Mercedes Ruehl Joins Cast of HBO's LUCK

According to Deadline.com, stage veteran Mercedes Ruehl has joined the cast of HBO's 'Luck' as a series regular. Ruehl will return as 'Julietta Caligari' in this second season.

Ruehl won the 1984 Obie Award for her performance in The Marriage of Bette and Boo and twenty years later, an Obie for Woman Before a Glass. She also received a 1991 Tony Award as Best Actress (Play) for Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers. In 2008, Ruehl returned to the Broadway stage in Manhattan Theater Club's production of Richard Greenberg's The American Plan playing the role of Eva Adler.

LUCK is a behind-the-track look at the world of horse racing and gambling's denizens - owners, trainers, jockeys and gamblers. Michael Mann assembled a brilliant cast led by Hoffman and Nolte when he directed the pilot, written by series creator David Milch. In making the episodes as executive producers, they work collaboratively together, with Milch masterfully overseeing the writing for the series and Mann supervising every aspect of the filmmaking. LUCK was filmed at Santa Anita Park and other Los Angeles locations.

As the series opens, Chester "Ace" Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) is released from three years in federal prison. He's met by his driver and bodyguard, Gus Demitriou (Dennis Farina), who fronts as the owner of the $2 million Irish Horse that Ace just bought. A brilliant but disreputable trainer, the Peruvian Turo Escalante (John Ortiz), introduces us to their prized Irish thoroughbred, who is being examined by his girlfriend, track veterinarian Jo (Jill Hennessy).

LUCK also stars Richard Kind as jockey agent Joey Rathburn; Tom Payne as a beginner jockey Leon, a.k.a. "Bug Boy"; Kerry Condon as Rosie, an exercise girl with jockey ambitions; and real-life racing Hall of Famer Gary Stevens as Ronnie Jenkins, a talented but boozy veteran jockey.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos