Renée Elise Goldsberry, whose rap skills lit up her 2016 Tony Award-winning performance as Angelica Schuyler in the Broadway smash Hamilton, will star opposite Oprah Winfrey in the forthcoming HBO film The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, according to Deadline.com.
Goldsberry will play a woman who holds an unusual place in the history of American medicine. Her cancerous cells were used, without her permission, to create the first “immortal” human cell line for research purposes. Here story will be told through the eyes of her daughter, played by Winfrey.
Director/playwright George C. Wolfe (The Colored Museum, Angels In America, Shuffle Along) adapted a book about Lacks and will direct the TV adaptation.
No dates for filming or the HBO premiere were reported.
Goldsberry reportedly also will join the cast of Altered Carbon, Netflix’s 10-episode sci-fi drama that stars Joel Kinnaman. Her Broadway résumé includes Rent, The Color Purple, The Lion King and Good People.
Goldsberry continues to perform in Hamilton for the time being. A Hamilton production spokesperson told Playbill.com he had “no knowledge” of Goldsberry's departure, which will reportedly be sometime this fall, according to the Hollywood Reporter. However, Goldsberry's personal rep Sarah Yorke confirmed to Playbill.com that the report is accurate.
She is among the last of the remaining original principals in Hamilton. Lin-Manuel Miranda, Phillipa Soo and Leslie Odom Jr. departed July 9. Daveed Diggs played his last performance July 15.