HELLCATS (The CW) - Sharon Leal ("Private Practice") has joined the cast of the presentation, a drama set in the world of competitive college cheerleading. She'll play Vanessa Hodge ("an elegant, striking African-American, a tough but loving taskmistress"), a former Hellcat star who now serves as the squad's coach. Aly Michalka, Ashley Tisdale, Gail O'Grady, Heather Hemmens, Matt Barr, Robbie Jones and Sofia Vassilieva also star in the project, which comes from director Allan Arkush and writer Kevin Murphy. CBS Television Studios, Tom Welling Productions and Warner Bros. Television are co-producing.
SOURCE
The news is also confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter.
I'm not familiar with her work, but most recently she played Sonya on Private Practice, and she was also Marilyn Sudor on Boston Public.

And she is yet another member of the cast who can sing, having starred in Rent on Broadway, and in Dreamgirls on the big screen.




