Danielle Brooks to Play Gospel Legend Mahalia Jackson in New Movie Directed by Kenny Leon

Danielle Brooks will star in Lifetime's new film The Mahalia Jackson Story. The Tony nominee will portray the gospel legend and civil rights activist and reunite with her Much Ado About Nothing director Kenny Leon, according to Deadline. 

Jackson, who died on January 27, 1972, was often called the Queen of Gospel. Throughout her life, she performed for racially integrated audiences from Carnegie Hall to rallies in Washington, D.C.  alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner, she was posthumously inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1973.

Last seen on the New York stage in Leon's Shakespeare in the Park staging of Much Ado About Nothing, Brooks earned a Tony Award nomination and a Theatre World Award for her fiery turn as Sofia in the 2015 Broadway revival of The Color Purple. She is a Screen Actors Guild Award winner for her ensemble work as Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson on Orange Is the New Black. Brooks is also an executive producer on the Broadway musical Ain't Too Proud. She is a co-founder of Black Women on Broadway, which celebrates the legacy of Black women in the theater industry.