By Brooks Welch

Canadian actor Stephan James, widely known for his role in ‘If Beale Street Could Talk,’ will produce and become legendary artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in the upcoming biographical TV series.

The 28 year-old actor will play the legendary Black artist in a limited TV drama set in 1980s New York, where Basquiat grew in prominence. According to Screen Rant, the series will follow the rise of Basquiat’s career from graffiti artist “SAMO” to famous painter, whose work now sells for millions of dollars.

Basquiat was a Haitian-Puerto Rican American neo-expressionist painter, known for the crowns, words, symbols, and stick figures in his artwork. He was a known friend and collaborator of artist Andy Warhol. Basquiat was only 28 years old when he passed in 1988.

James recently told Deadline, “Jean-Michel is an artist I have long revered, and someone who has greatly influenced my work over the years. To embody such a revolutionary, whose influence in the modern era of pop culture is simply immeasurable, will simply be one of the greatest honors of my career.”

James and Shamier Anderson (Stowaway, Invasion) co-founded Bay Mills Studios in 2021, which will co-produce the series along with Boat Rocker Studios.

Watch the video below to learn more about Basquiat: