Chavez is Flora, the fairy of nature from the planet Lynphea that draws her power from plants as she makes her first appearance in the popular teen series.

San Antonio-born Chavez has joined returning cast members Abigail Cowen, Hannah van der Westhuysen, Precious Mustapha, Eliot Salt, Elisha Applebaum, Sadie Soverall, Freddie Thorp, Danny Griffin, Theo Graham, Jacob Dudman, Ken Duken and Rob James Collier. Other new cast members include Brandon Grace and Éanna Hardwicke. Fate: The Winx Saga was created and is executive produced and showrun by Brian Young, an executive producer and writer of the CW teen series The Vampire Diaries. 

“I feel great,” says Chavez in a video tweeted by the streamer this week showing the cast members coming together for a table read in Ireland. She should. Her character almost didn’t happen.

Flora, widely believed to be Latina, was magically absent in season one. That in spite of being among the original pixies of the Nickelodeon animated series Winx Club that served as the basis for the Netflix live-action drama. (The animated Flora was reportedly inspired by Jennifer Lopez and voiced by actress Alejandra Reynoso.)

Instead of Flora, who appeared in all eight seasons of Winx Club, the producers created Terra, a new character played by Salt, who was introduced incidentally as Flora’s cousin.

All that did not escape Winx fandom’s attention, who was asking what happened to three of their favorite fairies: Flora; Musa, considered to be Asian (now played by Applebaum); and Tecna, the fairy of technology that totally vanished from the new show.

Whitewashing accusations of what used to be a diverse series ensued. Even leading actress Cowen, who plays Bloom, reportedly supported bringing in Flora on season two. 

The pressure for and conversation about diversity and inclusivity in the Netflix fairy drama seems to have had an impact. 

Now Chavez’s live-action Flora may be doing what her animated version did: decorate her room with many plants as if it were a greenhouse, protect friends and the environment and use her herbology expertise for good.

Chavez comes into Fate: The Winx Saga after recently playing the lead in another Netflix series, The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia, created and executive produced by Daytime Emmy Award-winning Extra host and actor Mario Lopez (Saved By the Bell). Chavez’s role as a teen science prodigy earned her a nomination for an Imagen Foundation Award. The 19-year-old actress also co-starred with Lopez in the Christmas movie Feliz NaviDAD, directed by Melissa Joan Hart and written by Aliza Murrieta and Peter Murrieta. 

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Aaron Lee Lopez is not waiting for Hollywood to come calling. He has created his own film production company and is not looking to Hollywood to “Greenlight” his film career. He consistently produces/directs or writes at least two low budget films a year. So far this year one of his films Teenage Girl: Valerie’s Holiday has released; and the trailer for his latest film Teenage Vampire, which premieres on October 24 2020, just dropped a few days ago.

Lopez began his filmmaking career after receiving his BA from South West Texas  State University. He began working in the film business  as a production assistant onTV shows and movies like Grindhouse, The Hangover, and Parenthood, and others. Since then, Aaron has spent most of his time in San Antonio, Texas growing the film industry and mining the audience for his films.

Although Lopez has produced a variety of low budget films, from comedy to drama to horror, Lopez’s Mutt Productions has found its sweet spot producing films for an audience of elementary kids, middle school kids and high school kids. It has proved to be a winning formula, so much so that when you look at his IMDB page you would think you were looking a one of Hollywood’s top director/producer’s page with a listing of twelve (12) different projects all in different stages of production.

Casting is also a signature of Lopez’s type of filmmaking. He chooses put Latinos in the lead roles, adding when possible some recognizable names from Hollywood. When asked why, he simple says, “I feel that Latinos need more representation in film especially doing roles that are not just stereotypical.”

In his upcoming film, Teenage Vampire the cast includes Claire Tablizo, Jaeden Riley Juarez, Gabby Garcia, Tres Allison,  Mick Buck, and Cynthia Fray. Latinos are also well represented behind the camera with Lopez, Stephen Allen Gutierrez, R. Scott Leisk, and Paul Matthew Lopez the same four producers behind the 2019  San Antonio Film Festival Audience Award Winner Teenage Girl: Valerie’s Holiday. Teenage Vampire was executive producer Kurt Wipfli and directed by Aaron Lee Lopez and written by him and his brother Paul Matthew Lopez.

Lopez directed Teenage Vampire, a story that revolves around Chase (Tablizo) and her best friend Pam (Juarez) who decide to join the cheerleading squad to become the cool kids in school. Chase, who has a crush on Sean (Buck) has been invited to join the cheer team and has been invited to a house party where she is forced to drink from a chalice as an initiation into the cheer group.  In the morning she finds out that she has become half vampire and begins to grow teeth.  Chase’s brother Dean (Allison) becomes concerned and starts to investigate the situation. Sin (Garcia) is the head of  the Vampires; while Dean joins forces with Sean and tries to save Chase and Pam and others as they fight to escape the Vampire’s doom.  

Lopez also wrote/produced and directed Teenage Girl: First Wheels whose cast included Claire Tablizo, Jaeden Riley Juarez, Lexi Villareal and Corey Feldman and Teenage Girl: Valerie’s Holiday which stars Valeria Jauregui, Jesse Borrego, Dallin McKay,  Paulina Chavez (Feliz NaviDAD, The Expanding World of Ashely Garcia), Montana Leann, Sandra Nori, and Paul Matthew Lopez.

To get his film out to audiences, Lopez works with a sales rep and he told that he takes a direct approach for getting his films to theaters; he usually just goes straight to the local theaters and works out a distribution deal with them because he believe there is an audience for them.  “These films have a market because not many people are doing this John Hughes style 80’s type of movies anymore,” he explained. “And that’s what I do best, is try and recreate that nostalgic feeling that I used to have as a kid when I went to the theater.” 

