Casting Couch: Liu and O'Connell to Pretty Up "Ugly Betty," While Vartan Set for CEO Role

Ugly Betty has added two actors for guest starring roles while Alias' Michael Vartan returns to television in a new drama pilot.

Lucy Liu and Jerry O'Connell (a.k.a. the future Mr. Rebecca Romijn) are set for guest appearances on ABC's hit comedy Ugly Betty.

Liu will first pop up in the February 15th episode of Ugly Betty entitled "Derailed." She'll play Grace Chin, formerly known as "The Chin," an ex-classmate of Daniel Meade who was, well, rather frumpy back in high school (no Guadalajara ponchos or anything, but you get the implication). Now Daniel needs her help with a certain family matter and, well, The Chin doesn't seem to want to turn the other cheek. (Ouch, bad pun.)

Liu is set to appear in two episodes of Ugly Betty this season.

Also turning up in Ugly Betty's "Derailed" episode is Jerry O'Connell, who happens to be the fiance of new castmate Rebecca Romijn (and was at one time the fat kid from Stand By Me, but we won't go there). O'Connell will play a man named Joel whom Alexis Meade (Romijn) and Wilhelmina (Vanessa Williams) meet whilst slumming it in a sports bar. (Willy in a beer-soaked sports bar? As if!)

Meanwhile, former Alias star Michael Vartan has signed on as part of the ensemble in an untitled drama from Jon Harmon Feldman (Reunion), formerly known as Bedrooms and Boardrooms. The series revolves around four high-powered CEOs who happen to be best buds. Vartan will play a newly minted CEO at a large corporation who is the moral center of the series.

Charles McDougall, who directed the pilot of Desperate Housewives (and a few episodes of The Office, if I'm not mistaken), is set to helm the pilot, from Warner Bros TV.

The rest of the cast has yet to be locked, so stay tuned on that front.