'Luck' Actor Joins Fox's Greg Kinnear Drama 'Rake'

HBO

John Ortiz in HBO's "Luck"

Luck's expert trainer John Ortiz is heading to Fox.

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The actor who played Turo Escalante in HBO's horse racing drama has joined the cast of the network's Greg Kinnear drama Rake, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

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Kinnear stars as a brilliant but self-destructive criminal defense lawyer named Keegan Joye in the drama based on the Australian series of the same name.

Ortiz will play Ben, a friend of Keegan's from law school and the yin to his yang. He's conservative and not flashy, solid, reliable and a decent family man. Never one to seek the spotlight, he recognizes that Keegan is the performer of the two and together they make a solid team -- both in and out of court.

Peter Duncan, who created the Australian series on which the Fox drama pilot is based, will pen the script and executive produce the Sony Pictures Television entry alongside Rescue Me's Peter Tolan, Michael Wimer, Richard Roxburgh and Ian Collie. Kinnear will serve as a co-exec producer on the drama that also hails from Fedora Entertainment and Essential Media & Entertainment.

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Ortiz, whose credits also include Silver Linings Playbook, Fast & Furious and Jack Goes Boating, joins a cast that also includes Miranda Otto as Keegan's ex-wife, Necar Zadegan as one of his best friends and Bojana Novakovic as Mikki, the love interest for Kinnear's character.

Ortiz is repped by Gersh, Sanders Armstrong and Schreck Rose.

With Ortiz and Ramon Rodriguez's casting in the network's Gang Related drama, Fox has secured two of the most sought-after Latino actors this pilot season. 

E-mail: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit