BET+ and CBC series THE PORTER (8x60), from Inferno Pictures and Sienna Films (a Sphere Media company) announces the addition of multiple award-winning actor Alfre Woodard to their first season as part of the cast and as executive producer. THE PORTER is currently shooting in Winnipeg, Canada.
Woodard will play the role of ‘Fay’, who runs the local brothel in St. Antoine - she’s sexy, direct and takes great pride in living life on her own terms. She joins Aml Ameen (I May Destroy You, Yardie), Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Star Trek: Discovery, Pretty Hard Cases), Mouna Traoré (Self Made, The Umbrella Academy), Oluniké Adeliyi (Titans, American Gods) and Loren Lott (American Idol, Tag).
Recently listed in a NY Times article featuring ‘The Greatest 25 Actors of the 21st Century’, Woodard has been nominated for 17 Emmy Awards (winning four), seven SAG Awards (winning three), three Golden Globe Awards (winning one), 21 NAACP awards (winning nine) and two Independent Spirit Awards (winning one). Her Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress was for her performance in Martin Ritt's Cross Creek.
Woodard recently starred in the feature film Clemency. Among the critical praise she received for her lead role in the film, she received a BAFTA Award nomination and a Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead.
Other recent film appearances include the blockbusters Captain America: Civil War for Marvel and AnnaBelle for New Line. On the small screen, she most recently starred as the fierce ‘Mariah Dillard’ in Marvel’s Luke Cage and as the title character in the Netflix Original film Juanita, which she also developed and produced. Woodard next appears in another Netflix Original film titled Fatherhood alongside Kevin Hart, and she also stars opposite Jason Mamoa in the Apple TV+ series See, created by Steven Knight. Woodard recently wrapped on the Joe and Anthony Russo directed film The Gray Man with Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans.
Acclaimed dramatic performances include her roles in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave, John Sayles’ Passion Fish, Maya Angelou's Down In The Delta, Peter Bratt’s Follow Me Home, Gina Prince-Blythwood’s Love And Basketball, Spike Lee’s Crooklyn, Lawrence Kasdan’s Grand Canyon and Mumford, Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys, Billie Woodruff’s Beauty Shop with Queen Latifah, Richard Donner’s Scrooged opposite Bill Murray, as well as Mandela and Miss Evers’ Boys (both for HBO Films).
Set in the early 1920s, THE PORTER offers a dramatic and compelling look at the Black community in St. Antoine, Montreal — known, at the time, as the “Harlem of the North”. The story is told through the eyes of two Black train porters taking very different paths to liberation. One pushes to create the first Black union in existence, the other chases power on the wrong side of the law, but both have the same goal: to free themselves and their families from oppression. They’re young, gifted and Black, from Canada, the Caribbean, and the U.S., and over the course of the series they find themselves thrown together north and south of the color line. In an era that boasts anything is possible, if change isn’t coming for them, they will come for it.
From Montreal to Chicago and at every stop in between, in a time of extraordinary social and political change, THE PORTER tells the story of the people who fought to ignite the civil rights movement in North America.
A CBC and BET+ original series, THE PORTER is originated and created by Arnold Pinnock (Altered Carbon, Travelers) and Bruce Ramsay (19-2, Cardinal), with Annmarie Morais (Killjoys, Ransom, American Soul), Marsha Greene (Ten Days In The Valley, Mary Kills People) and Aubrey Nealon (Snowpiercer, Cardinal), and produced by Winnipeg-based Inferno Pictures Inc. and Sphere Media’s Sienna Films. Morais and Greene are showrunners and executive producers. Charles Officer (Akilla’s Escape, Coroner) and R.T. Thorne (Blindspot, Utopia Falls) will direct the series, and are executive producers. Pinnock also serves as an executive producer, and Ramsay a co-executive producer. Jennifer Kawaja serves as Executive Producer for Sienna Films and Ian Dimerman as Executive Producer for Inferno Pictures. The series is written by Morais, Greene, Andrew Burrows-Trotman, Priscilla White, Pinnock and Ramsay, with Thorne participating in the writers’ room. The series is produced with the participation of the Canada Media Fund, Manitoba Film & Music, IPF’s COGECO Television Production Fund, and the Bell Fund, and is distributed internationally by Abacus Media Rights and Sphere Media Distribution.
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About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster. Through our mandate to inform, enlighten and entertain, we play a central role in strengthening Canadian culture. As Canada’s trusted news source, we offer a uniquely Canadian perspective on news, current affairs and world affairs. Our distinctively homegrown entertainment programming draws audiences from across the country. Deeply rooted in communities, CBC/Radio-Canada offers diverse content in English, French and eight Indigenous languages. We also deliver content in Spanish, Arabic Chinese, Punjabi and Tagalog, as well as both official languages, through Radio Canada International (RCI). We are leading the transformation to meet the needs of Canadians in a digital world.
About BET+
BET+ is the premium streaming service for the Black community. With thousands of hours of hit movies, TV shows, stage plays, and more, BET+ offers the best of Black culture, including exclusive originals from leading creators like Tracey Oliver’s First Wives Club, Tyler Perry’s Ruthless and Bruh, Will Packer’s Bigger, Carl Weber’s The Family Business and American Gangster Trap Queens, to name a few. BET+ members can watch as much as they want anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen and always commercial-free. Visit BET.Plus to learn more and follow @BETPlus for the latest news and updates. BET+ is a joint venture between BET and Tyler Perry Studios.
About Sienna Films
Sienna Films is one of Canada’s preeminent scripted content companies, producing film and television internationally since 1992. Their most recent series include Trickster (CBC), which was named one of Variety’s top 25 dramas at MIPCOM 2020 and one of TBI’s top 10 hot picks; and Cardinal (Bell Media), which aired for four seasons to critical acclaim and high ratings internationally, including on BBC Two and Canal+. Upcoming is Sort Of…, a half hour dramedy which will premiere at Series Mania and has been sold internationally in advance of its release as a CBC Original; and feature length documentary One of Ours, which won the 2021 Hot Docs Special Jury Prize. Other work includes three seasons of 1-hr drama Ransom (CBS), distributed in over 100 territories; 13-part limited series Combat Hospital (ABC), distributed by Sony International; and mini-series Diamonds (ABC), as well as a slate of feature films premiering at festivals including Sundance, Toronto, Berlin and Rotterdam.
In 2020, Sienna Films was acquired by Sphere Media, which specializes in the creation, adaptation, production and distribution of television and film content.
About Inferno Pictures Inc.
Inferno Pictures is based in Winnipeg, Manitoba and led by President Ian Dimerman, who has financed and produced numerous feature films and television movies including Christmas at The Plaza, The Christmas Club, Cinema of Sleep, Fracture, Percy, A Dog's Journey, The Parts You Lose, How It Ends, Journey Back to Christmas, Goon, and Mr. Hockey: the Gordie Howe Story.
About Abacus Media Rights
Abacus Media Rights (AMR) acquires and distributes a diverse slate of premium, multi-genre programming in the international market. At the same time, the company also works with producers to facilitate pre-sales and development finance as well as broadcaster commissions. Embracing a fully transparent reporting ethos throughout, AMR focuses on building strong client relationships and generating positive solutions at every stage of the process, from initial financing to worldwide broadcast in order to successfully deliver scripted and non-scripted entertainment that counts to a global audience. Abacus Media Rights is financed by the Amcomri Media Group.
Further information: www.abacusmediarights.com
For more information, please contact:
Winston Ma, CBC PR
647.327.7408
