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Los Angeles – Oprah Winfrey is to star as a brothel madam in Ruined.
The television personality – who is one of the richest women in the US thanks to her huge media empire – will take the starring role of Mama Nadi in the HBO film, an adaptation of the Lynn Nottage book of the same name.
The novel tells the tale of a woman in war-torn Congo who tries to stop the women working for her from getting caught in the war between rebel armies and the country's government.
Nottage – who won a Pulitzer prize for the book – is adapting the screenplay for the project, while Oprah will produce the film.
Oprah, 56, has used her voice for a number of animated movie roles in recent years, but has not starred in a film since 1998's Beloved.
She is best known as an actress for her Oscar-nominated performance in 1985's The Colour Purple.
