Author: Philiana Ng , Lesley Goldberg

NBC’s Brenda Forever is rounding out its cast.

Shameless actress Daija Owens has been added to the half-hour single-camera comedy pilot starring Ellie Kemper, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

In Brenda Forever, stories from Brenda Miller’s past and present are interwoven to give a unique portrait of how the chubby, awkward, but incredibly confident 13-year-old grew up to be a 31-year-old woman (Kemper) who still marches to the beat of her own drum.

Owens, who starred in NBC’s short-lived comedy Best Friends Forever, will play a young Pearl Gardner, Brenda’s best friend. Never seen without Skittles or Pez, Pearl is self-effacing and doesn’t put up a fuss when things don’t go her way. Da’vine Joy Randolph plays the adult version. MadTV’s Stephnie Weir co-stars.

David Lampson and Andrew Leeds are set to write and executive produce the pilot, which is based on a spec script that the network nabbed following a bidding war with Fox. Rescue Me’s Peter Tolan and Michael Wimer (2012) will join them as EPs on the Sony TV/Tolan and Wimer’s Fedora Entertainment production.

Owens is repped by Abrams Artists Agency.

E-mail: Philiana.Ng@thr.com
Twitter: @insidethetube

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Stephnie Weir

NBC has found Ellie Kemper’s mother.

MadTV alum Stephnie Weir has joined the single-camera comedy pilot Brenda Forever, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Stories from Brenda Miller’s past and present are interwoven to give a unique portrait of how a chubby, awkward, but incredibly confident 13-year-old grew up to be a 31-year-old woman (Kemper) who still marches to the beat of her own drum.

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Weir will play Brenda’s mother Shelley Miller, described as jovial and easygoing. She is a good mom who doesn’t take things too seriously but speaks up when she has to, and tends to be unreadable at times. Da’vine Joy Randolph co-stars.

David Lampson and Andrew Leeds, who co-wrote NBC’s Rex is Not Your Lawyer pilot in 2010, are set to write and executive produce, which is based on a spec script that the network nabbed following a bidding war with Fox. Rescue Me’s Peter Tolan and Michael Wimer (2012) will join them as EPs on the single-camera effort from Sony Pictures TV and Tolan and Wimer’s Fedora Entertainment.

Weir is repped by UTA and Meghan Schumacher Management. She was a consulting producer on Fox’s Raising Hope and appeared in Fun With Dick and Jane.

E-mail: Philiana.Ng@thr.com
Twitter: @insidethetube