Eminem is making an acting comeback. The “Lose Yourself” rapper is set to star in Starz’s new series Black Mafia Family as FBI informant Richard Wershe Jr. AKA White Boy Rick. The project was developed by his fellow rapper and friend 50 Cent.
50 Cent, who also serves as the series executive producer, confirmed the news on social media.
“Oh yeah I’m bringing the big dogs out, I couldn’t do a show based in Detroit without incorporating the legend @eminem,” 50 Cent wrote on Instagram while posting a photo of a headline reporting Eminem’s casting.
The series is based on the true story of brothers Demetrius Flenory and Terry Flenory. The pair started as small-time dealers in Detroit before founding the Black Mafia Family organization and establishing it as one of the country’s biggest drug trafficking and money laundering operations.
Eminem’s character Richard Wershe Jr. AKA White Boy Rick was the youngest informant in FBI history, being employed at the age of 14 and working until he was 16. At the age of 17, Wershe was arrested with 17.6 pounds of cocaine and sentenced to life in prison. He received parole in 2017 and was released from prison in 2020.
Since his acclaimed appearance in 2002’s semi-biographical movie 8 Mile, Eminem took several acting gigs but always played a fictionalized role of himself. He was notably offered the lead role in the 2013 science-fiction flick Elysium but turned it down when director Neill Blomkamp didn’t want to relocate filming from Los Angeles to Detroit.
