Following a career filled with comic roles, Sofia Vergara is getting serious as a Colombian drug cartel boss in the upcoming Netflix limited series Griselda.
The America’s Got Talent judge, 51, who was born in Colombia, stars in the title role in the series telling the true story of Griselda Blanco.
In the first teaser for the series, released Thursday, September 21, Griselda says off screen to a group of men, “You’ve thought a lot about me, haven’t you?” I’ve heard that you liked my product. We can make a lot of money together.”
As she speaks, we see drugs being moved, a man snorting cocaine and bags of cash.
“Who is the one in charge?” asks one man.
The clip ends with Vergara as Griselda, revealing herself.
Blanco was known as The Cocaine Godmother, and was prominent in the drug trade in Miami beginning in the 1970s. It was estimated that her organization moved 300 kilos of cocaine a month, worth about $80 million.
She was arrested in 1985 and charged with conspiring to manufacture, import and distribute cocaine. Blanco was sentenced to 15 years in prison. She was released in 2004, and was shot dead in 2012 at age 69.
In addition to starring in the series, Vergara is also executive producing the show. Griselda will debut in January 2024 on Netflix.
This will be Vergara’s first new role since her husband of seven years, Joe Manganiello, filed for divorce in July.
“We have made the difficult decision to divorce,” Manganiello and Vergara said in a joint statement. “As two people that love and care for one another very much, we politely ask for respect of our privacy at this time as we navigate this new phase of our lives.”
Vergara filed her own set of legal documents in August, requesting that the court uphold her and Manganiello’s prenuptial agreement. The documents state that the actress is seeking to maintain her earnings from before and during her relationship with Manganiello.
After the duo’s split made headlines, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that Vergara and Manganiello had “been living separate lives for about a year” before they called it quits. “She would rather go out with friends and he would rather stay home, so they wouldn’t spend a lot of time together,” the insider explained.
Fellow judge Howie Mandel attempted to be her wingman on the reality competition series. During the Wednesday, September 13, episode of AGT, Vergara hooked herself up to a lie detector machine and answered several questions before Mandel, 67, asked, “Do you see anyone in the audience that you’re interested in?”
Vergara opted to plead the fifth by ripping off the lie detector’s arm cuff and walking back to her seat at the judges’ table.
“That’s it!” she yelled playfully.
