Hot on the heels of the news that One Life to Live alum Renée Elise Goldsberry (ex-Evangeline Williamson) will soon be exiting her Tony-award winning role in Hamilton to star in the upcoming Netflix sci-fi series, Altered Carbon, comes news that the actress has been cast in the title role of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks opposite Oprah Winfrey.
"Goldsberry will play Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cells were used to create the first immortal human cell line," states Deadline. "Told through the eyes of her daughter, Deborah Lacks [Winfrey], the film chronicles her search to learn about the mother she never knew and to understand how the unauthorized harvesting of Lacks' cancerous cells in 1951 led to unprecedented medical breakthroughs, changing countless lives and the face of medicine forever. It's a story of medical arrogance and triumph, race, poverty and deep friendship between the unlikeliest of people."
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks also stars Rose Byrne as Rebecca Skloot, a young journalist who forms a close bond with Winfrey's Deborah and eventually went on to write the NY Times best-selling book of the same name.
UPDATE (March 26, 2017):
HBO has released the official trailer for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks as well as the movie's premiere date: April 22 at 8:00PM.
Science took her cells. Family reclaimed her story.
— HBO (@HBO) March 15, 2017
The Immortal Life of #HenriettaLacks, starring @Oprah and Rose Byrne, debuts April 22. pic.twitter.com/NHdsZo17ZG
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