PARADISE
Characters
A one-hour nighttime drama, Paradise is a sexy saga set in locales that soar from glamorous to gritty, featuring intriguing, highly diverse characters embroiled in fraught-with-peril storylines fueled by family secrets, rivalries, ambition, passion, greed, and corruption.
Paradise tells the story of two dynamic families: The Erikson family from San Diego, California, and the Zepeda family from the Baja Coast of Mexico.
Jeffrey Erikson & Jenny Erikson
Sage Erikson
Peter Erikson & Dr. Angel Thompson Erikson
Paisley Erikson
Eden Erikson
THE ZAPATA de RUIZ FAMILY
Fern
Saul
Dr.Monica
FERN ZAPATA de RUIZ (early 40's) - Wife of former baseball star Saul "El Chupacabra" RUIZ. Mother of Kai, Rosetta, Nina, and Saul’s son Diego. Equal parts beautiful and bad-ass. Smart. Fierce. Ambitious. Her tenacity, brains, and razor sharp wit make her a force to be reckoned with. Possessed with a hurricane of raw energy, she will not back down until she gets what she wants. And should the machismo status quo (and that includes her brother Raffi and the Ruiz brothers) try to interfere with her grand plan… they'll be toast. God help you if you cross her.
DR. MONICA ZAPATA (late 20's) - Fern's younger sister and recent medical school graduate. The beneficiary of a scholarship that put her through a U.S. medical school in exchange for a seven-year obligation as primary care physician in Los Todos, Dr. Monica has come home to practice medicine in the worst possible conditions. Struggling to make a difference, she deals in illegal abortions and prescription drugs.
KAI RUIZ (20's) - Fern and Saul's oldest son. A champion surfer, Kai lives in the Oceana Artists Village where he writes slam poetry, grows and deals Acapulco Gold and sells his painted surf board art. He is happy to take the money of the wealthy tourists, and if they are attractive he will share a joint and show them a great time in bed. Kai is a lonely beautiful guy simmering with artistic intensity, angry militancy and the hottest ass in town. Founder of the “LTAC” Los Todos Artists Coalition, he feels it is his mission to awaken and empower the people of his town to action. He is strongly opposed to the opening of the Paradise beach resort, yet he’s falling hard for the owner’s daughter, Eden.
NINA RUIZ (16) - Fern and Saul’s youngest daughter and Sage’s best friend, Nina is a rebellious wild-child. Possessed of a tantalizing sexuality beyond her adolescent years, she likes hooking up with bad boys, drinking, and doing drugs. She is the kind of girl that always goes after the wrong guy.
ROSETTA RUIZ (Early 20's) - Fern and Saul's middle daughter. Rosetta is an extraordinarily talented, soulful singer, who dreams of being a super star. She plays piano in the Paradise bar at night and works as a nanny for the Paradise homeowners’ kids during the day. A deepening friendship with Dani, the Paradise resort’s information technology officer, blossoms into love. After discovering she is a lesbian, Rosetta is frightened of what coming out might do to her career, and terrified of the wrath of Fern and Saul, strict Catholics.
Nina
Rosetta
Diego
Raffi
RAFFI ZAPATA (Early 30's) - Fern's younger brother who is an upwardly mobile local lawyer and politician, Raffi is actually a fast talking, sophisticated sociopath. Always scheming to make a buck, he looks out for himself first and foremost. Masquerading as a trusted and respected leader in the community, first as a local politician, then as a manager of the Paradise resort, Raffi seems devoted to doing what is best for both the land and the people of Los Todos, while secretly making cozy insider deals, and taking bribes from both developers and local contractors.
DIEGO RUIZ (20's)-Saul's
illegitimate son. Diego came to live with the Zapata family at age 10 when his mother was sent to prison. Although he has grown up as a member of the family, he struggles to feel like he is truly one of them, and suffers from having a father who didn't acknowledge him until he was forced to. Diego works at the taco stand and dreams of owning the place someday. He becomes angry and resentful of the Erikson’s when he is not made a manager at the Paradise resort. He feels that his position, status and entire future has been ripped away from him by a gringo usurper. Diego is also an aspiring filmmaker, but are the disturbing “artistic films” he makes “art” or nothing more than terrifying political propaganda and sicko porn?
TIA VALENZUELA (20's) - Raffi's fiancé, a news reporter with Multimedios Television. She has uncompromising ethics that puts her at odds with the corrupt system she works in. Brash, outspoken and fearless, Tia is a passionate voice for her people, working on stories that could get her killed, yet seemingly blind to the filth in her own bed.
Dani
Kai
Tia
DANIELA SANCHEZ (20’s) Dani is a sophisticated, savvy IT expert, brought on to design, install and run the tech systems at Paradise. Unfortunately, the Narco gang Los Zetas have also “hired” Dani to work for them as a tech slave. As a brilliant but poverty stricken student, Dani made a deal with Los Zetas: they would pay for her education and she would work off her debt by doing tech work for them after graduation. Now she has been called on to pay back her debt by installing undetectable surveillance systems in all of the Paradise homes so that the Narcos can gather “pillow talk” information from the wealthy homeowners which can subsequently be used for insider-trading, business deal tips, and blackmail. Previously an enigmatic loner, trying to escape the abuse that still haunts her and her mother’s harrowing betrayal, Dani can’t help falling in love with Rosetta after she hears her singing at the Paradise.
JAX RUIZ (40’s) – When a Flint Michigan/Love Canal -like environmental disaster occurs on a residential community property he owns, JAX, a successful real estate mogul, becomes the face of “American Corporate Greed" and the fall- guy for someone else's crime. Although he is innocent of any wrongdoing, JAX spends one year in jail. When he gets out, he is determined to find out who set him up to take the fall. When he tries to get back to work he is shut down everywhere he turns. Then a family emergency sends him to Mexico and right into the arms of a promising new endeavor: an exclusive residential resort community for the rich and famous on the Baja coast. JAX is confident this venture will be the key to the success and redemption he needs to turn his fortune around. There’s just one hitch: Mexican law prohibits foreigners from being the sole owners of land on the coastline. So, in order to make this dream project a reality, JAX and his brother and business partner, Peter, must enter into a partnership with their turbulent Mexican family who owns the land.
PITBULL
AS
JAZ RUIZ
SAUL“El Chupacabra” RUIZ (40's) - Fern's husband, and father of Kai, Rosetta, Nina, and Diego (Saul's son with a jersey chaser he had a fling with while playing in the minors). He owns “El Chupacabra,” a successful taco stand that banks on his fame. A former pro baseball player, Saul is still a living legend in his home town of Los Todos. His glittering career ended early because he tested positive for PEDs. Saul was suspended and his stellar pitching career was over. This transition has been brutal for Saul, an athlete who has never done anything else in his life but play ball.