EXCLUSIVE: Academy, Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Nickel Boys, King Richard) has joined the forged of Fortunate, a brand new restricted drama from Apple TV+ starring and government produced by Anya Taylor-Pleasure. Creator Jonathan Tropper additionally government produces alongside Reese Witherspoon.
Primarily based on Marissa Stapley’s bestselling novel and Reese’s E-book Membership choose of the identical identify, Fortunate stars Taylor-Pleasure because the eponymous heroine. She is a younger girl who left behind the lifetime of crime she was raised in years in the past however should now embrace her darker, prison facet one remaining time in a determined try to flee her previous.
Ellis-Taylor will play as ‘Agent Billie Rand.’
Fortunate is produced by Hiya Sunshine and Tropper Ink, and is created by Tropper below his total take care of Apple TV+. He serves as co-showrunner alongside Cassie Pappas (Silo, Griselda). Witherspoon EPs alongside Lauren Neustadter for Hiya Sunshine, part of Candle Media. Anya Taylor-Pleasure government produces by means of her manufacturing banner Ladykiller. Jonathan Van Tulleken will direct a number of episodes, together with the pilot, and function government producer.
Ellis-Taylor stars in Nickel Boys, primarily based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, directed by Oscar-nominee Ramell Ross and produced by Oscar-winning producers Dede Gardner & Jeremy Kleiner. Earlier this 12 months, she starred in Tina Mabry’s Supremes at Earl’s-All-You-Can-Eat reverse Uzo Aduba and Sanaa Lathan, in addition to Titus Kaphar’s function movie debut, Exhibiting Forgiveness.
Extra notable credit embrace her portrayal of Pulitzer Prize-winner Isabel Wilkerson in Ava Duvernay’s Origin, If Beale Road Might Discuss, The Beginning of a Nation, Pimp, Miss Virginia and The Assist.
Her efficiency as Oracene Value in King Richard, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Greatest Supporting Actress. She additionally obtained nominations from the BAFTA, Critics Alternative, Golden Globes, and NAACP Picture Awards. She received Greatest Supporting Actress honors from the Nationwide Board of Assessment, HCA, and AAFCA.
Ellis-Taylor reunites with Olyphant in Fortunate, after the pair not too long ago co-starred in FX’s Justified: Metropolis Primeval. She obtained two Emmy nominations for Ava Duvernay’s When They See Us (Netflix) and HBO’s Lovecraft Nation; and an NAACP Award nomination for her work in The Clark Sisters: First Girls of Gospel. She additionally starred within the E-One/BET miniseries The E-book of Negroes, incomes Critics Alternative and NAACP nominations and profitable a Gracie Award for Greatest Actress in a Made-for-TV Film or Restricted Sequence.
She is represented by CAA and TMT Leisure Group.
