Some TV and film casting news you can use that wasn’t published during the week…
— Amanda Seales, who appeared in four episodes as Tiffany in the first season of HBO’s Issa Rae comedy series “Insecure,” has been upgraded to series regular for the upcoming season 2. Seales plays Tiffany – one of star Issa and Molly’s friends from college. She works in PR and believes she has the perfect, aspirational relationship with her husband, Derek (Wade Allain-Marcus).
— Rosie Perez has been cast in a lead role in NBC’s “Drama High” pilot, from “Friday Night Lights” executive producer/showrunner Jason Katims and Jeffrey Seller, producer of the smash Broadway hit “Hamilton.” The hourlong project revolves around an extraordinary working-class high school drama department and the incredible students who come alive under a passionate teacher whose dedication to the program galvanizes the entire town. Perez will play Tracey, the high energy, no-holds-barred current Drama School teacher and a former high school theater person who finds that someone else with passion and vision can still inspire her.
— Chuku Modu has booked a series regular role in “The Good Doctor,” ABC’s medical drama pilot based on a South Korean format, directed by Seth Gordon. “The Good Doctor” centers on a young surgeon with Savant syndrome who is recruited into the pediatric surgical unit of a prestigious hospital. Modu will play Dr. Jared Unger, a resident at the San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. He joins the previously cast Antonia Thomas who plays the female lead.
— Sydney Park has been set as a series lead for “Lifeline,” YouTube’s eight-episode sci-fi action thriller from Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions. She will star opposite Zach Gilford in a project that’s set in the not-too-distant future and follows a little known life insurance company that sends its agents forward 33 days in time to prevent the accidental deaths of its clients. The company’s best agent, Conner Hooks (Gilford), has never missed a save – until he takes on the most personal case of his life. When sixteen-year-old Norah (Park) is orphaned on his watch, Conner pledges to protect her, even if that means putting his career at Lifeline – or his own life – in jeopardy.
— Elliot Knight has been cast in a lead role opposite Lucy Hale in “Life Sentence,” the CW’s dramedy pilot which centers on Stella (Hale), a young woman diagnosed with terminal cancer. When she finds out that she’s not dying after all, she has to learn to live with the choices she made when she decided to “live like she was dying.” Knight will play handsome Londoner Wes, Stella’s (Hale) husband, who was totally unhappy working in finance in the UK until he met Stella while traveling in Paris and inspired him to change his life. He is now cool, laid back and very happy making living in the moment with Stella in Asheville, NC.
— And finally, a feature film casting, not a TV casting: Tone Bell and David Alan Grier will star in the indie comedy “Bum Deal” from Black List alumni Shea Mirzai and Evan Mirzai, who are also producing. The film’s story follows two San Francisco slackers who, after failing to break into the business world with their million-dollar idea, strike a mutually rewarding deal with a homeless person to pose as the jet-setting venture capitalist who can get them in the door.
That’s all for now!
