Janelle Monae to Make Acting Debut in 'Hidden Figures' with Taraji P Henson, Octavia Spencer

Monae joins the likes of Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Kevin Costner as a lead role in Hidden Figures, TheWrap reports. The film is based on the forthcoming Margot Lee Shetterly book Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, which is due for release in September. Hidden Figures will tell the story of three African-American women who were computers (a.k.a. mathematicians) that helped launch the Friendship 7 mission, on which John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth.

Monae is set to play Mary Jackson, the youngest of the three computers. Spencer will play Dorothy Vaughan, Henson will portray Katherine Johnson and Costner will be the lead of NASA's space program.

Further details about the movie remain scare, though according to iMDB, it is due for release in January 2017.

Hidden Figures will be Monae's first live action feature film role. She was previously featured as a voice actress in Rio 2 as Dr. Monae and is also set to appear in the drama Moonlight.

Monae, best known for her fusion of soul, pop and highly conceptualized albums, has not released an album since 2013's The Electric Lady.

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Janelle Monae