Lackawanna Blues is a drama television film directed by George C. Wolfe and written by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. It aired on HBO on February 12, 2005. It is based on the play of the same name by Santiago-Hudson. Wolfe had commissioned the stage version.^[1]

For her work in the movie, S. Epatha Merkerson won a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2006.

Lackawanna Blues is the true story of Ruben Santiago Jr. growing up in Lackawanna, New York. He was raised by his father and mother and the neighborhood boarding house lady known as Rachel "Nanny" Crosby. Ruben was born in 1956 to his Puerto Rican father Ruben Santiago and his African-American mother Alean Hudson. His mother was too mentally unstable to take good care of him; residing in mental hospitals, Alean disappears and reappears throughout Ruben's life. His father stayed at Nanny's boarding house, but he was frequently not around due to working long hours or out looking for work. Nanny more or less took care of Ruben Jr. as a mother figure. The television movie depicts his life growing up there and the diverse characters that he meets during his and their stays at the boarding house.

• S. Epatha Merkerson as Rachel "Nanny" Crosby
• Hill Harper as Ruben Santiago Jr. as an adult
  • Marcus Carl Franklin as Ruben Santiago Jr. as a boy, ages 7–10
• Jimmy Smits as Ruben Santiago Sr., Ruben's father
• Terrence Howard as Bill Crosby, Nanny's much younger husband
• Mos Def as The Bandleader
• Carmen Ejogo as Alean Hudson, Ruben's mother
• Louis Gossett Jr as Ol'lem Taylor, a retired Negro league baseball player
• Macy Gray as Pauline, a resident and Jimmy's girlfriend
• Michael K. Williams as Jimmy, a resident and Pauline's boyfriend
• Ernie Hudson as Dick Barrymore, a cabaret owner
• Delroy Lindo as Mr. Lucious, a resident
• Rosie Perez as Bertha, a hairdresser and resident
• Adina Porter as Ricky, a resident
• Jeffrey Wright as Small Paul
• Barry Shabaka Henley as Shakey Winfield, a resident and Nanny's cousin
• Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Freddie Cobbs, a World War II veteran
• Saul Williams as Lonnie, a resident and war veteran
• Liev Schreiber as Ulysses Ford, a social worker
• Julie Benz as Laura, an abused wife
• Henry Simmons as Jesse, Laura's abusive husband
• Patricia Wettig as Laura's Mother
• Ron Kellum as Fish Fry guest
• Robert Bradley as Otis McClanahan (credited as "Robert A. Bradley" in some sources)

The blind Detroit street singer Robert Bradley from the band Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise appears in the film. He performs on-screen and has three songs featured on the soundtrack (including a duet with Macy Gray).