Tony Award winner Viola Davis will play Harriet Tubman in a HBO movie, Yahoo! News reports according to the Associated Press.

HBO announced Monday that the "How to Get Away with Murder" star will participate in the project based on historian Kate Clifford Larson's biography "Bound for the Promise Land: Harriet Tubman."

The abolitionist was born into slavery in Maryland but escaped to freedom in 1849. Tubman later helped to free many other slaves from the South through the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad was a network of several secret routes that made it safe for slaves to escape bondage.

HBO teamed up with Steven Spielberg's Amblin TV, producer Doug Ellin and writer Kirk Ellis to create the film based on Harriet Tubman's life, according to Deadline. All key creators have strong ties to HBO.

Ellis wrote HBO's Emmy-winning miniseries "John Adams." Amblin TV worked on HBO's historical miniseries "Band of Brothers" and "The Pacific." The network previously known as DreamWorks TV, is working on the upcoming movie directed by Jay Roach titled "All the Way."

Other HBO projects based on the Underground Railroad includes the NBC miniseries "Freedom Run" produced by Stevie Wonder and a WGN America drama starring Christopher Meloni and Jurnee Smollett-Bell titled "Underground."

Viola Davis was awarded a Tony for Best Featured Actress for her appearance on Broadway in the play "King Hedley II." She was also nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in "Doubt."

Davis starred in the 2011 box-office hit "The Help" where she played a maid. She made her screen debut with a small role as a nurse in "The Substance of Fire" in 1966.

It is not clear when the HBO film on Harriet Tubman will air. No other information on additional cast members was released.