*Emayatzy Corinealdi was a fresh face when Ava DuVernay directed her to critical acclaim in 2012’s “Middle of Nowhere.”
The Kentucky-born beauty collected her share of “outstanding” and “breakthrough” acting awards for her portrayal of Ruby, a medical student in Compton who struggles to keep things together after her husband receives an 8 year prison sentence. Typically, what follows such glowing attention in Hollywood is a ton of scripts sent to your agent, as casting directors clamor to bank on a sure thing.
“Some scripts did come in,” Corinealdi said of her 2012 awards season afterglow. “But I did find that it just wasn’t as much of a flood as I thought it was going to be. The analogy I used was, I thought I was going to just burst through the door, but I went to open the door and the chain was on.”
The bar is high when your breakthrough role is under DuVernay, who went on to receive an Oscar nomination for directing “Selma.” It would be a slow grind for Corinealdi to find roles as meaty as Ruby – but her patience is paying off.
In September, Amazon Prime members can see her in its anticipated original series “Hand of God,” opposite Ron Perlman, Dana Delany and Andre Royo. The emerging streaming service (the home of Jeffrey Tambor’s Emmy winning series “Transparent”) asked paid subscribers to decide whether “Hand of God” was worthy of a 10-episode series order after making the pilot episode available in October. According to Amazon, the amount of “yes” votes was overwhelming.
The following month, Corinealdi returns to the big screen as Miles Davis’ first wife Frances in “Miles Ahead,” Don Cheadle’s long-in-the-works biopic of the legendary jazz musician. His directorial debut will have its world premiere on Oct. 11, as the closing night film at the 53rd New York Film Festival, where it hopes to land a U.S. distribution deal.
“It was such a blessing, such an amazing experience to work with Don Cheadle – for one, as an actor; and for two, as a director. It was a treat,” Corinealdi, 35, told EURweb exclusively following Monday’s “Hand of God” panel at the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills.
Cheadle put Corinealdi in touch with the real Frances Taylor, a former prima ballerina of the world-renowned Katherine Dunham troupe. Davis has pirouetted on stages from New York to Paris. In 1956, she was dancing in Sammy Davis, Jr.’s Broadway musical “Mr. Wonderful” when she ran into Miles Davis on the street. Drummer Max Roach had introduced them months earlier, but it was this chance re-encounter that led directly to the altar. The two were married from 1958-68.
Below, Corinealdi talks more about the real Francis and the type of marriage she shared with Miles Davis:
“Miles Ahead” premieres in New York on Oct. 11. The pilot of “Hand of God” is currently available to subscribers of Amazon Prime. The remaining nine episodes become available on Sept. 4. Watch the trailer below:
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
