LI's Natalie Portman, Lupita Nyong'o to co-star in Apple TV series

Long Island-raised Academy Award winner Natalie Portman and fellow Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o will star in the Apple TV Plus limited series "Lady in the Lake," based on the bestselling novel.

"Excited to work with these brilliant artists. @Alma.Harel @Lupitanyongo," wrote Portman, 39, in a post on Instagram Stories, referencing both "12 Years a Slave" Best Supporting Actress Nyong'o and the miniseries' director and co-writer, Alma Har'el (2019's "Honey Boy").

This marks Portman's first TV-series lead role. She previously made guest appearances on "Sesame Street" and "Angie Tribeca," hosted an episode of "Saturday Night Live" and twice voiced a character on the animated "The Simpsons."

"Lady in the Lake" adapts Laura Lippman's 2019 novel, set in 1960s Baltimore, in which pampered housewife turned fledging newspaper reporter Maddie Schwartz (Portman) investigates the unsolved murder of a young Black woman, Cleo Sherwood (Nyong'o), whose death had received only passing mention. Complicating matters is what appears to be Sherwood's ghost, who wants both her dignity and her secrets preserved.

Portman and Nyong'o, 38, also are among the executive producers.

Jerusalem-born "Black Swan" Oscar winner Portman, who was raised locally in Jericho and graduated from Syosset High School, made her screen debut at 13 in the Luc Besson crime thriller "Léon: The Professional" (1994). She has gone on to films including the "Star Wars" series as Padmé / Queen Amidala; "Closer" (2004) and "Jackie" (2016), for which she earned Academy Award nominations; and the first two "Thor" movies (2011, 2013) as Jane Foster, a role she reprises in the upcoming "Thor: Love and Thunder."