Jane the Virgin

Updated on Oct 18, 2023

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Eva longoria makes directorial debut on american telenovela jane the virgin

Jane the Virgin is an American satirical romantic comedy-drama telenovela developed by Jennie Snyder Urman, that debuted on The CW on October 13, 2014. It is a loose adaptation of the Venezuelan telenovela Juana la Virgen created by Perla Farías. The series stars Gina Rodriguez as Jane Villanueva, a working, religious young Latina virgin, who becomes pregnant after being artificially inseminated by mistake. The program parodies commonly used tropes and devices in Latin telenovelas.

Jane the Virgin has received critical acclaim since its premiere. At the 72nd Golden Globe Awards, Gina Rodriguez won the award for Best Actress – Television Series, Musical or Comedy, while the show was nominated for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy. The series also received the Peabody Award and was named a TV Program of the Year by the American Film Institute.

Beginning with the fourth episode of season three, the series' title was modified, with "The Virgin" crossed out in favor of substitutes due to Jane now being a married woman and no longer a virgin.

On January 8, 2017, The CW renewed the show for a fourth season.

Premise

Set in Miami, the series details the surprising and unforeseen events that take place in the life of Jane Gloriana Villanueva, a hard-working, religious young Venezuelan American woman whose family tradition and a vow to save her virginity until her marriage to her detective boyfriend are complicated when a doctor mistakenly artificially inseminates her during a checkup. To make matters worse, the biological donor is a married man, a former playboy and cancer survivor who is not only the new owner of the hotel where Jane works, but was also her former teenage crush. In addition to adjusting to pregnancy and then motherhood, Jane is faced with questions about her professional future and the daunting prospect of choosing between the father of her baby or her boyfriend.

Main cast

Gina Rodriguez as Jane Gloriana Villanueva, a 23-year-old,religious young Latina woman who becomes pregnant after being artificially inseminated by mistake. After meeting Rafael and hearing his situation, she agrees to carry the baby full term and turn over custody to him and his wife Petra, but only if she is sure her baby will be safe and loved with them. But, as the pregnancy grows, they both start to have feelings for each other. Jane ends up having a baby boy named Mateo Gloriano Rogelio Solano Villanueva. Executive producer Jennie Snyder Urman stated that Gina Rodriguez "was literally the third person that came in" during the casting.

Jenna Ortega as Young Jane, at age 10, seen in flashbacks.

Andrea Navedo as Xiomara "Xo" Gloriana Villanueva, Jane's outgoing mother. She was only sixteen years old when she had Jane, which is why Jane would rather keep her virginity until marriage than make the same mistake her mother did. She is a dance teacher, but dreams of having a singing career.

Yael Grobglas as Petra Solano (Birthname: Natalia), Rafael's scheming wife and a member of a shady Czech crime family who got married to Rafael in order to steal his wealth, though over time she did fall in love with him. She also portrays Anezka, Petra's long lost twin sister who grew up with a rough life in the Czech Republic.

Justin Baldoni as Rafael Solano, the 31-year-old owner of the Marbella Hotel and the biological father of Jane's child who has fallen out of love with his wife. As the series progresses, he develops growing feelings for Jane, and plans to divorce Petra after discovering her affair.

Ivonne Coll as Alba Gloriana Villanueva, Jane's pious maternal grandmother. She is highly religious, and encourages Jane to save her virginity until marriage. Although she rarely speaks English, she understands it, since her granddaughter usually only speaks to her in English. She is also in the country illegally from Venezuela.

Brett Dier as Michael Cordero, Jr., Jane's 29-year-old fiancé who is a detective. He is aware of Petra's affair, and blackmails her to ensure that her marriage remains intact, so that Jane will give the baby to them. He also dislikes Rafael due to Jane's, and eventually Rafael's, attraction to one another. He is the head detective in the hunt for Sin Rostro, a high-profile drug dealer who seems to be based in the Marbella Hotel. Jane and Michael marry in the second-season finale. In "Chapter Forty-Four", Michael collapses and dies from an aortic dissection due to complications from the gunshot wound he sustained.

Jaime Camil as Rogelio de la Vega, a self-involved, famous telenovela star and Jane's biological father. He is currently trying to gain a relationship with his newly discovered daughter. He also has feelings for Xiomara, who was his girlfriend in high school.

Anthony Mendez (voice over) as the Latin Lover Narrator; Third-person omniscient. The narration features both metanarration and metafiction.

Recurring cast

Yara Martinez as Dr. Luisa Alver, Rafael's lesbian, neurotic, recovering alcoholic sister, and the doctor who accidentally artificially inseminated Jane.

Bridget Regan as Rose, a former lawyer, former girlfriend of Luisa, and stepmother of Luisa and Rafael who defends Luisa against the malpractice suit. She is later revealed to be the crime lord Sin Rostro. She is currently going by Eileen (played by Elisabeth Röhm), having gotten plastic surgery in order to be with Luisa.

Carlo Rota as Emilio Solano, Luisa's biological and Rafael's adopted father. He is murdered by his wife, Rose.

Michael Rady as Lachlan, Rafael's rival and Petra's former fiancé.

Diane Guerrero as Lina, Jane's best friend and co-worker.

Azie Tesfai as Detective Nadine Hansan, a police detective and rival, partner, and brief lover to Michael. She was killed taking a bullet that was meant for Michael, after she was revealed to be working with Sin Rostro.

