EXCLUSIVE: One Day at a Time co-creator, executive producer and co-showrunner Gloria Calderon Kellett will be stepping in front of the camera to bring more drama to the Alvarez family on the upcoming third season of the Netflix comedy series.

Calderon Kellett will do a two-episode arc on the show, a reimagining of Normal Lear’s 1970s sitcom, which she co-created with Mike Royce using her own experience as inspiration.

One Day at a Time Netflix

Additionally, the Cuban-American multi-hyphenate, who helmed One Day at a Time’s episode “Citizen Lydia” this past season, is set to return to the director’s chair. She will direct the final two episodes of season three.

One Day at a Time follows multiple generations of a Cuban-American family. Single mom Penelope Alvarez (Justina Machado) is a military veteran who struggles to find balance between work, home, and personal life while being subjected to nerve wracking Latino guilt by her aging mother Lydia (Rita Moreno).

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Calderon Kellett will play Nicole, the new woman in Victor’s (James Martinez) life who is more similar to Penelope than she is comfortable with.

“There is only one downside to Gloria writing, showrunning and directing One Day at a Time – she was not also acting in it. Consider that rectified!,” exec producer/co-showrunner Royce said. “We’re so excited that Gloria will play Nicole, a woman who has more in common with Penelope than Penelope is comfortable with.”

Personal archive

Playwright and TV writer Calderon Kellett has background in sketch comedy and improv.

She actually first tried to make it in Hollywood as an actress but grew increasingly frustrated by the roles she was being considered for — a gangster’s girlfriend, the hired help, or a drug addict — all perpetuating stereotypes associated with Latinx characters. It was that frustration that inspired her to write. She started with plays, which landed her a manager and led to a career of a TV writer on such series as How I Met Your Mother and Rules of Engagement.

As an actress, Calderon Kellett most recently has been recurring on the CW dramedy Jane the Virgin, where she plays a network executive.

Other guest stars making appearances on season three of One Day at a Time include Grammy winner Gloria Estefan and Brooklyn Nine-Nine stars Stephanie Beatriz and Melissa Fumeroe. Estefan, who also sings the series theme song, will play Lydia’s estranged sister Mirtha. Fumero, stars as Mirtha’s daughter Estrellita and Beatriz will play Pilar, Penelope and Estrellita’s cousin. Sheridan Pierce, who plays Elena’s (Isabella Gomez) girlfriend Syd, is set to recur.

Calderon Kellett is repped by UTA and Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment.