The Grammy Award-winning artist will headline 'Star' from the 'Empire' co-creator which is being developed for FOX.
- Dec 8, 2015
AceShowbiz - Following her performance in NBC's "The Wiz Live!" which earned rave reviews, Queen Latifah has landed her next acting gig. The singer/actress will headline Lee Daniels' new music drama which is being developed for FOX under the title "Star".
The Grammy Award winner would play Carlotta, an owner of an Atlanta beauty salon who has a beautiful voice, so the network announced. She's further described as a surrogate mother to three girls who have musical dreams of their own, "even though she doesn't approve of their musical dreams."
The show itself centers on these "three girls who come together to form a band and it's about their rise to the top in a very challenging business." Fox chairman and CEO Gary Newman previously said, "It's the perspective of the artist and, without getting too much into the storyline, one of our characters is rising out of poverty and there is a lot from Lee's own life that's baked into the DNA of this project."
Daniels had launched an international casting search to find actors who would play the three girls. Jude Demorest of Detroit landed the role of Star, an extremely driven 18-year-old who went from foster home to foster home after her mother died.
Ryan Destiny, also from Detroit, was cast as Alexandra, a rich 20-year-old from the Upper East Side of New York City who yearns to make authentic music and leave her wealthy upbringing in the past. Brittany O'Grady, from Washington, D.C., landed the role of Simone, Star's younger sister who "dreams of the day Star will return to rescue her from the abusive foster home in which she was placed five years before."
"Star" is written, directed and executive produced by Daniels. Tom Donaghy serves as an executive producer and co-writes the pilot with Daniels.
