David Oyelowo, the actor who stars as Martin Luther King Jr, in the movie Selma that is currently in showing is cinemas is slated to star alongside Kenyan Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o in Disney’s Queen of Katwe movie that is to be shot in Kampala at the end of March.
The story revolves around Phiona Mutesi, a young girl from the Katwe slums who, with the help of her coach, becomes a chess prodigy.
Acclaimed Hollywood director Mira Nair, a wife to Makerere don Prof. Mahmood Mamdani will direct the film. She has previously directed films like The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Monsoon Wedding, Salaam Bombay and Mississippi Masala that starred Denzel Washington.
The Queen Of Katwe storyline is based on an ESPN Magazine article and the 2012 book The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl’s Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster, both by Tim Crothers.
Oyelowo, will play the Mutesi’s coach, Robert Katende while Nyong’o will take on the role of the child’s mother.
About Oyelowo
David Oyetokunbo Oyelowo, born 1 April 1976, is a British actor. He was born in Oxford, England, to Nigerian parents of Yoruba ethnicity. His father, Stephen, worked for then state-owned British Airways.
He has played supporting roles in the films Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Middle of Nowhere (2012), Lincoln (2012), and garnered praise for portraying Louis Gaines in The Butler (2013).
On television, he played MI5 officer Danny Hunter in the British series Spooks (2002–04). Last year, Oyelowo played Martin Luther King, Jr. in the biographical drama film Selma, for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor (Drama).
He first attended a youth theatre after being invited by a girl on whom he had a crush. He then studied theatre studies for A levels at City and Islington College, where his teacher suggested that he become an actor. After A levels Oyelowo enrolled for a year in an art foundation course, subsequently winning a place, and a scholarship at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). He finished his three-year training in 1998 and started out as a stage performer before transitioning to film.