ wealthiest and most powerful families, and centers on a close-knit group of maids who are bonded together by their jobs, life struggles and the melodramatic universe that engulfs their employers.
Second, Larenz Tate has been promoted to series regular on USA’s original medical drama series Rush, set to premiere on July 17. The series comes from writer-director Jonathan Levine, and follows Dr. William Rush (Tom Ellis), a “medical fixer” who privately caters to LA’s elite.
Tate plays a Dr. Alex Thomas, Dr. William Rush’s best friend dating back to medical school and one of the few constants in his life. Alex is described as determined high-ranking physician at one of Los Angeles’ top hospitals, with what appears to be an ideal family life that his pal Rush has long avoided.
Third, Omar J. Dorsey has booked a recurring role on Showtime‘s Ray Donovan, playing a character named Cookie Brown, who is described as a powerful music business entrepreneur who’s recently released from prison.
The drama series stars Liev Schreiber as LA’s best professional fixer, the man called in to make the city’s celebrities, superstar athletes, and business moguls’ most complicated and combustible situations go away.
Fourth, the Cinemax series Banshee has promoted Afton Williamson to series regular. Williamson plays ADA Alison Medding, and is being promoted after initially joining the drama on a recurring basis during Season 2.
With a third season coming in early 2015, the primetime series stars Antony Starr as Lucas Hood, an ex-con and master thief who assumes the identity of the sheriff of Banshee, Pa., where he continues his criminal activities, even as he’s hunted by the shadowy gangsters he betrayed years earlier.
And fifth, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show has tapped Saturday Night Live writer and comedian Michael Che as its newest correspondent. Che will begin his duties in June.
The rising star cut his teeth in stand-up circles, to be eventually named one of Rolling Stone’s 50 Funniest People in 2013. Other career highlights include winning New York’s Funniest Stand-Up at the New York Comedy Festival, appearing on Seth Meyers’ new NBC late-night show as his first stand-up guest, appeared on Comedy Central as a guest on Chris Hardwick’s @midnight and has taped his first Comedy Central stand-up special to air June 6.
