MIKE, an eight-episode limited biopic series on American boxer Mike Tyson, will premiere on Hulu and Disney Plus tonight.

Among the series’ cast members is Jamaican-Nigerian actress Olunike Adeliyi, who plays Mike Tyson’s mother Lorna Smith Tyson.

She shared how she landed the coveted role in the series.

“I ended up playing that role because I auditioned. In the industry they started to take note that I’m great at what I do and so they wanted to see me. Then, I was working on a project called The Porter that is on BET Plus but I was really busy so I wasn’t able to work with them while I was working, so I said: ‘Please give the role to another person if you needed to because I can’t go from one brain of a character to the next just in the middle of it.’ They were willing to wait until I was finished with [The] Porter and when I finally had all the attention to give to them, they just flew me straight out to New York to begin shooting. It was within a week of finishing my other project,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

Antoine Fuqua and Martin Scorsese are credited as executive producers of Mike, while American actor Trevante Rhodes plays the role of the former heavyweight world champion.

Tyson is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. He reigned as the undisputed world heavyweight champion from 1987 to 1990. He has been nicknamed Iron Mike, Kid Dynamite, and was later known as The Baddest Man on the Planet.

According to Adeliyi — whose mother’s side of family hails from Summerton district in St Ann and whose father is Nigerian — she migrated to Canada and later, studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts to earn a degree in theatre, she was encouraged to pursue professional acting by American actor Denzel Washington.

“It was something that I was just natural at. My teacher in grade six noticed that I could sing and she asked me to try out for the school play, which was Oliver Twist. She said, ‘You just have a lot of life in you,’ and I did really well in that character and I was excited about how the audience responded to me, and because of that I kept doing plays all through school,” she shared.

“It didn’t really set in that this is something that I was gonna do professionally because I didn’t think that you could, because family members just expected you to study in jobs that are practical — that’s the Nigerian-Jamaican way…but one day I was on the set of John Q, which starred Denzel Washington, and he had taken it upon himself to advise me during a lunch hour about the arts and what I actually wanted to pursue, and I told him that I had an interest in dancing, singing and acting and he told me that I could actually take the leap and go to school in New York — and that’s it,” she added.

Adeliyi has appeared in multiple projects, including Revenge Delivered, She Never Died, Darken, and Revenge of The Black Best Friend.

The actress, who is also a wife and mother to a 26-year-old daughter, noted that she is humbled to continuously have a successful career in a demanding industry.

“Just being able to have a career is a major career [achievement] as a black female. I mean, it’s not the easiest plight for any black female or any black actor coming up into the business — we have to work a hundred times harder than anybody else. I would say the best accolade I could ever ask for is the fact that I get to have a career and I get to use my voice with different characters and affect an audience,” she said.

The actress, who is back in school at the University of Toronto reading for a degree in African and Caribbean studies, is encouraging young girls to take their academics seriously in order to achieve their goals in life. In her view, formal education is a key ingredient for upward social mobility.

“Education is key. There is nothing more wonderful than an educated person who has a voice to speak on matters that are very important to humankind, no matter what career you decide to take on. Knowledge gives you freedom to do whatever you want to… We have to work hard, and that’s OK because it builds character. I would encourage them to stick to their academics and be inspired by others and never to be jealous of others — but to [instead] be inspired by then,” she advised.