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)

The post Actress Natasha Perez to Guest in ‘Latino Thought Makers’ first appeared on .

Developed by Najera, NIA is a humor-filled, effusive podcast show created with a heart to fill the void for a much-needed conversation with today’s top voices in diversity, entertainment, and politics. Initial guests to date include Academy Award® nominee/Tony Award® winner Edward James Olmos, comedians Wendy Leiberman, Carole Montgomery, Erik Rivera, Momo Rodriguez and former Telemundo President, author, and motivational speaker, Nely Galan.

Najera explained that NIA, created at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, came from his desire to give people hope during a very difficult time. As the creator of Latino Thought Makers, his on-camera, current live show of more than six years, Najera was already trying to bring diversity to the forefront. With his new podcast, he wants his audiences to know that people, around the country, are all in this together.

The initial show guests are comedian Momo Rodriguez; independent producer, former President of Entertainment for Telemundo, Nely Galan, and Hector Rodriguez . The conversation is informative, warm and conversational. It is fun, funny, and yet you will learn something with each guest in the pilot podcast, about culture, relationships, and life struggles during these unprecedented times. “Nowadays, people are waking up and saying: ‘My God how can it get worse?’ Well, in this show I get to tell you in a comedic way,” Najera states.

“Nowadays, people are waking up and saying: ‘My God how can it get worse?’ And points to his coping process, “I know my friends, I know who my family is and I know who I am. That’s the most important thing you need to know because when the winds of change happen…It’s your opinion of yourself that really matters.” He points out that Najera in America gets to the issues and does so in a comedic way.

reVolver Podcasts is a multicultural, audio-on-demand content creator and distributor in the U.S. Home to , The Power of Us,” and “Don Cheto, Al Aire” plus more than 50 additional programs spanning sports, music, finance, entertainment, lifestyle, health and wellness, inspiration, news, branded content and live events. The podcasts are distributed on reVolverPodcasts.com, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Pandora, and iHeartMedia.

“Storytelling is at the core of reVolver Podcasts entertainment lineup,” said President of reVolver Podcasts Jack Hobbs. “I am excited to have Rick and his show bringing important subjects such as diversity, entertainment, and politics to our unique digital platform.”

A consummate industry professional and a Los Angeles native, Najera worked his way up from Shakespeare at the Old Globe Repertory Theater to writing for major television comedies such as In Living Color, Robert Townsend, MADtv to dramatic shows, such as East Los High for Hulu. He developed his self-written stage play: Latinologues, which was taken to Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre in New York. Najera is considered among the top sketch comedy writers and speakers in Hollywood. He also starred in two Showtime specials, Diary of a Dad Man and Legally Brown. Currently, he is also working on his fifth book with Dr. Sanjiv Chopra, based on writing and speaking.

Najera in America is produced by reVolver Podcasts and Cohesive Entertainment Group, LLC and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, iHeart, Spotify.

Follow the Najera in America podcast on social media at @najerainamerica and hashtag #NIA and #NajeraInAmerica.

Najera is repped by Daryn Simons at Cohesive Entertainment Group, LLC.

The post Rick Najera Partners with ReVolver Podcasts on “Najera In America” a Comedic Take on Diversity in America first appeared on .