Yaya DaCosta To Headline ‘Our Kind Of People’ Fox Drama Series Following ‘Chicago Med’ Exit

Courtesy photo: J. Countess/Contour by Getty Images

Chicago Med star Yaya DaCosta is set as the lead of of Fox’s new drama series Our Kind Of People, from writer/executive producer Karin Gist, executive producer Lee Daniels, 20th Television and Fox Entertainment.

As Deadline reported, DaCosta is one of two original Chicago Med original cast members to depart ahead of Season 7, along with Torrey DeVitto, as the initial contracts of Chicago Med’s original cast are coming up after Season 6. I hear DaCosta opted to leave at the end of her deal and quickly received an offer for Our Kind Of People.

The Fox series reunites DaCosta with Daniels after co-starring in his 2013 feature The Butler.

Written by Gist inspired by Lawrence Otis Graham’s provocative, critically praised book Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class, the drama, which received a straight-to-series order for the 2021-22 season, takes place in the aspirational world of Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, a historical stronghold where the rich and powerful black elite have come to play for more than 50 years. Our Kind of People follows strong-willed, single mom Angela Vaughn (DaCosta) as she sets out to reclaim her family’s name and make an impact with her revolutionary haircare line that highlights the innate, natural beauty of black women. But she soon discovers a dark secret about her mother’s past that will turn her world upside-down and shake up this community forever.

DaCosta’s Angela is a fashion-forward “boho” woman, an up-and-coming hair products entrepreneur. Angela grew up in a working class household and has never gotten over the fact that her wealthy father (who she never met) turned his back on them. After the death of her beloved mother Eve, Angela inherits a waterfront Main Street property on Martha’s Vineyard, and moves there with her alienated daughter Nikki. Angela intends to open a store on the island and further build her brand, and she’s hoping to gain acceptance into the Vineyard’s elite and long-standing Black community. But her way is blocked by Leah Franklin Dupont, the social arbiter who rules the roost on the island. However, Angela is a fighter who isn’t deterred…

Lee Daniels and Marc Velez executive produce via Lee Daniels Entertainment. Pam Williams and Claire Brown (The Gist Of It Productions); Ben Silverman, Howard T. Owens and Rodney Ferrell (Propagate); and Montrel McKay also serve as executive producers. Tasha Smith will direct the pilot and second episode.

For the past six seasons. DaCosta starred on NBC’s Chicago Med as April Sexton, a smart, bold and intuitive ER nurse with the ability to adeptly tackle the most harried of circumstances in the hospital.

DaCosta recently starred in the jazz biopic Bolden. In 2015, DaCosta played the title role in Lifetime’s Angela Bassett-directed Whitney Houston biopic Whitney. She is repped by Gersh.