‘Five Days At Memorial’: Cornelius Smith Jr. Joins Apple’s Limited Series From John Ridley & Carlton Cuse

EXCLUSIVE: Scandal alum Cornelius Smith Jr. has been tapped as a lead opposite Vera Farmiga and Adepero Oduye in Five Days at Memorial, Apple TV+’s limited series from John Ridley, Carlton Cuse and ABC Signature.

Written by Ridley and Cuse based on the acclaimed nonfiction book by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Sheri Fink, Five Days at Memorial chronicles the first five days in a New Orleans hospital after Hurricane Katrina made landfall. When the floodwaters rose, the power failed and the heat climbed, exhausted caregivers were forced to make life-and-death decisions that haunted them for years to come.

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Smith will play Dr. Bryant King, an internist and one of the few doctors of color at the hospital, who finds himself very much in the middle of the crisis. Farmiga plays the lead, Dr. Anna Pou, the doctor on duty at Memorial when the storm hit. Oduye stars as Karen Wynn, the nurse manager of the hospital’s intensive care unit and the head of its ethics committee.

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Five Days at Memorial is written and executive produced by Ridley and Cuse, and both will serve as directors on the limited series. ABC Signature is the studio. Author Fink will serve as producer.

Smith probably is best known for his series-regular role as Marcus Walker on ABC’s Scandal. He recently had recurring roles on God Friended Me, Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C.J. Walker and Manhunt. He is repped by APA, Management 360 and Hansen Jacobson Teller.

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