The Promised Land Book Series

[Jannet Nevels]

Anaward-winning actor who honed his craft on the theatrical stage of New York, John Ortiz is set to make his directorial debut at the Public Theatre in the play "Halfway Bitches Go To Heaven," written by Stephen Adly Guirgis. He won the Obie Award for Best Actor in the off-Broadway production of "References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot" and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his performance in the indie film "Jack Goes Boating." He is equally at home on stage, in feature films and on television.

In film, Ortiz can most recently be seen in "The Fallout," which premiered at SXSW, and the Duplass Brother feature "Horse Girl." He can also be seen in "Ad Astra" starring Brad Pitt. His other recent works in film include the recent "Transformers" spinoff "Bumblebee," where he starred opposite of Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena, as well as "Peppermint" opposite of Jennifer Garner. Before that, his credits include in "Kong: Skull Island" (Legendary); "God Particle" (Paramount), produced by J.J. Abrams; "Replicas" (Company Films) with Keanu Reeves; and "Going In Style" (Warner Bros.) with Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin, and directed by Zach Braff. He also starred opposite of Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence in the Academy Award-nominated film "Silver Linings Playbook." His additional film credits include "The Drop," "Cesar Chavez," "Public Enemies," "Fast & Furious 6," "Pride and Glory," "American Gangster," "Alien vs. Predator: AVP2," "Miami Vice," "El Cantante," "Amistad," "Carlito's Way," "Narc," "Ransom," "Riot," "Side Streets," "Sgt. Bilko," "Before Night Falls," "The Opportunists" and "The Last Marshall."

In television, he recently was one of the series leads in the Netflix series "Messiah" starring opposite Michelle Monaghan. Other works in television include "Togetherness," "The Handmaid's Tale," "The Guest Book," "Luck," "Rake," "The Job" and "Lush Life."

Along with acclaimed actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ortiz is the co-founder of LAByrinth Theater Company, where he has produced and performed in many productions including "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot," directed by Hoffman; "Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train" for which he was awarded a Drama Desk nomination; "Guinea Pig Solo"; and "Jack Goes Boating," all of which were staged at the Public Theater in New York. Most recently, he starred in the title role of "Othello" opposite Hoffman. The production, directed by Peter Sellars, premiered in Vienna and toured internationally.

Other New York theater credits include the Broadway production of "Anna in the Tropics"; "The Skin of our Teeth" with John Goodman at the Public Theater; "Cloud Tectonics" at Playwrights Horizon; as well as "The Persians" and "Merchant of Venice," both of which were directed by Peter Sellars and performed in Paris, London, Berlin and Edinburgh, among others cities. Regionally, Ortiz has performed at the Mark Taper Forum, Goodman Theatre, Hartford Stage, Arena Stage, Yale Repertory Theatre, South Coast Repertory and Cincinnati Playhouse.

Currently filming ABC's \"Promised Land\" opposite John Ortiz and created by Matt Lopez, Cecilia Surez can be seen in the upcoming feature \"Alegria\" (Powehi Films/Latido Films) where she portrays the title character, exploring the Jewish ancestry of the Spanish city of Melilla; the soon-to-be released indie horror-thriller, \"La Pasajera,\" directed by Ral Cerezo and Fernando Gonzlez Gmez. She can be seen in the recently award-nominated Netflix Spanish-Mexican thriller, limited series \"Someone Has to Die\" created and directed by her long-time collaborator Manolo Caro. For three seasons, she starred in Caro's popular Netflix series set in Mexico, \"La Casa de las Flores,\" where she won three Platino awards at the Ibero-America annual film and TV awards ceremony: two for Best Actress in a TV Series and one as Audience's Choice, over three consecutive seasons. During that time, she led the ensemble feature \"Perfectos Desconocidos,\" also directed by Manolo Caro; and before that, MGM's worldwide release of \"Overboard.\"

Honors include being the first Mexican actress to be nominated for an international Emmy Award for her role in the \"Capadocia\" series for HBO. She has been nominated for two Ariel Awards: Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, Mexico's equivalent to an Oscar. She's been honored with winning several of Mexico and Spain's top film festival awards throughout her career.

Also an award-winning stage actress, she was the lead in \"A Doll's House, Part Two,\" written by Lucas Hnath, and in the previous year, a sold-out run of famed Mexican playwright and journalist Sabina Berman's \"Testosterone\" at the National Institute of Fine Arts in Mexico City. She's performed with Steppenwolf Theatre Company and The Goodman Theatre in Chicago, and on the major stages across Mexico.

Past featured film work includes James L. Brook's \"Spanglish, Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada,\" directed by Tommy Lee Jones; Latin American box office successes include \"Tales of an Immoral Couple\" and \"Elvira, I Will Give You My Life But I'm Using It,\" both directed by Manolo Caro; the award-winning \"Blue Eyelids,\" directed by Ernesto Contreras.

