RAYE to make acting debut in Yann Demange thriller Lineage

RAYE is set to make her acting debut in Lineage, a new crime film from Top Boy director Yann Demange.

The South London singer had already popped up onscreen as herself in the Netflix drama Black Rabbit, which stars Jason Bateman and Jude Law. This time, she has been cast in a feature film for the first time.

Written by Enda Walsh, whose credits include Steve McQueen’s Hunger, and based on a story by Demange, Lineage has been developed by the pair over the past two years. The film is set in modern-day London and follows Tariq, a father trying to rebuild his life after prison, before his brother pulls him back into the criminal underworld.

@my21stcentury_raye 🎬🍿#Raye in Black Rabbit “ Now streaming on Netflix 🍿🎥

♬ original sound – 💿✨ | RAYE Central 💋🎶

RAYE joins Isabelle Huppert, Dali Benssalah and Adam Bessa in the cast. Production is due to begin in early August in London.

Demange has not said what part RAYE will play. Speaking to Variety, he called Lineage “a homecoming for me in many ways,” and said the film will include “characters I know very well… including a crime boss matriarch.”

“It’s also my love letter to the London I grew up in and love. It’s important to me that the film both honors and delivers on the crime genre in an exciting and fresh way, whilst simultaneously exploring the complications of family and the possibility of transcending one’s beginnings.”

RAYE recently released her second album, This Music May Contain Hope, following her 2023 debut, My 21st Century Blues. In a five-star review, NME wrote that the record finds her “firing on all cylinders” and called it “showstopping musical maximalism at its grandest.”

She is currently touring the US and will play a series of UK dates later this year, including two nights at The O2 in London and headline slots at Reading and Leeds. here