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

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

television limited series, based on the biography ''On Her Own Ground'' by A'Lelia Bundles, that premiered on March 20, 2020, on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. 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 various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for two Primetime Emmy ...

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

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

. 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 outstand ...

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 American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. Walker is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the ''Guinne ...

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. Her breakthrough came in with a leading role in the comedy film '' Girls Trip'' (2017), which earned her several accolades and was included on ...

A'Lelia Walker A'Lelia Walker (born Lelia McWilliams; June 6, 1885 – August 17, 1931) was an American businesswoman and patron of the arts. She was the only surviving child of Madam C. J. Walker, who was popularly credited as being the first self-made fem ...

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

Addie Addie is a unisex given name, nickname, and surname. It may refer to: People with the name Given name * Addie Aylestock (1909–1998), Canadian minister in the British Methodist Episcopal Church, the first woman minister to be ordained in tha ...

Garrett Morris Garrett Isaac Morris (born February 1, 1937) is an American actor, comedian and singer. He was part of the original cast and was the first black cast member of the sketch comedy program ''Saturday Night Live'', appearing from 1975 to 1980. He ...

as Cleophus Walker * Kevin Carroll as

Freeman Ransom Freeman Briley Ransom (1880–1947) was an American lawyer, businessman and civic activist in Indianapolis, Indiana. From 1911 until his death he served as legal counsel and general manager for the Madame C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company as we ...

J. Alphonse Nicholson J. Alphonse Nicholson is an American actor. He is known for playing the role of LaMarques in the Starz drama series, '' P-Valley'', for which he was nominated for the two NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Lif ...

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 comedy, 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 "bo ...

as Sweetness *

Zahra Bentham Zahra Bentham is a Canadian actress. She is most noted for her performance as Tamika in the 2024 film '' Village Keeper'', for which she received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Supporting Performance in a Drama Film at the 13th Canadi ...

as Nettie *

Mouna Traoré Mouna Traoré (born May 4, 1995) is a Canadian actress and filmmaker. She is known for her performances in a variety of television series, such as Global TV's ''Rookie Blue'' (2012), CBC's ''Murdoch Mysteries'' (2015–2018), and Netflix's ''Th ...

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 Roger Guenveur Smith was born on July 27, 1955, in Berkeley, California, the son of Helen Guen ...

Booker T. Washington Booker Taliaferro Washington (April 5, 1856November 14, 1915) was an American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community and of the contemporary Black elite#United S ...

Kimberly Huie Kimberly Huie is a Jamaican-Canadians, Canadian actress,"An `exotic in the land of blondes' wants to move the masses She covets meaty roles exposing disturbing sides of the human psyche". ''Toronto Star'', March 12, 1995. best known for her lead ...

Margaret Murray Washington Margaret Murray Washington (née Murray; 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, inclu ...

* Cornelius Smith Jr. as

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relativel ...

*Joanne Jansen as Walker *Olivia Croft as Josephine Moreland

Episodes

Production

Development

On November 10, 2016, it was announced that Zero Gravity Management had optioned 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, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter, and actress. She made her directorial debut with ''Eve's Bayou'' (1997), followed by ''The Caveman's Valentine'' (2001), ''Talk to Me (2007 film), ...

, 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 the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...

Maverick Carter Maverick Carter is an American sports marketing businessman and executive who is the chief executive officer (CEO) of SpringHill Company, Uninterrupted, and the Robot Company, all part of the holding company LRMR Ventures, which he co-founded wi ...

, Mark Holder, Christine Holder,

Janine Sherman Barrois Janine Sherman Barrois is an American television writer, producer, and showrunner. She is known for her work on '' ER'', '' Third Watch'' and '' Criminal Minds''. From 2017 to 2022, she executive produced crime comedy-drama '' Claws'' on TNT. Sh ...

, 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)

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

was cast in the miniseries. On October 15, 2019, Zahra Bentham and

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 Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, Stratford and

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2021, St. Catharines has an area of and 136,803 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, south of Toronto ac ...

Reception

Critical response

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

, 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 an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, 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 Annie Minerva Turnbo Malone (August 9, 1877 – May 10, 1957) was an American businesswoman, inventor and philanthropist. In the first three decades of the 20th century, she founded and developed a large and prominent commercial and education ...

, 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", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...

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

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special 2020 American television series debuts 2020 American television series endings 2020s American drama television miniseries American English-language television shows Netflix television dramas Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television shows based on biographies Television shows set in Indianapolis Television series by SpringHill Entertainment Madam C. J. Walker