Shirley starring Regina King nabs March release date

Academy Award-winning actress Regina King stars as the first Black female Presidential candidate and the first Black congresswoman, Shirley Chisholm, in the aptly titled upcoming biopic Shirley. Netflix has released some new photos of the film and a release date! Shirley will premiere on Friday, March 22, 2024.

Shirley will follow Chisholm's 1972 run for presidency, but before that she'd already made history as the first Black woman elected to Congress. Shirley landed at Netflix back in 2021 and now we're finally going to get to see it debut in just a few months. It seems fitting that the streamer nabbed the rights since King has starred in a couple of Netflix projects now, including Seven Seconds and The Harder They Fall.

Oscar-winning director John Ridley, known for his work on 12 Years a Slave, serves as writer and director on Shirley. Here’s everything we know about the upcoming movie below!

Meet the cast of Shirley

As mentioned, Oscar-winning actress Regina King will be stepping into the shoes of the first Black congresswoman, Shirley Chisholm. She has an incredibly talented cast lending her a hand throughout the movie, including her sister Reina King.

According to a recent interview King did with Harper's Bazaar, she and her sister have been working together for 15 years to get this movie made. Part of the reason the film wasn't released until now is because the actress felt it would be more influential released during an election year.

"It was always a little disheartening for Reina and I to have so many people over the years of our lives not know who Shirley Chisholm was. What she did was so pioneering. She was a true maverick and, you know, we use this term all the time, but she was a true first."

- Regina King, Harper's Bazaar

Shirley also marks one of the final on-screen performances of late actor Lance Reddick, who passed away in 2023.

• Regina King as Shirley Chisholm
• Lance Reddick as Wesley McDonald 'Mac' Holder
• Lucas Hedges as Robert Gottlieb
• Brian Stokes Mitchell as Stanley Townsend
• Christina Jackson as Barbara Lee
• Michael Cherrie as Conrad Chisholm
• Dorian Crossmond Missick as Ron Dellums
• Amirah Vann as Diahann Caroll
• W. Earl Brown as George Wallace
• Brad James as Huey Newton
• Reina King as Muriel St. Hill
• André Holland as Walter Fauntroy
• Terrence Howard as Arthur Hardwick Jr.

What is Shirley about?

As mentioned above, Shirley will chronicle the ambitious politician's goals of becoming President as well as her journey to Congress. Netflix has not yet released an official teaser or trailer for the movie, but we can likely expect one to be released in the coming weeks ahead of the film's debut.

Here's the logline shared by the streamer:

"SHIRLEY tells the story of the first black Congresswoman and political icon, Shirley Chisholm, and her trailblazing run for president of the U.S. It chronicles her audacious, boundary-breaking 1972 presidential campaign. "

Stay tuned to Netflix Life for more news and updates on the upcoming film Shirley.