Oprah Winfrey to star in HBO film on cancer hero Henrietta Lacks

Oprah Winfrey will star in the HBO film “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” based on Rebecca Skloot’s best-selling non-fiction book, the cable channel announced Monday.

The role follows the longtime talk show host’s recent turns on the big screen in “Selma” and “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.” Starting June 21, she’ll be seen in the series “Greenleaf” on her OWN channel.

Broadway’s George C. Wolfe is the new movie’s writer and director.

Winfrey, also the movie’s executive producer, will play Deborah Lacks, who comes to learn her mother’s cancerous cells were harvested in 1951 without her permission, and were used to develop several medical breakthroughs.

Filming is scheduled to begin this summer, with an air date yet to be announced.