“Hamilton’s” Renée Elise Goldsberry to Play Title Role in HBO’s “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”
“Hamilton” star and Tony winner Renée Elise Goldsberry has been cast as the titular character in HBO’s “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” Shadow and Act reports. She joins Oprah Winfrey, who is also an executive producer, and Rose Byrne.
Based on Rebecca Skloot’s thoroughly researched book of the same name, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” tells the true story of Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cells were used to create the first immortal human cell line. As HBO’s description continues, “Told through the eyes of her daughter, Deborah Lacks, the film chronicles her search to learn about the mother she never knew and to understand how the unauthorized harvesting of Lacks’ cancerous cells in 1951 led to unprecedented medical breakthroughs, changing countless lives and the face of medicine forever. It’s a story of medical arrogance and triumph, race, poverty, and deep friendship between the unlikeliest of people.”
Winfrey will play Deborah Lacks, Henrietta’s daughter. The film chronicles her search to learn about the mother she never knew. Byrne will play Skloot, the freelance science writer who formed a close connection with Deborah and spent more than a decade researching and writing the project that became “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” George C. Wolfe will direct the film adaptation from a screenplay that he adapted.
Goldsberry won the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical Tony Award this year for her role as Angelica Schuyler in “Hamilton.” Her other Broadway credits include “Rent,” “The Color Purple,” and “The Lion King.” She also is known for her role as Geneva Pine on “The Good Wife.” She played Evangeline Williamson on the soap “One Life to Live,” for which she earned two Daytime Emmy nominations. Like many of her “Hamilton” co-stars, she announced her departure from the Broadway smash not long after it took home a ton of Tonys in June. She’s also been cast in a role in Netflix’s upcoming sci-fi drama series “Altered Carbon.”
