Oprah Winfrey to Star in HBO’s ‘Henrietta Lacks’

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HBO has tapped Oprah Winfrey to star in its latest biopic, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the network said Monday.

The film will chronicle the life of Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cells were used to create the first immortal human cell line in the mid 1950s. The story will be told through the eyes of Lacks' daughter Deborah Lacks, played by Winfrey, who later this summer will star in an upcoming series, Greenleaf, on Winfrey's OWN cable channel.

Winfrey, along with Alan Ball (HBO’s True Blood, Six Feet Under), Peter Macdissi (Cinemax’s Banshee), Carla Gardini (The Hundred-Foot Journey) and Lydia Dean Pilcher (HBO’s You Don’t Know Jack) will serve as executive producers for the movie, said HBO.

R. Thomas Umstead
R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.