Blair Underwood, Tiffany Haddish and more join cast of anticipated Madame C.J. Walker series

The Netflix series based on the life of the history making entrepreneur has added an A-list cast to portray key figures in her life

Megan Sims

Aug 6, 2019

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With the excitement already building for the premier of the Madame C.J. Walker mini series set to come to Netflix, things get even better with newly announced actors joining the cast.

According to Yahoo! News, Netflix announced on Tuesday that Tiffany Haddish, Carmen Ejogo, Blair Underwood, Garrett Morris and Kevin Carroll have signed on to the project about African American entrepreneur and philanthropist, Madam C.J. Walker (1867-1919), who became the pioneering founder of hair products company targeted at Black women and in the process became one of the wealthiest women in America. Octavia Spencer will play the title role.

Haddish is set to play Walker’s daughter Lelia, who is eager to become independent like her mother; Underwood steps in as Walker’s supportive husband Charles James, or CJ; Ejogo is Walker’s fiercely competitive rival Addie, who initially dismissed Walker’s ambitions of becoming her saleswoman; Morris will play CJ’s father, the formally enslaved Cleophus, who finds himself helping Walker with her products and Carroll will play Pullman porter Ransom, who had a law degree and several patents, as he helps Walker get her patents of her own and eventually becomes her company’s lawyer.

Walker, who became the first self-made Black woman millionaire, overcame hostile turn-of-the-century America, epic rivalries, tumultuous marriages and family challenges, all of which the series is set to explore.

Spencer is not only starring in the series, she is also an executive producer. The series was inspired by the book “On Her Own Ground,” was written by Walker’s great-great granddaughter A’Lelia Bundles. It was also created and written by Nicole Asher.

Yahoo! reported Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou, Talk to Me) is on board to direct the first episode.

Actresses Janine Sherman Barrois and Elle Johnson have also been confirmed as members of the cast.