Grammy-winning musician Jon Batiste to make feature acting debut

After dominating this year’s Grammy Awards with five wins, including album of the year, American musician Jon Batiste is now set to embark on a new journey, acting.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Batiste is set to make his feature acting debut as he has joined the cast of The Color Purple, directed by Blitz Bazawule.

The plot will centre on a woman named Celie Harris and tracks her lifelong struggles as an African American woman living in the South during the early 1900s. Batiste is set to portray Grady, Shug Avery’s (played by Taraji P. Henson) husband, a sweet-talking piano man.

The forthcoming Warner Bros. musical movie is an adaptation of Alice Walker’s iconic American novel, as well as the Oscar-nominated 1985 film from Steven Spielberg and the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical that it inspired.

Oprah Winfrey, who made her feature acting debut in that movie, will be producing the new project under her Harpo Films banner; Spielberg will also return to produce for his Amblin Entertainment.

Scott Sanders and Quincy Jones, both of whom produced the Broadway musical, will also serve as producers. Alice Walker, Rebecca Walker, Mara Jacobs, Carla Gardini, Kristie Macosko Krieger and Adam Fell will serve as executive producers, as per Variety.

Batiste, who won five Grammys at the 2022 awards, has been the bandleader and musical director of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. He previously earned an Oscar for best original score for the Pixar film Soul.

• Americas