Janelle Monáe to Star as Josephine Baker in WWII-Era Spy Drama

Nonbinary recording artist and actor Janelle Monáe will play real-life historic jazz star and WWII hero Josephine Baker in the A24 series "De La Resistance," Pitchfork reported.

Baker, the article recalled, was "a world renowned jazz performer–and also... a spy for the Allies during the French resistance in World War II."

Monáe, a multiple Grammy nominee who has said she identifies a pansexual and nonbinary, and who uses "they/them, her/she" pronouns, took to Twitter to announce the role, sharing a link to a Deadline article about the project, which Deadline noted "is currently being fought over by multiple streamers."

A24 is the company the produced gay-themed Oscar-winning drama "Moonlight" (which Monáe appeared in) as well as current TV hit "Euphoria." Her acting credits also include starring roles in "Hidden Figures," about female mathematicians who worked for NASA in the 1960s, and "Harriet." She's also set to star in the upcoming "Knives Out 2."

Monáe as Baker is apt casting, Deadline said, recalling that "Monáe, who will also produce under her Wondaland banner, has long been a fan of Baker, even modelling her look at this week's Met Gala... on the woman known as 'Black Venus' and the 'Creole Goddess.'"

"American-born French entertainer and civil rights activist Baker, who spent most of her career in Europe, was the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 silent film Siren Of The Tropics," Deadline recounted, adding that the jazz luminary "refused to perform to segregated audiences in the U.S. and is noted for her contributions to the civil rights movement."

During World War II, "Baker was active for the French Resistance," the article added, "for which she was awarded multiple honors by French leader General Charles de Gaulle."