Lakeith Stanfield is headed into the kitchen. The Atlanta actor has landed the starring role in Notes From a Young Black Chef per The Hollywood Reporter. The new drama from A24 is based on former Top Chef contestant (and current celebrity chef) Kwame Onwuachi’s memoir of the same name. In addition to starring, Stanfield will also executive produce the project.
Onwuachi’s memoir was co-written with Joshua David Stein and recounts African-Nigerian Onwuachi’s childhood in the Bronx, which was interrupted when he was a boy after being sent to Africa by his family because of his behavioral issues. When there, he started to gain control of his dangerous downward spiral after he found work as a chef onboard a Deepwater Horizon cleanup ship.
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From there, Onwuachi trained as a French chef at the Culinary Institute of America, and later found work in some of the most prestigious kitchens around the world. He also appeared as a contestant on Top Chef, and won this year’s James Beard Award for Rising Chef of the Year.
The young chef, now only 29, will also executive produce the film alongside Stanfield and Colin Stark. Randy McKinnon (Chambers) is writing the script, with Stephen Love (Soul Survivor) producing.
Stanfield can next be seen as part of Rian Johnson’s epic ensemble cast in Knives Out, as well as another A24 flick, Uncut Gems.
(Photo by Backgrid Images)
