Ava DuVernay’s ‘Central Park Five’ Adds Niecy Nash, Aunjanue Ellis, Storm Reid and more

Niecy Nash, Aunjanue Ellis and Storm Reid join ‘Central Park Five’ from Ava DuVernay

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In what is already an embarrassment of acting riches, Ava DuVernay’s Central Park Five limited series for Netflix has added a quintet of powerhouse actresses to its cast. Emmy Award nominee Niecy Nash (Getting On, Claws), Aunjanue Ellis (Quantico, If Beale Street Could Talk), Kylie Bunbury (Game Night, Pitch), Marsha Stephanie Blake (Crown Heights) and Storm Reid (A Wrinkle in Time) join the limited series in supporting roles.

Niecy Nash will play Delores Wise, mother of Korey Wise; Aunjanue Ellis will play Sharone Salaam, mother of Yusef Salaam; Kylie Bunbury will play Angie Richardson, sister of Kevin Richardson; Marsha Stephanie Blake will play Linda McCray, mother of Antron McCray; Storm Reid will play Lisa, a friend of Korey Wise.

Central Park Five is based on the true story that gripped the country, the limited series will chronicle the notorious case of five teenagers of color who were convicted of a rape they did not commit. The four episode limited series will focus on the five teenagers from Harlem — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise. The series will span from the spring of 1989, when each were first questioned about the incident, to 2014 when they were exonerated and a settlement was reached with the city of New York. The limited series will be released on Netflix on 2019.

They join Michael K. Williams, Vera Farmiga, John Leguizamo, Felicity Huffman, Jharrel Jerome and Jovan Adepo. Ava DuVernay will write and direct the four-episode narrative series. Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King from Participant Media, Oprah Winfrey/Harpo Films, Jane Rosenthal and Berry Welsh from Tribeca Productions and Ava DuVernay will executive produce the limited series.

Central Park Five will air exclusively on Netflix in 2019.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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