Ava DuVernay’s ‘Caste’ Casts Oscar Nominee Aunjanue Ellis As Lead
12.01.2023 - 23:03
/ deadline.com
Aunjanue Ellis has been cast as the lead in Ava DuVernay’s adaption of Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste.
The addition of the King Richard veteran and Academy Award nominee to the film is a When They See Us reunion of sorts between the director and the actress.
Ellis portrayed Sharonne Salaam, the mother of the falsely accused Yusef Salaam in the acclaimed Netflix series. Debuting on the streamer in 2019, the Emmy winning When They See Us was based on the tale of five young men of color who were taken to court for raping a white female jogger in NYC in 1989 – a horrible crime they did not commit.
Along with co-star Niecy Nash, Ellis was nominated for an Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special Primetime Emmy and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her WTSU performance. In 2021, Ellis was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Emmy for HBO’s Lovecraft Country, for which she also received a SAG Awards Outstanding Performance by a Cast (or Ensemble) in a Drama Series nomination.
Before joining Caste, the busy actress recently finished work on Warner Bros.’ The Color Purple musical, Fox Searchlight’s The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat and Orion’s The Nickel Boys.
Caste has been filming for several weeks, but Ellis’s first day in front of the camera in Savannah Georgia was January 9, we hear. Financed by J4A, and with sales handled by CAA, the formerly Netflix attached Caste will move on to shoot in Germany and India later this year.
Back behind the camera for her first feature since 2018’s A Wrinkle In Time, ARRAY boss DuVernay recently saw the conclusion of the TV series Queen Sugar after seven seasons and the four-episode run of DMZ on HBO Max last year.
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