Lopez was also as a writer/producer of the feature film The Margarita Man (2019) which starred Anthony  Guajardo, Renessa Sanders, Sean Koetting, Jesse Borrego, Valeria Jauregui, Pepe Serna, Barry  Corbin, Paul Matthew Lopez and Danny Trejo. Like many Hollywood directors, Lopez likes to work with the same actors casting them over several of his films.

While Hollywood is grappling with diversity and how to “get it right” when it comes to the inclusion of Latinos in front of, and behind the camera, Lopez has been doing it “right” in San Antonio, TX.

Teenage Vampire will be having its world premiere at City Base Cinema in San Antonio TX, on October 24,  2020 and will have a limited theatrical run.  

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The popular cable channel Lifetime is celebrating their 30^th anniversary of the first Lifetime Original Movie, by announcing over 50 new original films set for release between May and December of 2020, including Mario Lopez’s newest Christmas film project, Feliz NaviDAD.

Feliz NaviDAD is written by Peter Murrieta (Wizards of Wavery Place, One Day at a Time and Cristela) and produced by Mark Roberts (Mexico’s Next Top Model, The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia and Carlos Almaraz: Playing with Fire). Melissa Joan Hart will be directing. The film stars Lopez and Paulina Chavez as his daughter (Ashley Garcia in The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia).

In Feliz NaviDad Lopez plays is a widower struggling with his first Christmas after the passing of his beloved wife. His daughter makes it her mission to help him rediscover his Christmas spirit. Lopez will be both star and the executive producer of this heartwarming Christmas family-friendly movie.

It has been highlighted as one of the featured films for Lifetime’s yearly Christmas film block tradition It’s a Wonderful Lifetime. This will be Lopez’s second-holiday film with Lifetime, after the rom-com A Very Merry Toy Story (2017).

Hart will join Lopez in Feliz NaviDAD as the film’s director and actress. In an interview with Access Hollywood, Hart revealed that Lopez himself asked her to direct this film. Hart has made a name for herself as a television director, which including the original Netflix series The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia, which was co-created by Lopez. Feliz NaviDAD will also be the third rom-com holiday film collaboration between Hart and Lopez, including their first and most popular film, Holiday in Handcuffs (2017).

While Lopez is primarily known for his role as A.C. Slater in Saved By the Bell and playing Greg Louganis in the TV movie Breaking The Surface: The Greg Louganis Story. He has been doing a lot of work as an entertainment host, currently on Access Hollywood.  Recently he has been producing a multiple TV shows and films, such as Champs, A Very Merry Christmas, The Expanding Universe of Ashley Garcia, and the Saved by the Bell reboot.

Though there are concerns about film projects, either starting or finishing during this uncertain time of COVID-19, according to iHeart Radio’s On with Mario Lopez, the production has gotten the green light to begin production on June 8th.

The post Mario Lopez to Star and Executive Produce Lifetime’s “Feliz NaviDAD” first appeared on .

Co-Created y Mario Lopez and Seth Kurland

When Ashley Garcia — the world’s only 15-and-a-half-year-old robotics engineer and rocket scientist — gets the chance to work for NASA, she moves across the country to live with her fun-loving Uncle Victor, a pro football player turned high school coach who’s never met a responsibility he can’t shirk.

Netflix has been working overtime since canceling One Day at a Time after three seasons. The news is that the streaming giant is adding The Expanding Universe of Ashley Green, to its growing slate of live-action series featuring kids and families. The 16-episodes are centered around a 15-year-old robotics engineer and rocket scientist who moves in with her uncle when she gets a chance to work for NASA.

“I am excited for the opportunity to partner with Netflix to tell a universal, family-friendly story with a Latin flavor!” said Mario Lopez.

Pretty cool, huh?

This is a project created by Lopez and Seth Kurland (Speechless, Melissa & Joey, Friends), who is executive-producing the series. Kurland is also the showrunner of the multi-cam comedy. Writer/Executive Producer is David Kendall (Melissa & Joey, Boy Meets World, Growing Pains). Also on the writing team is TV scripter Jessica Lopez (Selena, That’s So Raven, East Los High).

“This is a show for the entire family, and hopefully as we expand the universe of Ashley, we also get to expand everyone else’s universe,” Lopez stated in an ET interview. “When I got the call I couldn’t believe it, but now that it has sunken in, I am filled with excitement and thrilled to kick off filming.”

Latin Heat, NHMC (National Hispanic Media Coalition) and many Latinos working in the industry have had multiple conversations about the importance of diversity and representation on screen. How wonderful that our very own Mario Lopez has created a funny and wholesome Latino-themed family comedy that appeals to mainstream viewers. Kudos to Netflix for their continued support of bringing programming that beautifully captures the core essence of what being a USA Latino is and looks like. Also, it is further validation of the importance of Latinos to the U.S.A. economy. Netflix knows the power and value of brand loyal Latino viewers, who as a group represent the biggest and growing ethnic minority in the nation.

Jencarlos Canela (Grand Hotel), will portray the fun-loving uncle Victor, and newcomer Paulina Chavez (Padre Pio, Day 5), will star in the title role.

Jencarlos Canela is repped by Creative Artists Agency (CAA), DePaz Management, and Shelter PR. Paula Chavez is repped by Cunningham Escott Slevin & Doherty (CESD), and Pastorini Bosby Talent Agency. Mario Lopez is repped by 3 Arts Entertainment, William Morris Endeavor (WME) Entertainment, and Baker Winokur Ryder Public Relations.

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