By Elia Esparza

It would not be a cliché to say that triple threat performer/director Karina Noelle Castillo was ever not destined to be a part of the film, TV, multi media digital industry. Her career accomplishments have solely been as a result of her training, talent and tenacious determination.  But coming from a family of noted entertainment industry professionals, veteran actor/writer/director Enrique Castillo (Deja Vu, Blood in Blood Out, Weeds), media maven/producer Bel Hernandez (TheTRENDTalk, Latin Heat Entertainment), and highly regarded theater actor Sol Castillo (American Mariachi), one can say it was almost Karina’s birthright. 

Yet, despite who she’s related to in Hollywood, the best way to describe Karina is that she is first and foremost, a Los Angeles born Chicana, who is building an impressive career as an actor, producer, director and is also and entrepreneur with her  own clothing (Humana/Xicana brand). She graduated from the prestigious Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and California Institute of Arts, where she studied as a Theatre Major.

Karina started booking TV roles as a teenager at the age of 13. And has racked up an impressive list of TV credits working on programs such as: NCIS, S.W.A.T., Rebel, L.A.’s Finest, Pump, Superstore, The Good Doctor, Grey’s Anatomy, General Hospital, and Criminal Minds, to name a few. In 2015, she had a recurring role in Empty Space in the role of Martina for eight episodes.  

In 2015, she was cast in The Last Dinner, a horror short film. Her introduction to the horror/thriller genres and she loved it! Her other shorts she acted in are: Romantick, Vici, Ten Thousand Miles, Hero Complex, and Wake which inspired her to venture out on her own and direct, write and star in first short film Outside Your Door in 2020 about two young adults who try to manage their complicated feelings in the midst of a passionate but ultimately doomed romance.  

Currently, Karina has making the transition from acting to filmmaking. “More often than not in acting, you’re just one piece of the entirety of the art of filmmaking. I love the idea of being able to take an idea from its infancy and then create the final product and it’s thrilling to see my name behind it. To have my stamp on it, is exciting.”

Her second project currently in pre-preproduction, The Wall, is a 15-minute short, and officially her second horror/thriller short film outside of film school. 

Why the scary genre?

“I’ve always been a big fan of thriller/horror films and they are a fan favorite. They provide the opportunity to wrap serious themes in an entertaining package,” she said. “Thus, reaching a wider audience whose cup of tea isn’t always the more serious dramas. For this film, I drew inspiration from the classics like The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby, as well as the more modern films like The Babadook.

Karina grew up in the era and was a huge fan of Goosebumps and other R.L. Stine books. 

“I then ended up becoming a bit obsessed with gothic horrors, especially the Anne Rice universe starting with Interview with a Vampire and then moving on to the rest of the series,” she said. “I interspersed these with the classics like Dracula, Frankenstein, Phantom of the Opera, etc. I think the latest horror novel that terrified me was Bob Woodward’s Fear: Trump in the Whitehouse.” 

She gave us a good chuckle here — despite the fact we know she’s serious about culture, community activism and politics. She’s sincere in her desire to want the best to represent Latinos and people of color.

This year Karina was the recipient of the MACEF (Mexican American Cultural Education Foundation) grant recipients, where she was awarded $10,000 to help produce her short film. She was award the MACEF Premier Entertainment/ Dr. Ruiz Film Production Grant which was a great start, however Karina knew that to be able to afford the special effect she has planned for her film, she needed to raise more funds. 

The Wall is a tense psychological thriller with a searing message about the repercussions of denial and repression after trauma. It is intense but relatable film. “My goal in this,” stated Karina, “and all of my films is to shine a light on mental health, and to feature people of color in leading roles with as much nuance and truthful representation as possible”

“I wish I was a writer who gets obsessed with some historical subject and does heavy research to write about some sort of World War II story involving espionage or something like that,” she explained. “But I just write what I know. What’ I’ve experienced. It’s how I process things in my past, mistakes I’ve made, scenarios I wish I could have done better in my 20’s instead of ‘performing’ aka faking it, just like Lara is doing.” 

In further explaining her script, Karina reiterates that The Wall is not about mental illness but rather, the “importance of addressing your own individual mental health. It’s about the damage denial and repression after trauma causes”, she tells us. 

“Neither characters, Lara or Samuel, are mentally ill,” stated Karina.  “They are people who like the majority of us, sacrifice their own peace of mind to keep their relationships and homes together. So many of us make little tiny choices every day to either ignore our feelings or placate people, or to convince ourselves that ‘everything is OK’.” 

