Casting News - February 19, 2014
ABC's The Goldbergs & Secrets & Lies; CBS' The Crazy Ones; The CW's The Vampire Diaries; FOX's Gotham & Weird Loners; Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva; Showtime's Ray Donovan; Starz's Flesh and Bone; and USA's Playing House.
FOX's GOTHAM
- Jada Pinkett Smith (Hawthorne, The Matrix) is returning to TV with a starring role on the Batman prequel series. She will play Fish Mooney, an imposing, hotheaded and notoriously sadistic gangster boss and nightclub owner with street smarts and almost extra-sensory abilities to read people like an open book who is not one to be crossed.
SHOWTIME's RAY DONOVAN
- Wendell Pierce (The Wire, Treme, The Michael J. Fox Show) will recur on the upcoming second season of the drama. He will play Mr. Keith, a down on his luck parole officer who gets a payoff from Ray (Liev Schreiber).
THE CW's THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
- Raffi Barsoumian has landed a major recurring role on the drama series' fifth season. He will play Markos, an imposing and charismatic presence with supernatural origins.
- Also cast on the drama series in recurring roles today were Chris Brochu (CSI: NY) and Heather Hemmens (Hellcats). Brochu will play Luke, a charming gay student at Whitmore with a secret agenda. Hemmens will play Maggie, Enzo's (Michael Malarkey) new love interest and Dr. Whitmore's former lab assistant in 1953.
ABC's SECRETS & LIES
- Private Practice alum KaDee Strickland is returning to ABC with a starring role on the upcoming drama starring Ryan Phillippe and Juliette Lewis. She will play Christy, Ben's (Phillippe) wife whose feelings towards him are complicated by the discovery of the neighbor boy's body. Also cast on the series is Belle Shouse who will play Ben and Christy's young daughter Abby.
ABC's THE GOLDBERGS
- Thomas Lennon (Reno 911!, Sean Saves the World) will guest star on a Star Wars-themed episode of the comedy series. He will play a die-hard, elaborately costumed Star Wars fan who encounters Adam (Sean Giambrone) and Erica (Hayley Orrantia) in line at the Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi opening.
- Additionally, MADtv alum Bryan Callen will guest star in two episodes as Mr. Meller, Adam's gym teacher and Barry's (Troy Gentile) wrestling coach.
LIFETIME's DROP DEAD DIVA
- Pretty Little Liars star Janel Parrish will guest star on an upcoming episode of the sixth and final season of the drama. She will play Chelsea Jones, a cheerleader for a professional basketball team who finds viral video fame after someone captures her epic on-field meltdown on camera. When she decides to sue the team, she asks Jane (Brooke Elliot) for help.
USA's PLAYING HOUSE
- Ryan McPartlin (Chuck) will appear on the upcoming new comedy series starring Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair. He will play Steve, a hunky officer who helps Maggie (Parham) and Emma (St. Clair) install their baby seat.
CBS' THE CRAZY ONES
- Marilu Henner (Taxi, Brooklyn Nine-Nine) is heading to the comedy series for a mid-April episode. She will play Paige, Sydney's (Sarah Michelle Gellar) self-absorbed mom who returns to Chicago when Simon (Robin Williams) and Gordon (Brad Garrett) need her to cast a deciding vote.
STARZ's FLESH AND BONE
- David Michôd (Animal Kingdom) will helm the first episode of the new drama series created by Moira Walley-Beckett and starring Sarah Hay. "I'm entirely enamored of the visual, visceral, artful way David tells story," said Walley-Beckett. "His style and sensibility is very much in alignment with my vision of my show."
FOX's WEIRD LONERS
- Nate Torrence (Mr. Sunshine, Hello Ladies) is set as a lead opposite Zachary Knighton on the upcoming comedy series. He will play Eric, a nerdy but not unattractive guy who works as a toll collector on a commuter bridge. Following his father's death, Eric, who had spent his entire adult life living at home and taking care of his elderly parents, is cast adrift in the world, on his own for the first time ever, and he is delighted when his cousin, Stosh (Knighton) offers to move in with him.
