Indie Spirit Nominee Gbemisola Ikumelo on Prime Video’s A League of Their Own

It’s no easy feat to become one of the most memorable character’s in an ensemble cast, but Gbemisola Ikumelo’s warmly comedic and heartfelt performance in Prime Video’s remake of Penny Marshall’s A League of Their Own catapulted her into awards conversations.

The series redesigns the story about the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League by including elements outside the baseball field. Ikumelo’s Clance Morgan is an aspiring comic book artist loosely based on real-life cartoonist Jackie Ormes and is the supportive, life-long best friend of pitcher Max Chapman (Chaunté Adams). While their friendship has its ups and downs, the chemistry between the two characters generates one of the most endearing friendships in the show.

“The friendship between Clance and Max is a really beautiful metaphor for the world we’re living in without banging it on the head,” shares Ikumelo. “You get to see they’re living in segregation times, but instead of feeling like two separate shows, there’s a really elegant way of needling the threads together.”

Ikumelo received a Film Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series and has been named by Entertainment Weekly as one of the Best TV Performances of 2022. A League of Their Own will return for a short, four-episode final season, giving audiences of the series one last play on the baseball diamond.

“There’s drama, love, angst, and there’s going to be crying in Baseball, I’m sure,” jokes Ikumelo. “I think it’s going to be a really special end to the series.”

Gbemisola Ikumelo spoke with Awards Focus in a video interview about her reaction to the series receiving a four-episode final season, being recognized by the Indie Spirit Awards, transforming into the forties style hair and makeup, and the natural chemistry she had with Chaunté Adams.