TV One presents the world television premiere of Russ Parr's award-winning film THE UNDERSHEPHERD, starring Isaiah Washington ("Grey's Anatomy"), Lamman Rucker ("Meet The Browns"), MaLinda Williams ("Soul Food"), Elise Neal ("Belles," "The Hughleys"), Vanessa Bell Calloway ("Shameless"), Clifton Powell ("Ray"), Bill Cobb ("Go On"), Robinne Lee ("Hitch"), Keith David ("Belles," "Cloud Atlas") and Academy Award winner Louis Gossett, Jr. The thought-provoking film exploring the underbelly of power and corruption in the church premieres tonight, March 30, 8PM/ET and Sunday, March 31, 5:30PM/ET exclusively on TV One.
Written, directed and executive produced by nationally
Syndicated radio personality and filmmaker Russ Parr,
The Undershepherd tells the controversial tale of two ministers, who, although originally best friends and brothers in Christ, find their relationship tested by access to power, money and greed.
Isaiah Washington stars in the role of Lawrence "LC" Case, an ambitious and charismatic minister overcome by greed and ego who uses the pulpit to further his own agenda and ultimately lead his congregation astray. LC's best friend, Roland, starring
Lamman Rucker, struggles to get his grassroots ministry off the ground and doesn't enjoy the same level of success which generates controversy and conflict between the two men.
The Undershepherd made its national feature film debut in June 2012 and collected multiple cinematic awards along the way including winner of Best Narrative Feature, Best Director and Best Actress at the 2012 American Black Film Festival, 2012 Kansas City Film Festival Winner, 2012 Pan African Film Festival Featured Film, 2012 Motion Picture Association of American Featured Film and 2013 New Voice in Black Cinema Featured Film. The Undershepeherd is a Melee Entertainment and Uptoparr Production in association with Swirl Films. Russ Parr serves as Executive Producer, Writer and Director with Eric Tomosunas as producer.
ABOUT RUSS PARR:
Russ Parr's career has evolved from a stand-up comedian to recording artist to a top-rated, nationally-syndicated radio host, heard weekdays by 3.2 million listeners in 25 cities across America and now?.to independent filmmaker. Parr started with his own morning show on LA's 1580 KDAY, the first 24-hour, all hip hop station in the country. While there, Parr launched his own independent record label, Rapsur Records. Eventually, Parr left Los Angeles for Dallas - taking over the morning show slot on 100.3 Jamz/ KJMZ-FM. While in Dallas, he created, wrote, and produced FLAVA TV, and starred in the show alongside his morning show sidekick, Afredas. Russ was later offered the position as morning show host at 93.9 WKYS in Washington, DC, which yielded the nationally-syndicated Russ Parr Morning Show which has been
Syndicated for over 14 years.With Uptoparr Productions, Inc. in conjunction with Swirl Films, Parr has written, produced and directed four other films including: The Last Stand (2006; Something Like a Business (2010); Love For Sale (2008) and 35 and Ticking (2011), currently airing on BET,
TV One and
Showtime and available on DVD.
ABOUT TV ONE:
Launched in January 2004,
TV One (www.tvone.tv) serves more than 57.3 million households, offering a broad range of real-life and entertainment-focused original programming, classic series, movies, and music designed to entertain, inform and inspire a diverse audience of adult Black viewers. In December 2008, the company launched
TV One High Def, which now serves 14 million households.
TV One is owned by Radio One [NASDAQ: ROIA and ROIAK; www.radio-one.com], the largest radio company that primarily targets African American and urban listeners; and Comcast Corporation [NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK); www.comcast.com], one of the nation's leading providers of entertainment, information and communications products and services.
