ATLANTA -- Atlanta actor Taylor Polidore Williams last year landed a solid secondary role in Tyler Perry's Amazon drama "Divorce in the Black."

She impressed Perry so much that he hired Williams to lead his very first TV series for Netflix, "Beauty in Black," about a stripper named Kimmie trapped in a drug-trafficking dilemma who sees an out courtesy of her interactions with a wealthy family running a Chicago beauty supply company. The first eight episodes came out last week, and eight more are planned.

"Mr. Perry requested me," Williams told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Perry wrote in a text that he had written Kimmie as "vulnerable while possessing incredible strength. Taylor is a natural at developing a character with that kind of arc."

Indeed, Kimmie opens the series in a miserable situation. She was kicked out of her home by her mother at age 17 and drawn into a drug deal gone bad. To stay out of prison, a pimp named Jules (Charles Malik Whitfield) forces her and her best friend Rain (Amber Reign Smith) into long-term servitude including stripping and prostitution. Kimmie naturally wants more out of her life.