''Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C. J. Walker'' is an American

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air ae ...

limited series, based on the biography ''On Her Own Ground'' by

A'Lelia Bundles A'Lelia Perry Bundles (born June 7, 1952) is an American journalist, news producer and author, known for her 2001 biography of her great-great-grandmother Madam C. J. Walker. Family and early life A'Lelia Bundles grew up in Indianapolis in a fa ...

, that premiered on March 20, 2020, on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

. It received generally positive reviews with praise for

Octavia Spencer Octavia Lenora Spencer (born May 25, 1970) is an American actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Critics' Choice Awards and three Screen Actors ...

's performance; however it received criticism for various historical inaccuracies and

artistic licence Artistic license (alongside more contextually-specific derivative terms such as poetic license, historical license, dramatic license, and narrative license) refers to deviation from fact or form for artistic purposes. It can include the alterat ...

. For her performance, Spencer received a nomination for the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie is an award presented annually by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS). It is given in honor of an actress who has delivered an outstandin ...

Premise

''Self Made'' is a fictionalized depiction of "the untold story of black hair care pioneer and mogul

Madam C. J. Walker Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the ''Gu ...

and how she overcame the hostilities of turn-of-the-century America, epic rivalries, and tumultuous marriages to become America’s first Black, self-made female millionaire."

Cast and characters

Main

Tiffany Haddish Tiffany Sara Cornilia Haddish (born December 3, 1979) is an American stand-up comedian and actress. After guest-starring on several television series and lead role on a cable drama, Haddish gained prominence for her role as Nekeisha Williams on ...

as Lelia *

Carmen Ejogo Carmen Elizabeth Ejogo (; born 22 October 1973)

as Addie * Garrett Morris as Cleophus Walker * Kevin Carroll as

Ransom Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or the sum of money involved in such a practice. When ransom means "payment", the word comes via Old French ''rançon'' from Latin ''re ...

*J. Alphonse Nicholson as John Robinson *

Blair Underwood Blair Erwin Underwood (born August 25, 1964) is an American actor. He made his debut in the 1985 musical film '' Krush Groove'' and from 1987 to 1994 starred as attorney Jonathan Rollins in the NBC legal drama series '' L.A. Law''. Underwood has ...

as Charles Joseph Walker

Guest

Bill Bellamy William Bellamy (born April 7, 1965) is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Bellamy first gained national notoriety on HBO's Russell Simmons' '' Def Comedy Jam'', where he is credited for creating or coining the phrase " booty call", des ...

as Sweetness *Zahra Bentham as Nettie * Mouna Traoré as Esther *

Roger Guenveur Smith Roger Guenveur Smith (born July 27, 1955) is an American actor, director, and writer best known for his collaborations with Spike Lee. Early life Smith was born on July 27, 1955 in Berkeley, California, the son of Helen Guenveur, a dentist, and ...

as Booker T. Washington * Kimberly Huie as

Margaret Murray Washington Margaret Murray Washington (March 9, 1865 - June 4, 1925) was an American educator who was the principal of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, which later became Tuskegee University. She also led women’s clubs. She was the third wife ...

* Cornelius Smith Jr. as W.E.B. Du Bois *Joanne Jansen as Walker *Olivia Croft as Josephine Moreland

Episodes

Production

Development

On November 10, 2016, it was announced that Zero Gravity Management had

option Option or Options may refer to: Computing *Option key, a key on Apple computer keyboards *Option type, a polymorphic data type in programming languages *Command-line option, an optional parameter to a command *OPTIONS, an HTTP request method ...

ed the screen rights to A'Lelia Bundles' biography of

, entitled ''On Her Own Ground'', with the intent of developing it into a limited series. The production was expected to be written by Nicole Asher, directed by

Kasi Lemmons Kasi Lemmons (; born Karen Lemmons, February 24, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter, and actress. She made her directorial debut with '' Eve's Bayou'' (1997), followed by '' Talk to Me'' (2007), '' Black Nativity'' (2013), '' Harri ...

, and produced by

, Christine Holder, and Mark Holder. On July 6, 2017, it was announced that

had given the production a series order consisting of eight episodes. Executive producers are expected to include

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest pl ...

, Maverick Carter, Mark Holder, Christine Holder, Janine Sherman Barrois, and Elle Johnson. Lemmons is set to direct and executive produce the first episode. Production companies involved with the series are slated to consist of SpringHill Entertainment alongside Zero Gravity Management. The series premiered on March 20, 2020.

Casting

Alongside the initial development announcement, it was confirmed that the series would star

. On August 6, 2019, it was reported that

Carmen Ejogo Carmen Elizabeth Ejogo (; born 22 October 1973)

, Garrett Morris, and Kevin Carroll had joined the cast. On August 21, 2019,

was cast in the miniseries. On October 15, 2019, Zahra Bentham and Mouna Traoré were cast in recurring roles.

Filming

Filming for the limited series took from July 26 to September 20, 2019, in the Canadian cities of Mississauga,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

, Stratford and

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontario ...

Reception

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the miniseries holds an approval rating of 68% based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 5.66/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "''Self Made'' doesn't always live up to its namesake, but there's no denying that Octavia Spencer's spectacular embodiment of the singular Madam C.J. Walker is a sight to be seen." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, it has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Other reviews report disappointment because of the fictionalization and inaccuracies in the storyline. Addie Monroe is a fictionalized character intended to portray Annie Malone, another self-made millionaire who actually was the mentor of Walker. She is portrayed as a

villain A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character a ...

while another falsification is the portrayal of Walker's daughter as a lesbian.

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Self Made 2020 American television series debuts 2020 American television series endings 2020s American drama television miniseries English-language Netflix original programming Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Madam C. J. Walker Television shows based on biographies Television shows set in Indianapolis Television series by SpringHill Entertainment