The story of Harriet Tubman is finally coming to the big screen.
Cynthia Erivo, praised for her turn as Celie Johnson in Broadway’s The Color Purple, will be playing the role of the iconic freedom fighter. She won a Tony Award for lead actress in the play, but is also nominated for a Best Musical Theater Album Grammy at the ceremony this Sunday (Feb 12).
According to Deadline, Erivo has been tapped as the title character in Macro/New Balloon’s film Harriet, a biopic about famous abolitionist and warrior Harriet Tubman. Seith Mann is attached to direct from a script by Gregory Allen Howard.
Tubman (born Araminta Harriet Ross) was a dynamic leader in the movement for freedom. She is most well known for helping hundreds of slaves get through the 90-mile ground-to-house journey that made up the Underground Railroad.
But Tubman also served as a spy during the Civil War, dedicated her life to helping impoverished slaves transition out to social and economic freedom and opened up a Home for the Aged for elderly former slaves. Last year, it was announced that the trailblazer would replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill.
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Excited is an understatement. Tubman’s one-of-a-kind story needs to be told and we have a feeling Erivo is going to knock this out of the park.