Did you see Nicki Minaj in the The Other Woman? If you did, you’re very excited about today’s casting announcement for the upcoming ABC Family (soon-to-be Freeform) scripted comedy based on her childhood in Queens. Nicki will star Ariana Neal (Get Hard, Fruitvale Station) as Nicki when she was still Onika Tanya Maraj; Selita Ebanks (Real Husbands of Hollywood) as her mom Grace; Wesley Jonathan (The Soul Man) as her dad Vincent; and McCarrie McCausland (Army Wives, The Originals) as her brother Jaylen. Best of all, Whoopi Goldberg will play Miss Martha, a neighbor who will surely be saltier than beef roti.
As previously reported, the single-camera comedy is inspired by Minaj and her family’s immigration from Trinidad to Queens in the early 1990s, and the personal and musical evolution that led her to fame. Tim Story (Ride Along, Think Like a Man) has been tapped to direct. Kate Angelo (Will and Grace, Bernie Mac) wrote the pilot and will executive-produce with Minaj. The show shoots in Queens this winter. Minaj will also appear, though the extent of her role is unknown. In a recent interview with Billboard, she confirmed she narrates à la Chris Rock in Everybody Hates Chris, and said she told the casting director, “This will not be a clichéd black show.” God knows we don’t need another one of those.