Based on her long track record of public advocacy for gender equality in her home country of Mexico, Surez was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Antnio Guterres to be a U.N. Global Advocate for Spotlight Initiative in 2020. The Initiative is the world's largest targeted effort to end all forms of violence against women and girls. In her role, Surez has been dedicating her time and energy to speak out on the prevention of femicides and on ending toxic masculinity around the world. As was the case in 2018 and 2019, Surez will address world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, scheduled for September 2022.

Augusto Aguilera is currently shooting the ABC series "Promised Land." He recently recurred as Liver, opposite Ray Romano and Cristin Milioti, in HBO Max's "Made for Love," a half-hour series adaptation based on Alissa Nutting's tragicomic novel.

Aguilera was also recently seen as one of the leads in Nic Refn's Amazon series "Too Old to Die Young," opposite Miles Teller. He was previously seen in 20th Century Fox's "The Predator," directed by Shane Black; and the Hulu pilot "Citizen," directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, as well as the Audience Network series "Ice," directed by Antoine Fuqua.

Christina Ochoa (born Cristina Ochoa Lopez in Barcelona) most recently starred in ABC's dramedy series \"A Million Little Things\" and is known for her recurring roles in U.S. television shows such as Robert Rodriguez's \"Matador\" and TNT's \"Animal Kingdom.\" She recently starred as the lead in both SyFy's grindhouse-cinema-inspired series, \"Blood Drive\" and The CW's serialized military conspiracy thriller, \"Valor.\" She will be be starring the upcoming ABC Latinx drama, \"Promised Land.\"

Ochoa is the grandniece of 1959 Nobel Prize winner Severo Ochoa and daughter of acclaimed Spanish sculptor Victor Ochoa. Having spent her childhood between Madrid, Barcelona and Miami, she ultimately graduated from Santa Isabel La Asuncion (Madrid). Prior to acting, she went on to study oceanographic engineering in Las Palmas University in the Canary Islands and Advanced Marine Biology in James Cook University in Australia.

Ochoa began acting as a hobby, starring in theatrical plays in Washington, D.C., at the Little Theatre of Alexandria and quickly decided to pursue a career in performance arts by moving to Madrid, where she attended the Cristina Rota Conservatory and Film Institute. Additional work in theater and TV soon followed including roles in \"I Hate My Teenage Daughter,\" \"Modern Family,\" \"The Neighbors\" and Spain's \"La que se avecina,\" as well as in films, including \"Cats Dancing on Jupiter.\" She is also the founder and owner of QE (Quantum Entanglement) Productions, responsible for the 2011 short film \"Stay with Me,\" which won awards (including Best Actress) at film festivals both in Europe and the United States.

"Promised Land" marks Mariel Molino's debut in American television. She is a Mexican-American actor who by age 6 appeared in her first play. From then on, she knew she wanted to be an actor. A first-generation American who is proud of her Mexican, Catholic and Jewish roots, Molino's parents moved to San Diego from Mexico City. She studied acting at HB Studio in New York City and Anthony Meindl's Workshop in Los Angeles.

Molino started her film and TV career in Mexico City, where she starred as a series regular on Imagen TV's "Muy Padres." She guest starred in a number of shows including NBC Universo's "El Vato," Netflix's "Luis Miguel: La Serie," "Narcos: Mexico," Amazon's "Juego de las Llaves," "El Candidato" and Fox's "La Negociadora." In 2020, she starred in Amazon's first Spanish-language original movie, "Locas por el Cambio."

Currently producing a play with two of her "Promised Land" co-stars, Andres Velez and Miguel Angel Garcia, Molino is also the lead of AFI's "Lux Noctis," directed by Damiana Acua. Most recently, she starred in "Die Like a Man" also opposite her "Promised Land" little brother, Garcia. The film is written by acclaimed writer Eric Nazarian and shot by Academy Award nominee Piotr Sobocinski.

Passionate about giving back to her community, Molino and her mother (with the help of her bakery in Tijuana, Mexico) started the organization, "Pan Por Pan," during the quarantine, selling pastries to help feed vulnerable communities in Baja California.

With more than a decade of experience onstage, screen and in the voiceover booth, Tonatiuh is an actor, screenwriter and activist. He is currently shooting the series regular role of Antonio Sandoval on the recently picked up 2021-2022 ABC drama \"Promised Land,\" alongside John Ortiz, Cecilia Suarez and Christina Ochoa. \"Promised Land\" is the first entirely Latinx-led ensemble drama on a major network.

A native Los Angeleno, Tonatiuh attended the University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts and School of Cinematic Arts. While in college, his passion for the stage connected him with theater companies around Los Angeles, such as IAMA Theatre Company, where he starred in \"Species Native to California\" and \"The House That Jake Built,\" and ECHO Theatre Company, where he starred in \"Fixed.\" In the final performance of \"Fixed,\" Tonatiuh met Mexican-American actress and showrunner Tanya Saracho, who was inspired by his performance and wrote him into her GLAAD Media Award-winning STARZ series \"Vida.\" Tonatiuh's three-season recurring guest star arc as the gender-bending Marcos Zamora landed him on the cover of the LA Times Calendar section in May 2020.

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