Octavia Spencer is all about beautiful hair and Benjamins in the first trailer for Netflix’s “Self Made,” a limited series about Madam C.J. Walker, the trailblazing African American haircare entrepreneur who was America’s first female self-made millionaire.
In the video, which you can view above, Sarah Breedlove a.k.a. Madam CJ Walker (Spencer), says it’s time to tell her story.
“Seems like I was born to struggle,” she says in a voiceover, as we watch her scrubbing laundry. “After a while, I guess I just lost hope. That’s when my hair started falling out.”
She gets some help from a lady whose product helps her hair grow back, but when Walker offers to sell the haircare wonder for the woman, she tells her she doesn’t think sales of “for” Walker. That’s when Sarah decides to take matters into her own hands, doing her own hair and making her own “hair-grower” — and growing a hair-grower business.
The four-part series, which launches March 20, is based on the book “On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker,” written by Walker’s great-great-granddaughter, A’Lelia Bundles.
Per Netflix, “Against all odds, Walker overcame post-slavery racial and gender biases, personal betrayals, and business rivalries to build a ground-breaking brand that revolutionized black haircare, as she simultaneously fought for social change.”
Along with Spencer as Madam C.J. Walker, “Self Made” stars Blair Underwood as her husband C.J. Walker, Tiffany Haddish as her daughter Lelia, Carmen Ejogo as Walker’s business rival Addie Munroe, Garrett Morris as Walker’s father-in-law, Kevin Carroll as her longtime lawyer Freeman Ransom and Bill Bellamy as Ransom’s cousin Sweetness.
The series is executive produced by co-showrunners Elle Johnson and Janine Sherman Barrois, along with writer and co-executive producer Nicole Jefferson Asher, Maverick Carter, LeBron James, Mark Holder, Christine Holder, Kasi Lemmons, Jamal Henderson and Spencer. Director’s include Kasi Lemmons and DeMane Davis.
The series hails from James’ SpringHill Entertainment and Wonder Street in association with Warner Bros. Television.
“Self Made” launches March 20 on Netflix.