Octavia Spencer's 'Madam CJ Walker' Netflix Series Adds Tiffany Haddish, Blair Underwood
Netflix’s limited series “Madam CJ Walker," starring Octavia Spencer as real-life early 20th century entrepreneur, has added Tiffany Haddish, Blair Underwood, Garrett Morris, Carmen Ejogo and Kevin Carroll to its cast.
The four-part show, which will launch in 2020, "tells the untold, culturally important, and highly relevant story of black hair care pioneer and mogul Madam CJ Walker aka Sarah Breedlove (Spencer) and how she overcame hostile turn-of-the-century America, epic rivalries, tumultuous marriages and family challenges to become America’s first black, self-made female millionaire."
• Ejogo ("True Detective,"Selma") will play Addie, a hairstylist and former friend of Sarah Breedlove. She is a savvy business woman herself, who parlays her good looks and social standing into a profitable African American hair care business. Fiercely competitive, when she quickly dismisses Sarah’s ambitions to be one of her sales women, charting a course to become Sarah’s nemesis and rival.
• Morris ("SNL," "Shameless") will play Cleophus, CJ’s father, and a former slave who comes to live with CJ and Sarah. He gets along well with Sarah and helps in her hair product business.
• Carroll ("Snowfall") will play Ransom, a Pullman porter whose many degrees include law and patents from Columbia University. When he agrees to help Sarah with her hair product patents and becomes the company lawyer, he does his best to pull her back from what he feels is a risky expansion and efforts.
"Madam CJ Walker" is inspired by the book "On Her Own Ground" written by A’Lelia Bundles, Walker’s great-great-granddaughter.