Details on Eva Longoria’s New Soap, TELENOVELA

Eva Longoria (ex-Isabella, THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS) is lathering up for another soap!

The producer and director of DEVIOUS MAIDS is stepping back in front of the cameras for the first time since DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES for the brand new NBC series, TELENOVELA.

Longoria stars as Ana Sofia Calderon, an actress who although being a popular star of a Spanish-language soap, doesn’t actually speak the language! Not to mention her character’s ex-husband has just been cast as her new co-star!

“She’s actually self-involved in an insecure way,” Longoria says of her alter ego. “She doesn’t speak Spanish. So she’s always one foot in, one foot out of this culture. Which is really my life story. Growing up as a Mexican-American, I didn’t grow up speaking Spanish, and so I was kind of shunned from my community. And then in the American community, they’re like, ‘Oh, you’re the Mexican.’ And that’s exactly how Ana Sofia feels. She’s in this great big world being a Latin star, but yet insecure about ‘Am I Latin enough?'”

The comedy revolves around the craziness that goes on behind the scenes as the cast and crew produce the popular telenovela LAS LEYES DE PASIÓN (THE LAWS OF PASSION). “The setting is a workplace,” she explains. “It could be a dentist office, it could be a superstore… the thing about our show that makes it unique is these relationships, set against this larger-than-life world.”

And despite the series being about Latinos making a telenovela, Longoria thinks everyone should tune in to enjoy its universal themes. “I think many different groups are going to be entertained, and identify with one of these characters here. We are a workplace comedy. So you’re going to identify with Ana Sofia as a woman, you’re going to identify with her if you’re a vulnerable person, if you’re an insecure person. You’re going to identify with Mimi, whos’ this best friend who’s confident and is like the moral compass of the group.

“There’s a lot of people you’re going to be able to identify with, not because they’re Latino, but because they’re human beings with different things in their lives,” she adds. “We deal with it through the comedic lens, but they’re still universal issues.”

Find out for yourself by tuning in tonight at 10:00 p.m. ET on NBC! And for more on TELENOVELA, don’t miss our feature in the issue of CBS Soaps In Depth on sale Monday, December 21!