Six-time Tony winner, Audra McDonald, and Best Actor in a Musical, Myles Frost, have joined the cast of Oscar nominee Ava DuVernay’s latest film inspired by Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson’s Caste: The Origins of our Discontents.
The two join previously announced cast Oscar nominee Aunjanue Ellis in the lead role, alongside Niecy Nash, Vera Farmiga, Nick Offerman, Connie Nielsen, Jon Bernthal and Jasmine Cephas-Jones.
Written and directed by DuVernay, she is producing alongside veteran collaborator Paul Garnes (Selma, Middle of Nowhere) of ARRAY Filmworks.
A bestseller and shortlisted for several awards, Wilkerson’s Caste examines racism in America through the prism of social, economic and cultural delineation and “pillars” of exclusion. Caste has been filming for several weeks in Savannah GA. The feature is financed by J4A with sales handled by CAA. The formerly Netflix-attached Caste will move on to shoot in Germany and India later this year.
McDonald has earned six Tony Awards, more performance wins than any other actor and is the only person to win in all four acting categories. On TV she starred in the A Raisin in the Sun, Private Practice and The Good Fight. Her feature credits include Beauty and the Beast, Respect and The Object of My Affection. In 2016, McDonald was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama. She’s a 2015 Primetime Emmy winner for Outstanding Special Class Program for Live from Lincoln Center.
Frost won the 2022 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of Michael Jackson in the Broadway theatre production of MJ the Musical and received a Grammy Award nomination for the cast recording.