''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 b ...
streaming television
Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air a ...
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 fa ...
, 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 fi ...
.
It received generally positive reviews with praise for
Octavia Spencer
Octavia Lenora Spencer (born May 25, 1970) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Critics' Choice Awards and three Screen Actors ...
's performance; however it received criticism for various historical inaccuracies and
artistic licence
Artistic license (alongside more contextually-specific derivative terms such as poetic license, historical license, dramatic license, and narrative license) refers to deviation from fact or form for artistic purposes. It can include the alterat ...
. For her performance, Spencer received a nomination for the
.
Premise
''Self Made'' is a fictionalized depiction of "the untold story of black hair care pioneer and mogul
Madam C. J. Walker 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
Octavia Lenora Spencer (born May 25, 1970) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Critics' Choice Awards and three Screen Actors ...
as
Madam C. J. Walker
*
Tiffany Haddish
Tiffany Sara Cornilia Haddish (born December 3, 1979) is an American stand-up comedian and actress. After guest-starring on several television series and lead role on a cable drama, Haddish gained prominence for her role as Nekeisha Williams on ...
as
Lelia
*
Carmen Ejogo
Carmen Elizabeth Ejogo (; born 22 October 1973) as
Addie
*
Garrett Morris
Garrett Isaac Morris (born February 1, 1937) is an American actor, comedian and singer. He was part of the original cast of the sketch comedy program ''Saturday Night Live'', appearing from 1975 to 1980, and played Jimmy on ''The Jeffersons'' ...
as Cleophus Walker
*
Kevin Carroll as
Ransom
*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 ...
as Charles Joseph Walker
Guest
*
Bill Bellamy
William Bellamy (born April 7, 1965) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Bellamy first gained national notoriety on HBO's Russell Simmons' ''Def Comedy Jam'', where he is credited for creating or coining the phrase "booty call", descri ...
as Sweetness
*Zahra Bentham as Nettie
*
Mouna Traoré
Mouna Traoré (born May 4, 1995) is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She is known for her performances in a variety of television series, such as Global TV's ''Rookie Blue'' (2012), CBC's ''Murdoch Mysteries'' (2015–2018), and Netflix's ''Th ...
as Esther
*
Roger Guenveur Smith 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.
Cornelius Smith Jr. (born March 18, 1982) is an American actor best known for his portrayal of Marcus Walker on the ABC drama series ''Scandal'' from 2015 to 2018, and Frankie Hubbard on the ABC soap opera ''All My Children'' from December 2007 ...
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 i ...
*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, 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
Kasi Lemmons (; born Karen Lemmons, February 24, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter, and actress. She made her directorial debut with ''Eve's Bayou'' (1997), followed by '' Talk to Me'' (2007), ''Black Nativity'' (2013), '' Harriet ...
, and produced by
Octavia Spencer
Octavia Lenora Spencer (born May 25, 1970) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Critics' Choice Awards and three Screen Actors ...
, 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 fi ...
had given the production a series order consisting of eight episodes. Executive producers are expected to include
LeBron James
LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest p ...
,
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
Octavia Lenora Spencer (born May 25, 1970) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Critics' Choice Awards and three Screen Actors ...
as
Madam C. J. Walker.
On August 6, 2019, it was reported that
Tiffany Haddish
Tiffany Sara Cornilia Haddish (born December 3, 1979) is an American stand-up comedian and actress. After guest-starring on several television series and lead role on a cable drama, Haddish gained prominence for her role as Nekeisha Williams on ...
,
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 ...
,
Garrett Morris
Garrett Isaac Morris (born February 1, 1937) is an American actor, comedian and singer. He was part of the original cast of the sketch comedy program ''Saturday Night Live'', appearing from 1975 to 1980, and played Jimmy on ''The Jeffersons'' ...
, and
Kevin Carroll had joined the cast. On August 21, 2019,
Bill Bellamy
William Bellamy (born April 7, 1965) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Bellamy first gained national notoriety on HBO's Russell Simmons' ''Def Comedy Jam'', where he is credited for creating or coining the phrase "booty call", descri ...
was cast in the miniseries.
On October 15, 2019, Zahra Bentham and
Mouna Traoré
Mouna Traoré (born May 4, 1995) is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She is known for her performances in a variety of television series, such as Global TV's ''Rookie Blue'' (2012), CBC's ''Murdoch Mysteries'' (2015–2018), and Netflix's ''Th ...
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,
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, 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. Cam ...
,
Stratford and
St. Catharines.
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 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, 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 ...
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