With her recent role in Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us and her main role as Desna Simms in TNT’s Claws, Niecy Nash has been keeping herself busy. The actress recently nabbed the leading role in the Robin Roberts-produced film Kidnapped: The Kamiyah Mobley Story for Lifetime.
According to Deadline, Roberts’ production company Rock’n Robin is partnering with Lincoln Square Productions to tell the true story of a young woman named Kamiyah Mobley, later renamed Alexis Manigo, who at age 18 discovers that she was kidnapped as a baby and raised to believe her kidnapper was her biological mother.
Nash has been slated to portray the kidnapper Gloria Williams, who is serving 18 years for the abduction. Co-starring with Nash are actresses Rayven Symone Ferrell and Ta’Rhonda James, who are set to play Mobley and her biological mother, respectively.
“I’m thrilled to share this young woman’s story and produce something so poignant for the Lifetime audience,” Roberts, anchor of ABC’s Good Morning America said on the 2020 film. “I can’t imagine anyone else tackling the complex role of Gloria than Niecy Nash. She’s a talented and versatile actress and I can’t wait to see it all come together.”
Mobley was abducted just eight hours after her birth on July 10, 1998, by Williams who disguised herself as a hospital nurse. Williams attributes the kidnapping to a miscarriage she suffered the week before and to the loss of custody of her two children. It was only years later when Mobley tried to apply to a job and realized she couldn’t because she didn’t have a social security card or birth certificate to provide. Mobley became aware of her kidnapping months before Williams’ arrest and still remains in contact with her to this day and refers to her as “mom.”