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Posts tagged as ““The Wire””

"The Wire" and "Treme" Actor Wendell Pierce Invests in $20 Million Project to Bring Jobs to Baltimore

By goodblacknews on April 10, 2016
Wendell Pierce (photo via macraespeakers.com)
Wendell Pierce (photo via macraespeakers.com)

article by Collier Meyerson via fusion.net

Actor Wendell Pierce, best known for his role as Detective Bunk Moreland on The Wire, is investing in a $20 million apartment complex in the arts district of Baltimore, he announced during a panel discussion at Columbia University on Saturday. The actor, 49, told Fusion it’s the beginning of a jobs program he intends to expand to other parts of the city.
A portion of the apartments in the building will be offered to Baltimore artists at a discounted rate, Pierce said. Artists living in the building will also have the opportunity to feature their artwork in the building’s galleries. And Baltimore residents will make up a portion of the construction team hired for the apartment project.
“They’re not going to be the entire workforce, but we wanted to put together a jobs program for people from the community,” Pierce said.
Pierce made the announcement alongside three of his former castmates from The Wire: Sonja Sohn, Felicia Pearson, and Jamie Hector. The actors were part of a panel on community activism. Pierce told the crowd it was an appropriate time to make the announcement, given the circumstance of the event.
Sohn and Hector have each started non-profit organizations for inner-city youth. Hector’s organization, Moving Mountains, is a Brooklyn-based theater company that coaches youth from all five boroughs about both the artistic and corporate sides of the industry. Sohn started ReWired for Change, a Baltimore based-organization.
Construction for Pierce’s apartment complex is slated to begin in July, the actor said. The developers are “shooting for the end of 2017” to complete the project, he said. He declined to disclose which other investors he is working with or the development company, but did say that the project is a private venture.
To read more, go to: http://fusion.net/story/289769/the-wire-actor-wendell-pierce-baltimore-project/?utm_content=buffer50b6b&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer 

Idris Elba's Coat-Clad Superhero Series "Luther" Premieres 3rd Season Tonight

By goodblacknews on September 3, 2013

Idris Elba as "Luther"
Idris Elba as “Luther”

He wears a heavy tweed coat instead of a cape and a steely, brooding façade instead of a dark cowl, but for Luther star Idris Elba, his British copper might as well be London’s own Batman. “In concept, we straddle between detective and superhero. Although there aren’t any magic tricks or capes or anything like that, we put our central character through improbable — and probable — scenarios that ask the audience to suspend their belief,” says Elba, the British actor who returns as Detective Chief Inspector John Luther for a third installment of the series running Tuesday through Friday (10 ET/PT nightly, except at 9 ET/PT Wednesday) on BBC America.
Over the course of a trio of seasons since 2010, Luther has dealt with masked serial killers, pedophiles, twin killers, snipers and the psychopathically endearing murderer Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson), who’s gone from Luther’s arch-enemy to confidante.  That stuff is almost easiest for the grumpy lawman to deal with than other aspects of his life, like coming to grips with the death of his ex-wife and brandishing his own sense of justice that, while efficient, puts him at odds with most every other cop in town.
“He’s a spiritually wounded man, and one of the great malicious pleasures of writing for the character and this particular actor is what kind of hell can I put him through next?” says Luther creator and writer Neil Cross.

Wendell Pierce Creates Supermarket Chain to Help New Orleans Residents

By goodblacknews on April 7, 2013

Wendell Pierce welcomes the first customers inside his 25,000 square-foot store.
Wendell Pierce, best known for his roles on “The Wire” and “Treme” is now launching a chain of grocery and convenience stores in places where fresh food can be hard to find.   As a boy, Pierce dreamed of leaving his hometown one day for the world stage. Today, the veteran actor with global credits has returned on a mission: rebuilding neighborhoods, brick by brick, aisle after aisle.
After Hurricane Katrina devastated this city in 2005, Pierce seized an opportunity to help his childhood neighborhood — Pontchartrain Park, an historic enclave for middle-class blacks — get back on its feet. He started the nonprofit Pontchartrain Park Community Development Corp. with a goal of replacing hundreds of flood-ravaged, 1950s-era houses with new homes.  Now, the next item in his recovery recipe is a long-missing ingredient.
Pierce, 50, and his partners are investing big in something seemingly so small: convenient access to a grocery store. They have launched a chain of convenience stores, Sterling Express, and a full-service grocery store, called Sterling Farms, the latter just unveiled in what is often described as a “food desert,” a neighborhood where residents must travel more than a mile to a store selling fresh food. According to 2011 data, 19 percent of all Orleans Parish households have no access to a vehicle.