Lea Thompson To Co-Star In Fox Comedy Pilot ‘Our People’ From Lee Daniels

In her return to comedy series two decades after her starring turn on NBC’s Caroline In the City, Lea Thompson has been tapped for a meaty series regular role in Our People, Fox’s culture clash single-camera comedy pilot from Lee Daniels and Modern Family executive producer Vali Chandrasekaran.

The project, from Lee Daniels Entertainment, Endemol Shine and 20th Century Fox TV, is based on the Israeli format Nevsu: A Young Multicultural Couple.

Written by Chandrasekaran and directed by Trent O’Donnell, in it, Abel, a man from a bombastic African family who doesn’t have a word in their native language for “privacy,” and his fiancée Jenny from a mid-western family try to build a normal life together. Though nobody can agree what that “normal” means.

Thompson will play Jenny’s mom Lisa, a fleece and birkenstocks hippie who can be just as feisty and opinionated as her daughter.

Daniels executive produces alongside Chandrasekaran; Pam Williams; Marc Velez; the original series’ creators Yossi Vassa, Shai Ben-Atar and Liat Shavit; and Endemol Shine Israel in association with Endemol Shine North America.

Thompson, probably best known for her role in the Back to the Future movie trilogy, has done mostly drama series and TV movies following the four-season run of her NBC sitcom Caroline In the City. That includes ABC Family’s Switched at Birth and an arc on CBS’ Scorpion. She’s also ventured into directing.

Thompson is repped by Innovative Artists and Gilbertson Entertainment.

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