By: Maximillian Boudreaux

Award-winning actor Glynn Turman made his debut as the new face of Beyoncé’s Ivy Park denim line. 

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The launch for this denim line was announced with a post on Instagram Video on August 4, 2021.  

Turman starred in the video with his granddaughter Melinda Turman. Glynn Turman’s love of horses and interest in Black cowboys made him the ideal candidate for this campaign. According to the press release, the Ivy Park campaign was shot on location at Turman’s IX ranch in Southern California.  

Turman became a National US Team Roping Champion finalist. In 2011, he was inducted into the Western Heritage Multi-Cultural Museum’s Hall of Fame.  

Aside from his enormous new modeling gig, Turman had a successful year after portraying Toledo in Netflix’s Ma Rainey Black Bottom. The film starred Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman. Turman received a best supporting actor from the Los Angeles Film Critics Awards and an Indie Spirit award nomination for his portrayal.  

Glynn Turman, a New York native, was first drawn to the Broadway stage as a young teenager in the role of Travis Younger in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun.  

Turman is known for his performance of Preach in the 1975 film Cooley High as well as the Army R.O.T.C mentor on the television show A Different World. 

Turman also co-founded with his wife, Jo-Ann, a free western-style summer camp called Camp Gid-D-Up. The camp allows inner city and at-risk youth the chance to participate in horseback riding and ranching activities in the high desert of Los Angeles.  

“I always have loved horses since I was a kid,” he shared in the campaign. “I used to go up to Central Park, to the stables and tell the man, ‘I’ll shovel all of that horse manure to ride the horse for free’… that’s where I’d spend my days.” 

Turman and his granddaughter Melinda wore various pieces from the new collection in the video. The video featured a denim jacket, jeans, a denim blouse, cut-off shorts, and a pair of chaps, all featuring the signature Adidas stripes.