Cynthia Erivo will play Afeni Shakur in Universal's Snoop biopic, due 6 August 2027

Cynthia Erivo has joined Snoop, Universal Pictures' biopic of Snoop Dogg, in the role of Afeni Shakur, the mother of Tupac Shakur. Universal confirmed the casting on Wednesday, 4 November 2026.

Who Afeni Shakur was

Afeni Shakur was a Black Panther Party member who was acquitted in the Panther 21 conspiracy case in New York in 1971, while pregnant with Tupac. She went on to raise him, and after his death in 1996 she ran his estate and the Amaru Entertainment label until her own death in 2016. Her story runs through much of the early Death Row era, which is the stretch of Los Angeles rap history the film is built around.

Erivo is best known worldwide as Elphaba in Universal's two Wicked films, a part that earned her an Oscar nomination. The Afeni role is a very different register for her, and one of the film's more closely watched pieces of casting.

The cast so far

Craig Brewer, the director of Hustle & Flow and Dolemite Is My Name, is directing from his own rewrite of a script first drafted by Joe Robert Cole. The cast now stands at:

• Jonathan Daviss as Snoop Dogg
• Camron Jones as Tupac Shakur
• Cynthia Erivo as Afeni Shakur
• Lauren London as Beverly Tate, Snoop's mother
• Myles Bullock as Dr. Dre
• Algee Smith as Warren G
• Tre Hale as Suge Knight

Snoop Dogg is producing alongside Brian Grazer and Allan Mandelbaum, with Death Row Pictures president Sara Ramaker also producing. The film will use music from Snoop's catalogue and is shooting in Southern California.

When it arrives

Snoop is set for cinemas on 6 August 2027. Universal has not yet shared a trailer or a first still. We will update when it does.

If you want the music behind the movie, start with Snoop's own artist page at /artist/snoop-dogg, and browse more hip-hop coverage in Stories.