“After many years those small choices become a mountain of unaddressed issues, and our mental health suffers because of it. Eventually all of those things that we don’t address will boil over, and that manifests differently depending on the person.”

The Wall’s theme has relevance to a wide audience because most of us have experienced the harm that denial and repression can cause. If we allow the trauma to fester, it could swallow you whole without mental health professional assistance. But with proper treatments, most can face their fears and it can be a glorious rebirth. That’s the beauty of the promise of The Wall.

For now, The Wall is slated for its world premiere as part of the Mexican American Film and Television Festival in 2023 which happens May 13 and 14 at Ralieigh Studios in Hollywood. 

“Of course, for The Wall, it is all dependent on how well we do with our crowdfunding campaign and in finishing the film in time for submission,” stated Karina. “I’m honestly just grateful to be selected as one of their recipients… Just being supported by them and having the board believe in my project is heartening enough. Any other festivals would be more icing on the cake.”

Karina Noelle Castillo is undeniably at the forefront of rising talents and film directors in Hollywood. She is the CEO and founder of Another Killer Winter, a production company focused on projects that explore the bitter-sweetness of humanity with an emphasis on looking through the female lens. She has has also extended her directing talents to include the TheTRENDTalk TV show which airs on MeTV and all social media platforms. She produced and starred in the web series Buzzchat premiered on the FYI channel as a featured segment of talk show KikiMobile in 2017.

To be a part of Karina’s latest film project, please click The Wall for more details. Karina Noelle Castillo is repped by @citizenskull.liz, @soverigntalentgroup. 

The Wall Cast: 

Karina Noelle Castillo as Lara

Andrew Lee as Samuel

Leonora Anzaldua, Producer and DP

Aram Ramirez is 2^nd Unit Camera

The Wall Crowdfunding Campaign

The post Actor/Director Karina Noelle Castillo On Her Psychological Thriller ‘The Wall’ first appeared on .

A new law drama on ABC features Andy Garcia playing a big-time attorney.

Oscar-nominated actor stars in Rebel, a series inspired by Erin Brockovich‘s story, the legal clerk that was the subject of the 2000 film Erin Brockovich starring Julia Roberts. That role won Roberts an Academy Award. However, the TV series is “inspired by the life of Erin Brockovich today,” according to a network press release. Back in the early 1990s, Brockovich helped win a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in 1993 against Pacific Gas & Electric Company of California—that despite the fact she didn’t have any legal education. The consumer advocate and environmental activist is now a media personality who has a consulting firm and has even hosted television shows. 

Rebel centers on Annie “Rebel” Bello, played by Katey Sagal (Married With Children), a blue-collar legal advocate without a law degree. She’s described as a “funny, messy, brilliant and fearless woman who cares desperately about the causes she fights for and the people she loves,” hence the series’s title. “When Rebel applies herself to a fight she believes in, she will win at almost any cost,” reads a press statement.

Garcia plays Julian Cruz, a powerful but down-to-earth attorney for whom Rebel consults. Recently widowed, Cruz is still recovering from the loss. He is often pressed by Rebel to take on activist cases and represent the oppressed. 

Rebel marks Garcia’s return to a television series after having appeared in Quibi’s Flipped and Amazon’s Modern Love and being the voice of King Fialkov in the Netflix animated sci-fi 3Below: Tales of Arcadia. He is set to direct and star in the biographical drama Hemingway & Fuentes about the acclaimed novelist Ernest Hemingway and Gregorio Fuentes, the Spanish man who reportedly inspired the American writer to pen the famous short novel The Old Man and the Sea.

The Cuban-American leading man rose to prominence in Brian De Palma‘s 1987 The Untouchables, a mafia film that received an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Garcia went on to star in other features like the education drama Stand and Deliver and the crime thriller Internal Affairs. In 1990, he was featured in Ford Coppola‘s crime movie The Godfather Part III, opposite Al Pacino and Diane Keaton. That performance won Garcia an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. Other feature films the Rebel actor has starred in are When a Man Loves a Woman, opposite Meg Ryan, and Desperate Measures, opposite Michael Keaton. 

Garcia is also featured in the film trilogy Ocean’s—Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen—and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. 

Joining Garcia on the Rebel cast are John Corbett (Sex in the City), James Lesure (Las Vegas), Lex Scott Davis (Toni Braxton), Tamala Jones (Castle), Ariela Barer (Runaways), Kevin Zegers (Fear the Walking Dead), Sam Palladio (Nashville) and Karina Noelle Castillo (Superstore).

