Hollywood Q&A
Q: It’s interesting to see Jaime Camil as a game-show host on CBS’s “Loteria Loca.” Has he ever done a job like that before? – Jennifer Bridge, via e-mail
A: In fact, he has. Though the actor arguably is bestknown from his 2014-19 run on The CW’s “Jane the Virgin,” he has done a variety of jobs during his entertainment career, one of which was his hosting the Mexican edition of the game “Le Gran Show” in 2010. Camil also has been a singer, has acted in telenovelas and has done cartoon voice-overs, but he maintains that he particularly enjoys stage work. He put his vocal talents to good use on Broadway as Billy Flynn in “Chicago” in 2016, and “West Side Story” and “Peter Pan” are among other theatrical productions that have featured him. Unfortunately, “Loteria Loca” faced a mid-season cancellation in late October.
Q: I saw “The Exorcist” recently on AMC. Was that Linda Blair’s first movie? – Don Parks, Fresno, Calif. A: She had done catalog ads and television commercials, and she had little-seen roles in the 1968-69 NBC soap opera “Hidden Faces” (in which Roy Scheider also was a cast member) and the early-1970s movies “The Way We Live Now” and “The Sporting Club” before she read for director William Friedkin for the role of possessed youngster Regan MacNeil in “The Exorcist.” She was selected from a reported field of 600 hopefuls for the part in the horror classic, for which she received an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe Award. She played Regan again in the 1977 sequel “Exorcist II: The Heretic.”
Q: How many years was “House of Cards” on, and how much of it was Rachel Brosnahan in? – Kelly Wade, Elyria, Ohio
A: The Netflix drama that did much to prove the popularity and viability of original series on streaming services ran for six seasons between 2013 and 2018. Later “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” Brosnahan was in the first three seasons as Rachel Posner, a prostitute whose efforts to build a new life for herself involved Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly), the chief of staff to President Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey).
After she left “House of Cards,” it didn’t take long for Brosnahan to land her next big triumph in the streaming world, since “Maisel” began in 2017 on Prime Video. She earned a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards for her work on that show, and she’s now slated to become the movie screen’s next Lois Lane in “Superman: Legacy” (currently slated for a mid-2025 release).`
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