Morris Chestnut has been cast as the male lead on Fox’s “Our Kind of People,” starring opposite Yaya DaCosta, TheWrap has learned.
The series, which will air during the 2021-2022 season, follows strong-willed, single mom Angela Vaughn (DaCosta) as she sets out to reclaim her family’s name and make an impact with her revolutionary haircare line that highlights the innate, natural beauty of Black women. But she soon discovers a dark secret about her mother’s past that will turn her world upside down and shake up the community forever.
Inspired by Lawrence Otis Graham’s book, “Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class,” the new Fox series takes place in the aspirational world of Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, a historical stronghold where the rich and powerful Black elite have come to play for more than 50 years.
Chestnut will play Raymond Dupont, a “powerful man, raised in wealth, [with] Obama swag and presence.” He is a top executive at a food conglomerate, but he has been struggling to revive the company after his white business partner Jack almost tanked the firm through mismanagement. A conscientious father, he is the soft place to land for his daughter, Leah Franklin Dupont, the social arbiter who rules the roost on the island. But ignores his son Quincy’s ambitions to become a professional basketball player, something that puts him at sad odds with his son.
The drama hails from “Empire” co-creator Lee Daniels and Karin Gist.
Gist, whose credits include Daniels’ Fox musical drama “Star” and ABCs “Mixed-ish,” is writer and executive producer. Additional executive producers include Daniels and Marc Velez for Lee Daniels Entertainment, Pam Williams and Claire Brown for The Gist Of It Productions, Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens and Rodney Ferrell for Propagate and Montrel McKay.
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