Tobias Truvillion, Leon, Jessica “Jess Hilarious” Moore, & More Join BET+ Biopic ‘First Lady of BMF: The Tonesa Welch Story’
Deadline reports that Tobias Truvillion, Leon, Jessica “Jess Hilarious” Moore, Faith Malonte, Kellie Williams, Daphnique Springs and Tristan Fazekas have been added to First Lady of BMF: The Tonesa Welch Story, a new biopic starring Michelle Mitchenor.
Set to debut on BET+ later this year, the film currently in production in the Washington, D.C. area. Vivica A. Fox is directing from a script penned by Gabrielle Collins. Tressa Azarel Smallwood and Judge Greg Mathis are exec producing.
The film follows Tonesa (Mitchenor), a young woman raised in 1980s Detroit, who becomes seduced by the limelight and adventure of being in the drug game. She soon meets Harry (Truvillion), an older, sophisticated head of a drug organization who gives her a taste of the good life. Bothered by Tonesa’s ambition, Harry controls her through violence. But when the cycle of prosperity and abuse is about to break her spirit, Harry gets locked up and Tonesa forges a new path with a young, trusted confidante, Terry Flenory, aka Southwest T (Faith Malonte).
Welch finally sets the record straight and tells Her-story, the TRUE history of why federal authorities in their indictment labeled Tonesa “The First Lady of BMF!” (Currently, key aspects of her life make up the main storyline in Season 2 of the hit Starz series BMF, with LaLa Anthony’s character MarKaisha Taylor serving as a stand-in for Welch.)