Trinidad and Tobago-born, award-winning actor Michael Cherrie has been cast alongside Academy award winning actress Regina King (The Harder They Fall) in her upcoming movie Shirley.
Cherrie will portray King’s husband Conrad O Chisholm in the film produced by Participant and Regina King’s Royal Ties Productions.
King will star as Shirley Chisholm in the film, written and directed by Academy-Award winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, Guerrilla, Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992).
When asked how he managed to land the role, Cherrie told Newsday via a WhatsApp message, "A renowned Hollywood casting director, Kim Hardin, reached out to my managers about a potential opportunity. Once I received the call back, we poured all our energies and resources into preparation for the live call-in audition (via Zoom) with Regina King and John Ridley. Less than 24 hours later, we were notified that I got the role."
Cherrie said although it is a very demanding role, the time and energy spent preparing for it was well worth it.
"(I'm) thrilled and exhausted at the same time. I'm ecstatic because it is every actor's dream to nab a lead role in any production, but exhausted because there were countless days of preparation and effort to get ready for this moment. And it never stops, you're continuously on the go.
"Yet I wouldn't trade any of it. I'm loving every minute."
He said working with such big names in the movie business will give him the "opportunity to prove, as a talent born and raised on an island, that we have the capacity to deliver on any stage, but also to learn and share these experiences with others so that they too can succeed at this level."
Shirley is the intimate portrayal of trailblazing political icon Shirley Chisholm, who was born to a Barbadian family and was the first black Congresswoman and the first black woman to run for president of the US, at great personal cost for herself.
This film will tell the story of Chisholm's boundary-breaking and historic election campaign, based on exclusive and extensive conversations with family, friends and those who knew her best.
Labelled "the Black Brando" for his performance in Britain’s Channel 4 television production of Kittitian-born Caryl Phillips’ The Final Passage in 1996, Cherrie is a Cacique-award winning actor who has appeared in numerous theatrical and film productions in TT and the USA.
His theatre credits in the US include: A Streetcar named Desire (Pablo), Lobby Hero (William), a production of A Raisin in the Sun where he played Walter Lee Younger and Arthur Feinsod’s new play Table 17 where he played Winston Todd. His last appearance in the US was as Marcus Garvey at the Centre for Caribbean Studies at Trinity College’s Marcus and Amy Garvey State Visit to Hartford, Connecticut..
His onscreen work includes: Home Again for Telefilm Canada, The Mystic Masseur (Man in the Yellow Suit) for Merchant Ivory Films, and the recent Tribeca Film Festival-selected She Paradise, directed by Maya Cozier.
Cherrie is represented by Question Mar
