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'Roots' 2016 - Full Cast List & Character Descriptions

'Roots' 2016 - Full Cast List & Character Descriptions

The 2016 remake of the Roots mini-series premiered on History Channel tonight and you can meet the full cast right here.

Malachi Kirby was introduced to the world in the first night of the mini-series as the important character Kunta Kinte.

Other stars who will be featured in the four episodes include Forest Whitaker, Laurence Fishburne, Anna Paquin, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Anika Noni Rose, and more!

Roots is a historical portrait of American slavery recounting the journey of one family’s will to survive, endure and ultimately carry on their legacy despite enormous hardship and inhumanity. Spanning multiple generations, the lineage begins with young Kunta Kinte who is captured in his homeland in The Gambia and transported in brutal conditions to colonial America where he’s sold into slavery. Throughout the series, the family continues to face adversity while bearing witness and contributing to notable events in U.S. history – including the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, slave uprisings and eventual emancipation.

Click inside to meet the cast of Roots…

Chad L. Coleman stars as “Mingo”
A stern no-nonsense slave/cock trainer for Tom Lea, who keeps the Lea plantation afloat. He befriends Chicken George and they bond like father and son. (Appears in Night 3)

Emayatzy Corinealdi stars as “Belle”
The American born wife of Kunta Kinte and longtime favorite cook and housekeeper for Dr. William Waller. She gives Kunta Kinte a reason to live and stop running. She is the mother to Kunta’s only child – a daughter named Kizzy, but lives with her own terrible secret, her two baby girls who were sold away from her when she was young before she was married. (Appears in Night 2)

Laurence Fishburne stars as “Alex Haley”
The author of the novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. (Appears in Night 4)

Lane Garrison stars as “Frederick Murray”
The racist, pro-secession son of Benjamin Murray, a sentimental, vicious young man who is violent to the slaves on the farm. He is engaged to Nancy Holt. (Appears in Night 4)

Matthew Goode stars as “Dr. William Waller”
The educated, charming, more refined and successful younger brother of John Waller. William has a more benign manner in handling his slaves though he certainly believes in slavery. (Appears in Nights 2 & 3)

G Hannelius stars as “Missy Waller”
The daughter of John Waller and the best friend of Kizzy until she betrays her. (Appears in Night 2)

Tip “T.I.” Harris stars as “Cyrus”
A headstrong slave who fights for freedom for the Union Army against Confederate Forces. He befriends and helps Chicken George. (Appears in Night 4)

Malachi Kirby stars as “Kunta Kinte”
Kunta Kinte, “the African,” member of the highly respected Kinte clan of the Mandinka people of Gambia. A warrior who is educated, clever, skilled, strong, resilient and proud, he is young man of immense courage and spiritual fortitude – all traits that empower him when he is captured by slavers. Kunta never relinquishes his dream of returning to his homeland and never stops challenging the slaves born in America to fight for their freedom. (Appears in Nights 1 & 2)

Derek Luke stars as “Silla Ba Dibba”
A powerful Mandinka fighter who is battle-scarred and highly skilled in ways of combat – he helps train new warriors. He is an icon to the young men of Juffure and an inspiration to Kunta when they are both captured and sold to English slave traders. (Featured in Night 1)

Jonathan Rhys Meyers stars as “Tom Lea”
A poor farmer of Irish descent from the impoverished Carolina hill country. Craven, aspiring, though at times great fun, always suspicious and can’t rise above a deep rooted jealousy of his betters. He buys Kizzy as a 15-year-old and rapes her resulting in the birth of their son George whom he takes under his wing and teaches about cock fighting. He has a deep struggle that torments him in owning a slave that is in fact his son. (Appears in Nights 2, 3, & 4)

RegĂ©-Jean Page stars as “Chicken George”
Kizzy’s clever, theatrical and resourceful son. A handsome social magnet who knows how to transfix a crowd with a story, yet doesn’t appreciate what he has until his luck abandons him. He struggles with following his family traditions until he is abandoned by his true father, slave owner, Tom Lea. (Appears in Nights 3 & 4 )

Anna Paquin stars as “Nancy Holt”
The Quaker fiancé of Confederate officer, Frederick Murray, she has her own agenda when it comes to the handling of slaves. (Appears in Night 4)

Mekhi Phifer stars as “Jerusalem”
A mute slave who works on the Murray plantation, but who is not quite who he appears to be. (Appears in Night 4)

James Purefoy stars as “John Waller”
An English colonist who is the profligate owner of a Virginia tobacco plantation who buys Kunta Kinte as a slave upon his arrival in America. An alcoholic, deep in debt, braggart, more negligent than mean, he’s unable to keep his farm vital without secret loans from his brother. (Appears in Nights 2 & 3)

Anika Noni Rose stars as “Kizzy”
The cherished and smart only child of Kunta Kinte and Belle who maintains her family pride and warrior spirit. She is trained to be a warrior by her father, remembering every story about Africa that her father ever told her. She is taught to read by her slave master’s daughter, Missy. After being raped by her slave master, Tom Lea, she gives birth to her only son, George, the only grandchild of Kunta Kinte. She perpetuates the dreams and teachings of her father in the rearing of her son. (Appears in Night 3)
–Young Kizzy (Age 15) Featured in Night 2 is played by E’myri Lee Crutchfield.

Erica Tazel stars as “Matilda”
A preacher’s daughter, literate, modest and religious. She is swept away by the charm and attention of Chicken George and is the only woman that could tame him and soon thereafter becomes his wife and the mother to his eight children. (Appears in Nights 3 & 4)

Sedale Threatt Jr. stars as “Tom”
The youngest son of George and Matilda. Tom reacts to his father’s spendthrift, wastrel and philandering ways by simply hiding his emotions. A quiet, handsome young man, Tom believes surviving slavery will only come through hard work as a blacksmith. The stories of his great grandfather, Kunta Kinte, resonate for him as parables of hard work and perseverance. He is provoked when he realizes that he cannot protect his wife and family by keeping his head down, and his inner warrior comes out during the Civil War. (Appears in Night 4)

Mandela Van Peebles stars as “Noah”
A lanky teenager and orphaned child of a slave who died in the fields. Noah is a slave on the Waller plantation who is promised to Kizzy by Dr. Waller, an act which infuriates both Kizzy and her father, Kunta Kinte. Noah is a decent young man though, who grows to love Kizzy and works hard to win her love. Noah proves to have more to him than meets the eye, with a rebellious, determined streak. (Appears in Night 2)

Forest Whitaker stars as “Fiddler”
An urbane slave musician who is rented out by the Waller family to play for various plantations, he has “fiddled” his way out of the fields to what he thinks is an especially comfortable life. Fiddler is garrulous, a staunch friend to Kunta who mentors him but learns a great deal from him as well. (Appears in Nights 1 & 2)

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