Viola Davis To Play Barbara Jordan In Biopic?

Viola may have found her Oscar-winning role. According to Rod 2.0 and Indie Wire, the actress is reportedly in talks to play Barbara Jordan, the first black woman to be elected to Congress from the South. Jordan was also a lesbian.

This time Viola Davis will tackle the life story of Barbara Jordan to be based on the 2000 biography Barbara Jordan: American Hero, written by Mary Beth Rogers. Paris Barclay will direct from a script adapted by Emmy-nominated writer Paris Qualles (primarily written for TV). 


 A little about Barbara Jordan... she was the first African American to serve in the Texas Senate since Reconstruction, the first black woman elected to Congress from the South, and the first to deliver the keynote address at a national party convention. 


 But, given how private a life she led, Jordan was considered something of a mystery, even to her close friends - friends who didn't know about the illness that would eventually kill her at just 59 years old.

Hopefully Viola, who would act as a producing partner along with her husband, will not shy away from Jordan's sexuality and her 30-year relationship with educational psychologist Nancy Earl. It's not often black women, gay or straight, get the big screen biopic treatment (which I'm assuming hoping this will be), so it's paramount that all of the story be told.