by Antonio Mejías-Rentas
Walter Mercado (Photo by Olganza)
CAREER SHIFTS: Two unique Latino celebrities are giving their successful and out-of-the-ordinary careers new directions.
Walter Mercado, the Puerto Rican actor-turned astrologer who provides daily advice in TV shows and newspaper columns, debuted this month as an advisor on the VH-1 reality show Viva Hollywood. In the show, which began airing April 13, aspiring actors compete for a role in a Telemundo telenovela.
Upon elimination, each contestant performs a death scene. Along with the 76-year-old Mercado, Viva Hollywood features singeractors María Conchita Alonso and Carlos Ponce as hosts and judges.
Celebrity gossip blogger Pérez Hilton has also found e new outlet: he will produce two daily three-minute syndicated radio segments beginning May 5. The Radio Pérez spots will air initially in major markets, including Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.
Born Mario Lavandeira, in Miami to Cuban parents, the 29-yearold has made a name for himself—albeit fi cticious—as purveyor of juicy tidbits on the most notorious celebrities on his blog, perezhilton.com.
Other famous Latinos making career shifts:
- John Meléndez, who made a name for himself as “Stuffering John” on the Howard Stern radio show and as the announcer on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, has his first feature fi lm acting role in National Lampoon’s One, Two, Many, which comes out on DVD April 15. Meléndez wrote the script, which was directed by actor Michael DeLorenzo.
- Broadway star Bianca Marroquín, whose credits include performing in the hit musical Chicago in her native Mexico, in New York and on tour, is set to perform her fi rst show as a soloist. For the June 2 program at Manhattan’s Joe’s Pub Cafe, the Mexican singer-actress will perform Broadway and Mexican standards, as well as her own songs.
- Fashionista Nina García, one of two regular judges on the highly-rated Bravo show Project Runway, will have a cameo role on an upcoming episode of the ABC fashion-themed show Ugly Betty. The Colombia-born Garcia has been fashion director for Elle since 2000, though unconfirmed published reports last week indicated she had parted ways with the magazine. She’s the author of The Little Black Book of Style, which Rayo has just published in Spanish as El libro de la moda.
NEVER TOO LATE: It took Junot Díaz more than a decade to fulfill a two-book deal, but the wait was well worth it for the 39-year-old Dominican writer. His first novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction last week.
Diaz, who moved to 4New Jersey as a boy, was one of two Latino Pulitzer winners this year (along with Investor’s Business Daily cartoonist Michael Ramirez, who won his second Pulitzer). Hispanic Link.