Camille Collard as Frankie, Jane's co-worker and friend.

Brian Dare as Luca, Jane's co-worker and friend.

Vanessa Merrell and Veronica Merrell as Valeria and Victoria, Mellisa's twin daughters and Rogelio's former step-daughters.

Priscilla Barnes as Magda, Petra's mother. She is confined to a wheelchair (but only pretends to be paraplegic) and she is Petra's co-conspirator in her plot to steal Rafael's hotel and wealth. She's currently imprisoned, but still working against Petra from inside.

Adam Rodríguez as Jonathan Chavez, one of Jane's teachers at Grad School and briefly her love interest.

Alano Miller as Roman Zazo, Rafael's best friend and Petra's lover. He is believed to be murdered in the hotel, causing tension for everyone, including Petra and Rafael. Aaron Zazo, Roman's twin brother who appears from Chapter Fourteen onwards investigating his brother's murder, is later revealed to be Roman; it was Aaron who was murdered. Roman is later killed, in self-defense, by Petra.

Aria Rose Garcia as Mateo Gloriano Rogelio Solano Villanueva, Jane and Rafael's baby.

Dennis Mencia as Mateo Villanueva, Jane's grandfather and Alba Villanueva's husband. He died before Jane was born.

Development and production

On June 27, 2013, American television network The CW announced that it was planning to release a new show based on the Venezuelan soap opera Juana La Virgen. On February 23, 2014, Entertainment Weekly announced that Rodriguez would play the title role of Jane Villanueva. On May 8, 2014, during The CW's 2014–2015 upfronts, the series was officially picked up. On July 18, 2014, an extended trailer was released by The CW. On August 8, 2014, it was announced that White Collar's Bridget Regan and Azie Tesfai would join the series as respectively Rose, a former lawyer, and Detective Nadine Hansan, a police detective and rival to Dier's character. On August 10, 2014, TVLine announced that Melrose Place and Emily Owens, M.D. actor Michael Rady would join the series as Lachlan. Filming for season one commenced on July 28, 2014. The show is filmed on soundstages in Los Angeles, California and the pilot was filmed in Huntington Beach, California. On October 21, 2014, the show was given a full season order. On January 11, 2015, the show was renewed for a second season, set to air during the 2015–16 television season. Its second season premiered on October 12, 2015. On March 11, 2016, the show was renewed for a third season, which premiered on October 17, 2016.

Broadcast

Jane the Virgin premiered on The CW on October 13, 2014, during the 2014–15 television season. Unique to the CW, it is the network's only program to feature a Spanish language audio track on the second audio program channel; however, as many CW stations usually do not carry the SAP channel due to a lack of need, this is more limited than the major networks, which are required by the FCC to have a SAP channel for the Descriptive Video Service track, which as a minor network, the CW is not required to carry.

The show premiered on in Canada on Global TV and in Australia on Fox8 on December 1, 2014. It has aired in the United Kingdom on E4 since 2015. Sony Channel will broadcast the series throughout Southeast Asia as replacements of Sony Entertainment Television in Southeast Asia (including BeTV in the Philippines). In Canada, new episodes are added each week to the streaming service Shomi, in addition to cable carriage by some providers of American CW affiliates (Chicago's WGN-TV, available as a superstation in Canada, carried the series' first two seasons until it ended its CW affiliation before the 2016-17 television season). The show premiered in New Zealand on July 24 on Prime.

In the Philippines, Jane the Virgin premiered on ABS-CBN on March 28, 2016, dubbed in Filipino language. The show replaced the local drama series You're My Home on a late-night timeslot, as part of the Primetime BIDA evening block. Days before the premiere, a teaser showing Gina Rodriguez promoting the show was also released. ABS-CBN locally edited the series' first two seasons, splitting the episodes into half-hour segments to mix their traditional anime-teleserye timeslot format; it aired 74 modified episodes, with the season two finale airing on July 8, 2016.

Critical reception

Jane the Virgin has received critical acclaim with critics praising its writing and Gina Rodriguez's performance. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the first season of the show a "certified fresh" rating of 100% based on 49 reviews, with a rating average of 7.7 out of 10. The site's consensus states, "Jane the Virgin's dubious premise has become part of its unlikely charm – along with delightfully diverse writing and a knockout performance by Gina Rodriguez." Metacritic, another review aggregator, gives the show a score of 80 out of 100, based on 23 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The second season also received critical acclaim. On Metacritic, the season holds a 87 out of 100, based on 4 reviews indicating "universal acclaim". Rotten Tomatoes gave it a rating of 100% based on 11 reviews and a rating average of 9.7 out of 10. The site's Consensus reads "Jane the Virgin stays true to its over-the-top telenovela roots in season two while layering in more humor and increasingly complex storytelling." Maureen Ryan of Variety praised the show, saying that the series "is envisioned, edited and curated with great deftness and economy, and the fact that it is so entertaining and accessible should not preclude it from being at the center of conversations about the best the medium has to offer."

Accolades

The show has been acknowledged by the People's Choice Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Critics' Choice Awards, the Primetime Emmy Awards, the Image Awards and the Television Critics Association as well as honored by the American Film Institute and the George Foster Peabody Awards.

References

Jane the Virgin Wikipedia

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