Regina King to star in and produce biopic of America’s first Black congresswoman Shirley Chisholm

She is at the top of her game and influence in Hollywood.

And on Wednesday, it was confirmed that Regina King is going to star in and produce her dream project – a biopic of America’s first Black congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.

In a statement, King 50, said: ‘Shirley Chisholm’s fearless determination has been an inspiration to so many of us, and with this film we hope to inspire many generations to come.’

Chisholm, a New York native, was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1968 and ran for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 1972.

The movie titled Shirley centers on her historic presidential campaign giving ‘an intimate, behind-the-scenes portrait of one of the most ground-breaking political leaders of our time.’

Shirley is being written and directed by John Ridley, who won an Oscar for his adapted screenplay for 2014’s Best Picture 12 Years A Slave and who worked with King on the TV series American Crime. 

Filming is set to begin later this year. 

King, who first came to notice in John Singleton’s influential 1991 movie Boyz n the Hood, has cemented herself not only as an actress  but also as a director and producer.

She won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe in 2019 for If Beale Street Could Talk and has won four Emmys – two for the anthology series American Crime, one for the miniseries Seven Seconds and one for HBO’s Watchmen.

She has also just made her feature directorial debut with the Amazon Original Movie One Night in Miami and is widely tipped to become the first Black woman to be nominated in the best director category at this year’s Oscars.