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South Medford High grad will be on new CW comedy this fall South Medford grad Justin Baldoni will take on a lead role in a CW TV series this fall. photo courtesy The CW Network. Tuesday Aug 19, 2014 at 4:59 PM Aug 20, 2014 at 7:11 AM Ryan PfeilMail Tribune A South Medford High School graduate and actor turned producer/director has stepped back in front of the camera, taking on a lead role in a CW comedy premiering this fall. Justin Baldoni, also a former KISS-FM DJ, will play hotel owner and cancer survivor Rafael on the CW's "Jane the Virgin." The show tells the story of Jane — played by Gina Rodriguez —a 20-something saving herself for marriage who, while at the gynecology clinic for a standard exam, is the accidental recipient of an artificial insemination procedure intended for the patient next door to her. Baldoni's character is the sudden, accidental father — and Jane's boss at the Miami hotel where she works. "It's got so much heart and it's got so much love," 30-year-old Baldoni says. "Every character is so unique and so interesting." Baldoni says it's also a welcome transition back into acting after some time off. Not that he'd been taking a break. He'd actually been quite busy, just on the other side of the lens. Starting in 2012, his production company Wayfarer Entertainment made a series of documentaries called "My Last Days. The series focuses on the last months of terminally ill patients who want to make the most of the time they have left. In one episode, for example, a high school student with a rare bone cancer turns to music and crafts beautiful songs. It's a series about how perspective shifts when people find out they have little time to live. "I wanted to create a show that could kind of snap us back in to who we are," Baldoni says. "The goal was, if I could get you to call your mom after you'd watched one of these episodes, then I succeeded." The show garnered several accolades, including honors from the Webby and Telly awards. Baldoni says the experience of talking to so many people about dying and telling their stories was a heavy one, but also very rewarding. "There was a lot of death and a lot of sadness but also a lot of joy," he says. Earlier this year, he received and read the script for the "Jane" pilot and wanted to be a part of it. "Everything about it was new. It was funny and it was romantic. I thought, 'Television has never seen something like this,'" he says. "It was such a beautiful transition back into acting." And because of his work on "My Last Days," Baldoni says, he was able to bring more depth to his character and focus on him as a person of changed perspective after his cancer fight. "It was one of those things where if I hadn't done the ("My Last Days") show, I don't know if I'd be equipped to play somebody that has cancer," he says. The directing and producing side of Baldoni isn't done yet. Wayfarer Entertainment will join with Fusion to produce another documentary about 'Simpsons' producer Sam Simon, his own cancer battle and fight for animal rights, according to a Fusion press release. The pilot episode for "Jane the Virgin" will premiere at 9 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13. Reach reporter Ryan Pfeil at 541-776-4468 or [email protected]. Follow him at www.twitter.com/ryanpfeil.