''Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C. J. Walker'' is an American
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
streaming television limited series, based on the biography ''On Her Own Ground'' by
A'Lelia Bundles
A'Lelia Perry Bundles (born June 7, 1952) is an American journalist, news producer and author, known for her 2001 biography of her great-great-grandmother Madam C. J. Walker.
Family and early life
A'Lelia Bundles grew up in Indianapolis in a fami ...
, that premiered on March 20, 2020, on
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
.
It received generally positive reviews with praise for
Octavia Spencer's performance; however it received criticism for various historical inaccuracies and
artistic licence. For her performance, Spencer received a nomination for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie.
Premise
''Self Made'' is a fictionalized depiction of "the untold story of black hair care pioneer and mogul
Madam C. J. Walker
Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the '' G ...
and how she overcame the hostilities of turn-of-the-century America, epic rivalries, and tumultuous marriages to become America’s first Black, self-made female millionaire."
Cast and characters
Main
*
Octavia Spencer as
Madam C. J. Walker
Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the '' G ...
*
Tiffany Haddish as
Lelia
*
Carmen Ejogo
Carmen Elizabeth Ejogo (; born 22 October 1973) as
Addie
Addie is a given name, nickname and surname. It may refer to:
People with the name Given name
* Addie Aylestock (1909–1998), Canadian minister in the British Methodist Episcopal Church, the first woman minister to be ordained in that church, ...
*
Garrett Morris as Cleophus Walker
*
Kevin Carroll as
Ransom
Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or the sum of money involved in such a practice.
When ransom means "payment", the word comes via Old French ''rançon'' from Latin ''red ...
*J. Alphonse Nicholson as John Robinson
*
Blair Underwood
Blair Erwin Underwood (born August 25, 1964) is an American actor. He made his debut in the 1985 musical film ''Krush Groove'' and from 1987 to 1994 starred as attorney Jonathan Rollins in the NBC legal drama series ''L.A. Law''.
Underwood has a ...
as Charles Joseph Walker
Guest
*
Bill Bellamy as Sweetness
*Zahra Bentham as Nettie
*
Mouna Traoré as Esther
*
Roger Guenveur Smith
Roger Guenveur Smith (born July 27, 1955) is an American actor, director, and writer best known for his collaborations with Spike Lee.
Early life
Smith was born on July 27, 1955 in Berkeley, California, the son of Helen Guenveur, a dentist, and ...
as
Booker T. Washington
Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, orator, and adviser to several presidents of the United States. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the dominant leader in the African-American c ...
*
Kimberly Huie
Kimberly Huie is a Jamaican-born Canadian actress,"An `exotic in the land of blondes' wants to move the masses She covets meaty roles exposing disturbing sides of the human psyche". ''Toronto Star'', March 12, 1995. best known for her lead roles ...
as
Margaret Murray Washington
Margaret Murray Washington (March 9, 1865 - June 4, 1925) was an American educator who was the principal of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, which later became Tuskegee University. She also led women’s clubs. She was the third wife ...
*
Cornelius Smith Jr. as
W.E.B. Du Bois
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...
*Joanne Jansen as Walker
*Olivia Croft as Josephine Moreland
Episodes
Production
Development
On November 10, 2016, it was announced that Zero Gravity Management had
optioned the screen rights to A'Lelia Bundles' biography of
Madam C. J. Walker
Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the '' G ...
, entitled ''On Her Own Ground'', with the intent of developing it into a limited series. The production was expected to be written by Nicole Asher, directed by
Kasi Lemmons, and produced by
Octavia Spencer, Christine Holder, and Mark Holder.
On July 6, 2017, it was announced that
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
had given the production a series order consisting of eight episodes. Executive producers are expected to include
LeBron James,
Maverick Carter
Maverick Carter is an American sports-marketing businessman and media personality.
Early life and education
Maverick Carter was born on October 10, 1980 Carter spent most of his youth in Akron, Ohio and Atlanta, Georgia. Carter grew up the son ...
, Mark Holder, Christine Holder,
Janine Sherman Barrois
Janine Sherman Barrois is an American television writer, producer, and showrunner. In 2017 she began executive producing and showrunning ''Claws'' on TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluen ...
, and Elle Johnson. Lemmons is set to direct and executive produce the first episode. Production companies involved with the series are slated to consist of SpringHill Entertainment alongside Zero Gravity Management.
The series premiered on March 20, 2020.
Casting
Alongside the initial development announcement, it was confirmed that the series would star
Octavia Spencer as
Madam C. J. Walker
Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the '' G ...
.
On August 6, 2019, it was reported that
Tiffany Haddish,
Carmen Ejogo
Carmen Elizabeth Ejogo (; born 22 October 1973) ,
Blair Underwood
Blair Erwin Underwood (born August 25, 1964) is an American actor. He made his debut in the 1985 musical film ''Krush Groove'' and from 1987 to 1994 starred as attorney Jonathan Rollins in the NBC legal drama series ''L.A. Law''.
Underwood has a ...
,
Garrett Morris, and
Kevin Carroll had joined the cast. On August 21, 2019,
Bill Bellamy was cast in the miniseries.
On October 15, 2019, Zahra Bentham and
Mouna Traoré were cast in recurring roles.
Filming
Filming for the limited series took from July 26 to September 20, 2019, in the Canadian cities of
Mississauga
Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...
,
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
,
Stratford and
St. Catharines
St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontario ...
.
Reception
Critical response
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the miniseries holds an approval rating of 68% based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 5.66/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "''Self Made'' doesn't always live up to its namesake, but there's no denying that Octavia Spencer's spectacular embodiment of the singular Madam C.J. Walker is a sight to be seen." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, it has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Other reviews report disappointment because of the fictionalization and inaccuracies in the storyline. Addie Monroe is a fictionalized character intended to portray
Annie Malone
Annie Minerva Turnbo Malone (August 9, 1869 – May 10, 1957) was an American businesswoman, inventor and philanthropist. She is considered to be one of the first African American women to become a millionaire. In the first three decades of t ...
, another self-made millionaire who actually was the mentor of Walker. She is portrayed as a
villain
A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...
while another falsification is the portrayal of Walker's daughter as a lesbian.
Accolades
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Self Made
2020 American television series debuts
2020 American television series endings
2020s American drama television miniseries
English-language Netflix original programming
Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios
Madam C. J. Walker
Television shows based on biographies
Television shows set in Indianapolis
Television series by SpringHill Entertainment