FOREST WHITAKER

Jennifer Hudson and director Tommy Liesl say their Queen of Soul film was made for the big screen, as they gear up for the Aug. 13 theatrical release.

(NBC/Apple/HBO Max/Netflix/Disney + via AP)LOS ANGELES – Bring on the sentimental holiday rom-coms, the chorus of Christmas music specials and the nostalgia of last century’s animated charmers. HOLIDAY HARMONY— “My Gift: A Christmas Special From Carrie Underwood,” now streaming on HBO Max. — “Mariah Carey’s Magical Christmas Special,” Dec. 4, Apple TV+. Music, dancing, animation and surprise guest stars help create what the streaming service promises to be a heartwarming journey with the pop star. Dolly Parton sings hymns, holiday pop classics and tunes from her new album, and shares personal and faith-based Christmas memories.

The four-time Grammy winner isn't the only Biden playlist mainstay helping his campaign against President Donald Trump. Still, Biden has gone beyond celebrities in search of campaign surrogates. Stars generate candidate buzz, help with fundraising and can build campaign event crowds even for those online. His reelection campaign has been holding its own online events with top supporters nearly every night for months and says its online events average 2.6 million views per broadcast, though its headliners are often the presidents children. The Trump campaign has also seized on Biden's preferred venue for participating in online events, a basement studio in his Delaware home accusing the former vice president of hiding from voters.

Oscar Winning actor Forest Whitaker transforms himself into Ellsworth Raymond Johnson, otherwise known as Bumpy Johnson, for his leading role in the new series Godfather of Harlem.The show follows the Harlem gangster as he is released from Alcatraz in 1963 after spending more than a decade behind bars. He and mob boss Lucky Luciano formed an alliance Johnson would control Harlem, and Luciano's crew would get a cut of the profits. "Bumpy Johnson was a legend. So it took me 18 years to develop this and curate it and just do it the right way, Smith told InsideEdition.com. "It's not a glorification of Bumpy Johnson being a gangster.

He's the star and executive producer of "Godfather of Harlem," a new series about Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, a complicated crime boss and associate of Charles "Lucky" Luciano who ruled Harlem from the 1930s to the 60s. "He runs this sort of, you know, crime scene including, like, numbers running, drugs, all those different things. So we've been really fortunate to do these little films, but with filmmakers that make a difference." Like, Desmond Tutu has talked about it when he says, 'Do your little bits of good wherever you are, and all those little bits of good will overwhelm the world.' I want to be a part of that, those little bits."