EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures Television optioned the novel Transcendent Realm written by Yaa Gyasi and developed by producer Yvonne Orji as part of her first look deal.
The Ghanaian-American author’s second novel is told from the perspective of Gifty, a neuroscientist-in-training who studies behavioral patterns in mice as they relate to depression and addiction. Moving back and forth between her current life in the Bay Area and her childhood as a first-generation Ghanaian growing up in rural Alabama, Gifty embarks on a methodical yet spiritual journey to make sense of suffering. that she saw all around her. . But even as she turns to the hard sciences to unravel the mystery of her family’s loss, she still finds herself craving facets of her childhood faith and struggling with the evangelical church she grew up in, whose promise of salvation remains as enticing as it is. is elusive.
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Orji is an Emmy-nominated Nigerian-American comedian, actress, writer, producer and author best known for her portrayal of Issa Rae’s best friend “Molly” in the HBO comedy series. Precarious. For her performance, she earned an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 2020. Last year, she signed a two-year first-look contract with Sony Pictures Television. As part of the deal, it will develop scripted drama and comedy series for streaming and cable.
Most recently, Orji starred in the horror film The blackeningas well as Holiday Friends 2the sequel to the Hulu comedy 2021 Holiday Friends. Previous credits include the Malcolm D. Lee comedy, Evening school and voice acting in the Netflix animated series My father the bounty hunter. She also served as host and EP of the HBO Max reality series. My mother, your father and she released two comedy specials on HBO: Mom, I did it in 2020 and A whole me two years later.
She published her first book, Embroiled by Jesus: How God Deceived Me into the Life of My Dreams (2021) taking readers on a journey through 25 life lessons, gleaned from his own experiences and his favorite source of inspiration: the Bible. She is represented by UTA and Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment.
Gyasi was born in Mampong, Ghana and raised in Huntsville, Alabama. His critically acclaimed first novel, Back home (Knopf, 2016), received the 2017 American Book Award, the John Leonard Award from the National Book Critics’ Circle, and the Hemingway Prize from PEN for his debut fiction. Her short stories have appeared in African American Review, Guernica, Callaloo, and Granta, which named her the best young American novelist in 2017. She received the 2018 Mary Ellen Von Der Heyden Fellowship in Fiction from the American Academy in Berlin. Gyasi is repped by WME.
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