---
name: "Mavis Staples"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/mavis-staples"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "10 July 1939"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-17T05:47:17.640583+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Mavis Staples

Actor. Born 10 July 1939 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 10 July 1939, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- **Also known as:** The Staple Singers
- **Elsewhere:** https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q441742, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0822918/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/262701

## Streaming the US now

- **Disney+:** [*Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)*](https://film.one/film/summer-of-soul-or-when-the-revolution-could-not-be-televised.md) (87)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Mavis Staples is an American singer and actress. Born in Chicago, she joined her family's gospel group the Staple Singers as a teenager and became its lead vocalist. The group transitioned to soul and R&B in the late 1960s and achieved major hits in the 1970s.

Staples has appeared in films including *The Klansman* (1974) and *Graffiti Bridge* (1990), in which she played Melody Cool. She is featured in archive footage as a performer in the documentary *Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)* (2021). She has also worked as a solo artist and collaborated with Prince.

The Staple Singers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. Staples received further recognition with induction into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2017.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)* (2021), Fi1m 87, as Self - Singer (archive footage) (voice) — [page](https://film.one/film/summer-of-soul-or-when-the-revolution-could-not-be-televised.md)

## Also known for

- *The Cosby Show* (1984), Soloist
- *The Last Waltz* (1978), Self
- *No Direction Home: Bob Dylan* (2005), Self
- *Gorillaz: Reject False Icons* (2019), Self
- *Graffiti Bridge* (1990), Melody Cool
- *The Klansman* (1974), The Staple Singers

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/mavis-staples