Actress, supermodel and producer Naomi Campbell will be featured as a recurring guest star on FOX’s sexy and powerful new family drama, EMPIRE. Campbell will play CAMILLA, an alluring woman involved in a steamy affair with the much-younger potential heir to his father’s throne, HAKEEM (newcomer Bryshere Gray), over whom she exercises considerable influence. EMPIRE will debut in early 2015 on FOX.
“Naomi is a beautiful actress. Underrated in my mind,” said co-creator and executive producer Lee Daniels (“Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” “Precious”). “She will be wonderful as Camilla. I am truly thrilled to have one of my close friends join us.”
Campbell added, “It’s an honor to follow in the footsteps of actresses like Halle Berry, Oprah, Gabourey Sidibe and Mo’Nique, and work with Lee Daniels. I’m looking forward to joining Lee and this amazing cast on set.”
With hip-hop at the forefront of music and fashion, Academy Award nominee Daniels and Emmy Award winner Danny Strong (“Game Change,” “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”) bring us EMPIRE a family dynasty set against a rich world of glamour, danger, sex and power, with music by prolific producer Timbaland. Music mogul LUCIOUS LYON (Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard, “Crash,” “Hustle & Flow”) is the CEO of Empire Entertainment. He is the king of hip-hop, whose reign has been unchallenged for years…until his health begins to fail, which prompts his three sons, HAKEEM (Gray), JAMAL (Jussie Smollett, “The Mighty Ducks”) and ANDRE (Trai Byers, “90210”), to battle for control of their father’s corporation. But as Lucious begins the process of choosing a successor, his plans are thrown into chaos when his ex-wife, COOKIE (Academy Award and Emmy Award nominee Taraji P. Henson, “No Good Deed,” “Person of Interest”), mysteriously emerges from prison seven years early. Along with Daniels and Strong, Brian Grazer (“24,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Parenthood”) also serves as an executive producer on the series. In other casting news, famed R&B singer Gladys Knight also will be featured in a cameo on EMPIRE, playing herself.