Fantasia Barrino to Star as Mahalia Jackson in New Film

Fantasia Barrino will play the title role in a feature-film adaptation of the 1993 book Got to Tell It: Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel, according to a report in The Hollywood Reporter. Euzhan Palcy will direct the film, which will have a screenplay by Jim Evering.

The movie will chart the life of the late American gospel singer, a civil rights activist, and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Barrino appeared on Broadway in The Color Purple, along with the show’s national tour. She is perhaps best known for her appearances on American Idol. Among her other credits are playing herself in the television biopic Life Is Not a Fairy Tale: The Fantasia Barrino Story and such solo recordings as her recent Back to Me.