Danielle Brooks lands leading role in Apple TV+ series inspired by Harlem soul food staple Melba’s
TheGrio...
With Kenya Barris writing and Oprah Winfrey executive producing, the project brings major names behind a story rooted in community.
Danielle Brooks is heading to Apple TV+ with a soul food comedy backed by some serious power. The Oscar-nominated actress is set to star and executive produce in “American Comfort,” a series in development at Apple TV+ inspired by the life and restaurant of Harlem legend Melba Wilson.
As theGrio previously reported, Kenya Barris, who is writing and executive producing the new project, recently spoke about humanizing icons through storytelling in his documentary work, and Barris has kept a packed slate of projects in development, including audio comedies and features with some of the biggest names in Black entertainment. Deadline broke the news exclusively, reporting that the Danielle Brooks Apple TV+ project landed at the platform in a competitive situation and also has Oprah Winfrey executive producing through her Harpo Entertainment banner.
Brooks will play the lead character Melba, the owner of the fictional restaurant at the center of the show. The series explores what Wilson’s real-life Harlem eatery, Melba’s, has represented to its community over more than 20 years, from its roots as a neighborhood spot to becoming a soul food destination with locations at Central Park, Grand Central Terminal, and Newark’s Prudential Center.
Wilson is a James Beard Award-nominated chef, restaurateur and entrepreneur who has built her name around warmth, hospitality and community as much as cooking. The casting mirrors that energy, with Brooks bringing the same grounded, big-hearted presence that earned her an Oscar nomination for “The Color Purple” and a Critics Choice Award nomination for her recent turn in HBO Max’s “Peacemaker” Season 2.
Barris executive produces through his Khalabo Ink Society alongside Winfrey and Carla Gardini for Harpo Entertainment, Aaron Kaplan for Kapital Entertainment, Wilson herself, director Neema Barnette, and Aisha Summers-Burke for BET Studios, a label of CBS Studios where Barris is a founding principal partner. It marks yet another collaboration between Winfrey and Brooks, who previously worked together on “The Color Purple.”