Greenwood native Tommie “Tonea” Stewart is featured in a supporting role in Netflix’s newest project, “Come Sunday.”
Available for streaming now, the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last fall and now has become the first of its kind — a major, feature-length movie adapted from a public radio episode of “This American Life.”
“This American Life” producer Ira Glass is one of the executive producers of the film.
Stewart, 71, plays Lillie Ruth, the mother of an evangelical preacher, the Rev. Carlton Pearson.
He is played by British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, best known for his Academy Award-nominated performance in “12 Years a Slave.”
Pearson’s true-life story is about the rejection he experienced in Oklahoma, where he studied with Oral Roberts and pastored a large church, after publicly denying a vengeful god who would condemn sinners to hell.
Stewart’s character offers Pearson counsel and support as he faces his critics.
Beyond her early life in Greenwood, Stewart has experienced success as an actor on television, in movies and on stage.
In 2016, she was presented the Mississippi Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She has received numerous other awards and was a 2015 White House Champion of Change honoree.
Her best-known film roles were in “Mississippi Burning,” the story of the FBI investigation into the murder of three civil rights workers in Neshoba County, and the film adaptation of John Grisham’s novel “A Time to Kill.”
Audiences might be most familiar with her for repeat roles in the series “Touched by an Angel,” though Stewart has played supporting roles in wide-ranging popular series, including “American Horror Story.”
Stewart has enjoyed an academic career as well, serving as dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts of Alabama State University in Montgomery, where she has lived since 1990.
A graduate of Jackson State University, Stewart went on to earn a master’s degree in speech and theater arts at University of California Santa Barbara and a doctorate from Florida State University. She also is a well-known motivational speaker.
•Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