Krista Vernoff (Grey’s Anatomy, Station 19) is the creator and showrunner of Rebel. The series is executive produced by Vernoff and Alexandre Schmitt of Trip the Light, John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment, Andrew Stearn, Marc Webb and Adam Arkin. Brockovich herself is also a producer. 

The series is produced by ABC Signature in association with Sony Pictures Television.

Rebel is part of the ABC’s Thursday lineup starting April 8.

The post Andy Garcia Returns to TV as a Lawyer first appeared on .

Catch Karina Noelle on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy Season Finale Thursday, May 16^th, 8/7C PM

By Elia Esparza

Up and coming actress, Karina Noelle Castillo, portrays a paramedic who stops at nothing to save the lives of victims of a major freeway pile-up on the season finale of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy airing Thursday, May 16, 2019. And in true Grey’s fashion, this episode is sure to keep audiences in suspense as drama ensues causing havoc in Seattle.

Castillo nabbed the role in a highly anticipated episode of what is now known as the longest-running medical drama of all time, surpassing the number of episodes produced by previous record holder ER.  The episode is “Jump Into the Fog”, and will no doubt contain plenty of Grey’s Anatomy standard nail-biting, suspense-packed scenes in its season 15th finale.  

Castillo is an actor, filmmaker, and producer based in Los Angeles. In addition to Grey’s Anatomy season finale, her other recent television credits include CBS’ Criminal Minds, ABC’s General Hospital, and a series regular role on Amazon’s Empty Space.

As a filmmaker, she is the founder of Another Killer Winter, a production company whose purpose is to highlight fierce women of all colors both behind and in front of the camera who are passionate about bringing the bittersweet moments of humanity to the screen. She is also the producer of the web series Buzzchat, which has become a featured segment on KikiMobile, a mobile talk show on the FYI channel.

Latin Heat was able to catch up with Castillo to talk a bit about her career.

Latin Heat: What was it like to work on one of the most popular TV dramas of our time?

Karina Noelle Castillo:  It was a wonderful experience to see television production at the highest standard. This particular episode was on such a large scale and seeing all the cogs in motion was a wonderful treat.

LH:  Was the experience different than being on other sets?

KNC: Television is always done at quicker pace so seeing some of the most professional cast and crew in the business is an experience that’s unlike any others, especially since the whole environment feels like a family. So many of team members from the actors, to crew, to background artists have been a part of creating the show for so long that everything moves very smoothly.

LH: What else about working on Grey’s stands out to you?

KNC:  Kevin McKidd was really a pleasure to work with. He takes care of his fellow actors and is always all smiles even on long days.

LH: In addition to being a working actress, you have also directed and produced your own projects.  What are you currently working on?

KNC:  I’m currently developing a pilot with actor, writer, and podcaster Tony Reavis about a group of young creatives in Hollywood and what it takes to achieve your dreams in one of the hardest businesses in the world. We’re showing you everything Entourage didn’t. I’ve also just wrapped production on my short film Outside Your Door, a modern love story using classical silent film techniques.  I am currently submitting to film festivals.

LH: As a working actress going on one audition to another, what keeps you motivated?

KNC: My motivation has always come from wanting my work to help people feel understood. As actors we’re able to empathize with and get to know the lives of so many different people. This is the critical component to seeing the world from a different perspective and broadening one’s own world view. If we actors can do that and say things that others are scared to, or portray emotions that are otherwise hidden away, then perhaps we’ll reach those who are yearning to be understood. If I can help just one person feel like they’re not alone by watching something I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of, then those auditions I never booked don’t matter. It just wasn’t a story I was meant to tell yet.

Castillo has worked extra hard to pave her own way in film and television through her eclectic roles ranging from a doctor, military officer, boxer, mother, revolutionary leader, and even portraying the last human being to survive the destruction of the earth. Karina Noelle kicked off her career in a film opposite the 80’s star Corey Haim in what would turn out to be his final screen performance in the film Decisions, before his untimely death in 2010. With her distinctive look and soulful performances, Karina Noelle Castillo is making waves as the next leading lady to grace Hollywood.

Catch Karina Noelle on Grey’s Anatomy, Thursday, May 16^that 8/7C on ABC.

Castillo is repped by CSP Management, The Levin Agency (talent), and The Herrera Agency (publicist).

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