Oprah Winfrey is expanding her participation in HBO’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks to an on-screen role.
The cable channel said on Monday that Winfrey will star in the TV movie that she’s been shepherding as an executive producer.
The film is based on Rebecca Skloot’s non-fiction book of the same name. It details the story of Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cancerous cells became the source of medical breakthroughs.
The story will be told from the perspective of Lacks’ daughter, Deborah, to be played by Winfrey.
Veteran Broadway director-producer George C. Wolfe will direct the HBO project from his screenplay.
Filming is scheduled to begin this summer, with an air date yet to be announced.
