Naomi Campbell has landed a recurring role in the upcoming Lee Daniels drama, Empire. She will join Terrance Howard, Taraji P. Henson and Gabourey Sidibe in the Fox program debuting in February 2015.
Empire is billed as “A unique family drama set in the world of a hip hop empire,” and the cast sounds quite promising. I have absoulutely zero qualms about watching the literal embodiment of black don’t crack on my television every week, but this all begs the question: Can Naomi Campbell act?
IMDB tells us that Ms. Campbell has 18 credits to her name including an appearance on The Cosby Show and the role of Girl #75 in Spike Lee’s Girl 6.
It seems that her role in Empire will require a lot of sexy sexiness from the supermodel, which I imagine she’ll be able to handle. Via The Hollywood Reporter:
Campbell will portray Camilla, an alluring woman involved in a steamy affair with the much-younger Hakeem (newcomer BryshereGray), the potential heir to Lucious’ throne. Tasha exercises considerable influence over Hakeem.
“Naomi is a beautiful actress. Underrated in my mind,” said co-creator/executive producer Daniels (The Butler, Precious). “She will be wonderful as Camilla. I am truly thrilled to have one of my close friends join us.”
For a peek into Campbell’s acting chops, there is also this gem of a performance in a 1990 episode The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
Empire sounds exciting and although I generally hate comparisons like this, but it’s giving me a black version of The Sopranos vibe and Campbell sounds very well suited for the role.
Maybe this will kickoff the next chapter of Naomi Campbell’s career, although, personally, I think she has already given multiple Emmy-worthy performances on The Face.
