Viola Davis and Lupita Nyong'o To Play Onscreen Mother and Daughter in Upcoming THE WOMAN KING

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Oscar Winners Viola Davis and Lupita Nyong'o will play onscreen mother and daughter in TriStar Pictures' THE WOMAN KING

the film, inspired by true events, takes place in the Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of AFRICA in the 18th and 19th centuries, The Woman King tells the story of Nanisca (Davis), general of the all-female military unit known as the Amazons, and her daughter, Nawi (Nyong'o), who together fought the French and neighboring tribes who violated their honor, enslaved their people and threatened to destroy everything they've lived for.

The film is based on an original idea by Maria Bello, who will produce via her Jack Blue Productions. Cathy Schulman will produce through her Welle Entertainment, along with Davis and and her husband Julius Tennon via their JuVee Productions.

"The Woman King is the powerful true story of an extraordinary mother-daughter relationship," said Minghella. "And there's no one more extraordinary than Viola Davis and Lupita Nyong'o to bring them to life."

Viola Davis is the first black woman to be nominated for three Academy Awards, winning one, and is the only black actor to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting. The legendary actress breakthrough came in 2008 when her supporting role in the drama DOUBT earned her several nominations, including the Golden Globe, SAG, and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Greater success came to Davis in the 2010s where she won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role as Rose Maxson in the revival of August Wilson's play Fences. For her lead role as 1960s housemaid Aibileen Clark in the comedy-drama The Help (2011), she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress among others, and won a SAG Award.[9][10] Since 2014, Davis has played lawyer Annalise Keating in the ABC television drama How to Get Away with Murder, and in 2015 she became the first black woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Her portrayal also won her two SAG Awards in 2015 and 2016. In 2016, Davis played Amanda Waller in the superhero action film Suicide Squad and reprised the role of Rose Maxson in the film adaptation of Fences, for which she won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Award, SAG Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Davis is also no stranger to the Broadway stage, currently holding two TONY AWARDS and three Drama Desk Awards.

Lupita Nyong'o got her first feature film role as Patsey in Steve McQueen's historical drama 12 Years a Slave, for which she won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She became the first Kenyan and Mexican actress to win an Academy Award. Nyong'o made her Broadway debut as a teenage orphan in the critically acclaimed play Eclipsed, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play.Following a motion capture role as Maz Kanatain the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Nyong'o starred as Nakia in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Black Panther.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride

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