Selena: The Series star Natasha Perez will be the guest of actor/filmmaker Rick Najera’s Latino Thought Makers series at Chicago’s Morton College Nov. 12. The series features Latino innovators in media and entertainment.

Perez is a film, stage, television and voice actress and comedienne best known for playing the villain Yolanda Saldívar in the Netflix hit show about the late megastar Selena Quintanilla. Other credits of the Venezuelan-born artist are films like the PBS doc Now En Español and director M. Night Shyamalan’s fantasy psychological thriller Lady in the Water and TV series like HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and Room 104.

A prolific voice-over actor, Perez has dubbed into Spanish dozens of commercials and characters of shows like Desperate Housewives, Lost and Grey’s Anatomy. Other voice credits include Hobby Kids Adventures, Bojack Horseman, Tuca and Bertie and Casa de Papel. 

In Chicago, the actress says, she will be talking about the “New Hollywood, post pandemic and social movements.” Taking advantage to her trip to the Windy City, Perez will “test-drive” her latest solo live-performance show in the Midwest, which includes parts of her recent short play Summer Camp, coincidentally directed by Najera. A coming-of-age story about a Venezuelan Catholic girl that ends at an orthodox Jewish camp by mistake, the comedy was featured at the Short+Sweet Hollywood theatre fest.

The Nov. 12 presentation will be Latino Thought Makers’ third live talk at Norton College since the series started a residency there this summer for the 2021-22 season. 

Najera’s past guests have included actors Edward James Olmos, Danny Trejo, Luis Guzman, Dr. Cornel West, United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta and many others since the series’ debut in 2013. 

Najera is an award-winning screenwriter, actor, director, producer, sketch comedian, author, playwright, coach and national speaker with an expansive portfolio of credits. He’s starred in films with Sidney Poitier, George Clooney and most recently Mario Lopez and written sketch comedy for Jim Carrey and Jamie Foxx. Najera is best known for starring on Broadway in his award-winning, self-penned stageplay Latinologues, directed by comedy legend Cheech Marin. Najera is only one of three Latinos to ever write and star in their own play on Broadway.

Latino Thought Makers is also streamed live.

For more information, visit https://www.morton.edu/latino-thought-makers.

Featured Photo: Natasha Perez (Credit: Courtesy of artist)

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