The Stars of “The Color Purple,” Past and Present

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From Alice Walker’s 1982 novel to Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film to two Broadway productions, The Color Purple has impacted and inspired generations. Oprah, who made her unforgettable film debut as Sofia in the 1985 movie, has served as a Color Purple “whisperer” of sorts ever since: She was a producer of the 2015 Tony Award–winning Broadway revival and the sweeping new movie musical, out on Christmas Day.

She has also passed the torch to an incredible new cast. “Thank you all for this. I can’t even begin to tell you what it means to me—a person who wanted nothing more in my life than to be in The Color Purple,” Oprah said in an Essence interview with the 2023 film’s female stars. Here’s a look at the talents who have breathed life into Alice Walker’s opus, then and now:

Celie

Then: Whoopi Goldberg

Celie is the heart of The Color Purple, and Goldberg’s portrayal of her in the 1985 film was devastating and revelatory. In 1985, the actress and comedian told the late film critic Roger Ebert how deeply she wanted to be a part of Walker’s story: “I wrote her a letter and said I would do anything, if there was ever going to be anything done with her book,” she said. “I would play any character. I would play dirt on the floor. I would be a screen door.” Although this was Goldberg’s first major part in a film, she scored a 1986 Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role and won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama that same year. She went on to become the first Black EGOT—someone who’s won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony award.

Now: Fantasia Barrino

Grammy winner Barrino’s haunting, lavish voice will stir your soul long after the credits roll. The 2004 American Idol winner, who also did a nearly nine-month run as Celie in the original Broadway show, has said that the role required her to face her own dark past. Of her decision to actually take Celie’s on-screen punches from her abusive husband, Mister, instead of using a stunt double (actor Colman Domingo resisted the idea but honored her request), she told Variety, “I could let go of every man that’s ever put his hands on me. I freed myself from that.” Barrino was just nominated for her first 2024 Golden Globe, in the Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy category.

Nettie

Then: Akosua Busia

Busia, who also happens to be a Ghanaian princess, played young and adult Nettie (Celie’s younger sister) in the original film with a fierce love. Casting director Reuben Cannon reportedly asked Busia to audition for the role after seeing her in a play, and when she began to skim the book the night before, she was hooked: “I opened to the first page and was stunned,” she told The New York Times in 1986. “I couldn’t put it down.”

Now: Ciara

Pop and R&B icon Ciara plays adult Nettie with calm confidence in the new motion picture. The Grammy-winning singer expressed her gratitude about her casting after the news broke in 2022, tweeting, “Honored to be a part of this beautiful ensemble and historic film, The Color Purple. Truly grateful 💜.” She also has new music on the film’s soundtrack.

Sofia

Then: Oprah Winfrey

It seems like Oprah was destined to star in the original The Color Purple. When she opened the 1982 book, she finally saw representations of her pain on paper. “Until that time, I didn’t know there was language for what had happened to me,” Oprah said during a panel at the new film’s first-ever public screening this fall. “I had been raped and had a child who later died, and I did not have any language to explain what that was. And that book was the first time there was a story about me.” Her character, Sofia, is Celie’s friend—and a nearly unstoppable female force whose spirit is put to the test but simply can’t be stamped out. In 1986, Oprah earned her first Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture.

Now: Danielle Brooks

Brooks stepped into Oprah’s shoes as Sofia in the 2015 Broadway revival and won her first Grammy in the Best Musical Theater Album category. She also received a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for the part in 2016. Brooks told TheWrap earlier this month that when she met Oprah while playing Sofia on Broadway, she was too nervous to even pick her brain about the role. But things changed when Oprah surprised her on Zoom when she was cast in the film: “She’s just been such a great light for me,” Brooks told TheWrap. “She has such a huge status, but for her to still be so personable and just take me under her wing during this process, and pray for me, and speak over my life, and just give me words of encouragement, I love that she’s leaving me that example because I know there’s gonna be a time where I need to do that same thing for someone else.” Brooks just earned her first Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture.

Mister

Then: Danny Glover

As Celie’s abusive husband, Mister, Glover’s visceral fury makes his character’s softening at the end of the movie utterly unexpected and stirring. “It’s one of the great emotional moments for me in my whole career,” Glover said during The Color Purple reunion on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2010.

Now: Colman Domingo

Domingo also embodies Mister with terrifying accuracy. The Emmy winner was invested in what was lurking beneath the surface emotionally for his character: As he told Ebony, “I wanted to understand his humanity and the fact that he was under a system of oppression, of not feeling like a man in his world. And so the only way he could is by putting someone else down.”

Shug Avery

Then: Margaret Avery

Avery plays Mister’s mistress in the 1985 film with a strong and captivating femininity, and she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. “The most beautiful and spiritual thing that happened for me was that after I was cast—and I share this with anyone who starts to not believe in themselves—after I was cast, I heard about all these wonderful artists who had auditioned, and I started feeling so insecure,” Avery told Essence decades later. But her self-doubt was unfounded: “Alice Walker said that she had seen a lot of tapes of other actors, but when my audition came up she just kind of woke up. She couldn’t take her eyes off me. That was like a beautiful introduction to getting the role.”

Now: Taraji P. Henson

Henson’s Shug also wields femininity as a superpower. The Golden Globe–winning actress reportedly declined a role in The Color Purple on Broadway, but she makes up for lost time in the new movie. She felt genuine awe during the production: “I remember being on a set and looking around like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve never seen Black people look so beautiful,’” she told ELLE. “[Director Blitz Bazawule] took such great care, and he allowed us to bring what we had to it. It wasn’t about trying to reinvent the wheel or trying to do what Oprah and [the original cast] did before us. He really allowed us to just make it our own. And that’s a scary thing to do because we’ve got big shoes to fill.”

Harpo

Then: Willard E. Pugh

Pugh plays Sofia’s hardworking husband (and Mister’s son) in the 1985 film. During The Color Purple reunion on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2010, he recalled the moment when Spielberg broke the news of his and Oprah’s casting: “I’d auditioned with everybody—Whoopi, Danny—but I hadn’t got the job,” he said. “Then, we go and have a meeting. [Steven] paused and said, ‘Well, Oprah, Willard—what we waiting on?’ Then he said, ‘You got the job.’” Oprah added that they were so thrilled that they leaped up, toppling the small model space shuttles on Spielberg’s desk.

Now: Corey Hawkins

Hawkins brings musical flair to Harpo, and a modern sensibility. He told The Hollywood Reporter at the film’s premiere last week: “He makes a choice to break the cycle of trauma. And that’s important for us to see. It’s important to see Harpo love a strong Black woman, a woman whose voice speaks empowerment. And he loves that, and he leans into that. And he wants Sofia to be whatever she wants to be.” Fun fact: Hawkins goes way back with his on-screen wife, Brooks. They’ve been friends since they were in the same Juilliard class with just 18 students more than a decade ago.

PHOTO CREDITS: Brooks, Barrino and Henson: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures; Goldberg, Winfrey, Avery: Warner Brothers/Getty Images; Glover: United Archives GmbH/Alamy; Domingo: Courtesy of Warner Bros.Pictures; Pugh: PictureLux/The Hollywood Archive/Alamy; Hawkins: Courtesy of Warner Bros.Pictures

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