Film News

Cynthia Erivo to Star in Harriet Tubman Biopic Harriet

The Tony-winning star of ”The Color Purple” will portray the famous abolitionist on-screen.

Tony winner Cynthia Erivo will take on the title role in Harriet, a Harriet Tubman biopic.
Tony winner Cynthia Erivo will take on the title role in Harriet, a Harriet Tubman biopic.
(© Tricia Baron)

According to Deadline, Tony Award winner Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple) has been tapped to play Harriet Tubman in an upcoming biopic about the famous abolitionist titled Harriet.

Cofinanced by Macro, New Balloon, and Stay Gold Features, the film will feature a script by Gregory Allen Howard (Remember the Titans), with Seith Mann (Elementary) attached to direct.

Born into slavery in 1822, Tubman escaped in 1849 and subsequently made 13 missions to bring dozens of other slaves to freedom through the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. During the Civil War, she worked as a spy for the Union Army, and later became an active contributor to the women's suffrage movement.

Erivo was recently seen on Broadway in John Doyle's Tony-winning revival of The Color Purple as Celie, a role that earned her 2016 Tony and Drama Desk Awards. Her Broadway run lasted from December 10, 2015-January 8, 2017. On September 12, 2016, she also performed a sold-out Town Hall concert of Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years, benefiting the Brady Center, alongside Tony nominee Joshua Henry.