A bio-drama based on the life of late Cuban salsa icon and superstar Celia Cruz is set to premiere on Oct. 13 at 8pm/7c on USA-based Spanish-language network, Telemundo. Celia, bound to have crossover appeal, is directed by Victor Mallarino and Liliana Bocanegra, and scripted by Andrés Salgado.
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So, who’s been tasked with playing the Queen of Salsa? None other than Puerto Rican actress Jeimy Osorio (Fast Five, Maid In Manhattan). Cue a collective whew! because production got this one right. Fellow Boricua actor Modesto Lacén will live out the role of Cruz’s hubby, Pedro Knight. Lacén has already portrayed Knight once before in the off-Broadway theater production, The Life and Music of Celia Cruz.
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The mini-series chronicles Celia’s rise to fame in pre-revolution Havana, Cuba when salsa (or son) was largely a white-male dominated genre. Celia in turn was faced with racism, sexism, and defied standards as a black woman musician in the 1950s.
“Most of us, at least those of a certain generation, know a lot about Celia’s later years, but we spend a big portion of the series delving into a side of the young Celia that most people probably aren’t aware of,” Glenda Pacanins, SVP, Telemundo Programming Strategy Integration, told Billboard. “Yes, she was incredibly talented and driven, but she also didn’t know what she was getting herself into […] There was a stigma at that time of women participating in the entertainment industry — they were perceived as easy or as someone who would walk down a bad path in life, so it’s interesting because it sets the stage for the woman that Celia would eventually become.”
The Grammy-winning, Hollywood Walk of Famer passed away at the age of 77 in 2003, after battling cancer.
Celia llegará muy pronto para llenar tu noches de música y sabor.
Posted by Telemundo on Thursday, August 20, 2015