Actress Lauren Cohan has signed on to play Leila Steinberg in the upcoming Tupac Shakur biopic All Eyez on Me. The news comes only a few days after Danai Gurira, who is Cohan’s co-star on the hit AMC show The Walking Dead, joined the cast of the film as Tupac’s mother Afeni Shakur.
Steinberg was a very important figure in the life of the iconic rapper, as she taught a writing workshop that Shakur attended when he was 17 years old, which helped him find his voice and use his talent to make his situation better. The two quickly became friends, and as Shakur became increasingly well-known in the world of music, he began to educate Steinberg on how to become a business manager; she even served as Tupac’s first manager.
Additionally, Shakur wrote the poems found in The Rose That Grew From Concrete, that were published after his death in 1996, while attending Steinberg’s workshop.
The cast of All Eyez on Me includes Jamal Woolard, who will be reprising his role as The Notorious B.I.G. from 2009’s Notorious, Kat Graham as Jada Pinkett, Jamie Hector as Mutulu Shakur and Dominic L. Santana as Suge Knight. The film is directed by Benny Boom and will be released on November 18, 2016.