H.E.R. to make acting debut in ‘The Color Purple’

OSCAR-winning R&B artist H.E.R. is set to make her feature film acting debut in “The Color Purple” movie musical.

The story tracks the life of a woman named Celie Harris and her struggles as an African American woman living in the South during the early 1900s.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter will play Squeak, who goes from a juke joint waitress to an aspiring singer. She will join Corey Hawkins (“In The Heights”) in the film.

“Warner Bros. is behind the feature adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway musical, itself an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel by Alice Walker, on which the Oscar-nominated Steven Spielberg-directed 1985 movie was based,” it added.

Blitz Bazawule will direct the movie musical, while Marcus Gardley penned the screenplay, adapted from Marsha Norman’s book and Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray’s score.

Oprah Winfrey, who made her own acting debut in the 1985 film, is producing the new adaptation under her Harpo Films banner with Spielberg under his Amblin Entertainment. Scott Sanders and Quincy Jones, both of whom were behind the Broadway musical, will also produce.

Walker, Rebecca Walker, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Carla Gardini, Adam Fell, and Mara Jacobs will executive produce.

“The Color Purple” will be released on December 20, 2023.

H.E.R., whose real name is Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson, was born in Vallejo, California to a Filipina mother and an African American father.

In 2016, she debuted under the H.E.R. persona with her debut EP “H.E.R. Volume 1.”

She then released other EPs “H.E.R. Volume 2” and “The B Sides” in 2017 before releasing her first compilation album “H.E.R.” which consisted of tracks from the singer’s first two EPs plus six additional songs.

In 2018, she released “I Used to Know Her: The Prelude” and “I Used to Know Her: Part 2.”

H.E.R. received five nominations at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019, winning Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Album.

This year, she nabbed Song of the Year for “I Can’t Breathe” and Best R&B Song for “Better Than I Imagine” at the 2021 Grammy Awards. H.E.R. also earned Best Original Song at the Academy Awards for “I Can’t Breathe.”

She also recently released her debut studio album “Back Of My Mind.”