Speechless is gaining a well-known guest star. Variety has reported that Julianne Hough, the triple threat singer, dancer and actress, will be guest starring in an upcoming episode of the series.
Hough will be guest starring in the ninth episode of the season as Miss Bloom, a choir teacher who is excited for all of her students to participate in the choir, including JJ (Micah Fowler).
While her guest role on Speechless is one of her first scipted TV show acting credits, Hough is no strange to being in a starring role. She was a former professional dancer on Dancing With The Stars for seasons four through eight and she won in season four, when she was partnered with Apollo Anton Ohno, and season five, when she was partnered with Helio Castroneves. This past February, she also appeared in Fox’s Grease: Live, where she played Sandy.
Movie wise, Hough has starred in the 2011 remake of Footloose, 2012’s Rock of Ages and Safe Haven, the 2013 movie adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ book of the same name that was originally published in 2010.
She’s also released two CDs, both of which were released in 2008.
Speechless, along with ABC’s other breakout show of the season, Designated Survivor, were both picked up for full seasons last week. The most recent episode of Speechless, which aired on Oct. 5, scored 1.8 rating and was watched by 6.10 million viewers, according to TV by the Numbers. That’s not much of a difference from the first two episodes of the season, which averaged out to a 1.9 rating, also according to TV by the Numbers.
The show has been getting critical acclaim, not only for casting an actor (Fowler) with cerebral palsy in the role where the character has cerebral palsy, but also for handling the subject matter in a serious way, despite the show being a comedy. The casting of Fowler has also been praised as TV shows and movies sometimes struggle in casting people who have a disability in a role where it’s called for them to have a disability.
Speechless airs Wednesday nights at 8:30 p.m. ABC viewers can catch Hough Mondays and Tuesdays as she’s one of the judges on Dancing With The Stars. Hough’s episode of Speechless will be the ninth episode and she’s only slated to appear in one episode.