Home / Akeelah and the Bee

Akeelah and the Bee

Year:

2006

Duration:

USA:112 min | Argentina:112 min

Genres:

Drama

IMDB rate:

7.5

Director:

Doug Atchison

Awards:

12 wins & 14 nominations

Details

Country: USA

Release Date: 2006-04-28

Filming Locations: Los Angeles, California, USA

Earnings

Opening Weekend: $6,011,585 (USA) (30 April 2006)

Gross: $18,811,135 (USA) (16 July 2006)

Cast

Actor

Character

Lauren Sanchez

Keke Palmer

Akeelah

Laurence Fishburne

Dr. Larabee

Angela Bassett

Tanya

Curtis Armstrong

Mr. Welch

J.R. Villarreal

Javier

Sean Michael Afable

Dylan

Sahara Ware

Georgia

Lee Thompson Young

Devon

Julito McCullum

Terrence

Erica Hubbard

Kiana

Eddie Steeples

Derrick-T

Dalia Phillips

Ms. Cross

Tzi Ma

Mr. Chiu

Jeris Poindexter

Steve

Sara Niemietz

Polly

George Hornedo

Roman

Craig Wasson

Ted Saunders

Katie Kerwin McCrimmon

Herself

Marjorie Harris

National Spelling Bee Head Judge

Jacques Bailly

National Spelling Bee Pronouncer

Krysten Leigh Jones

Tough Girl #1

Amirah Hawkins

Tough Girl #2

Jeff Marlow

District Judge

Chloé Conroy

District Pronouncer

Lee Garlington

Regional Judge

Sidney Ganis

Regional Pronouncer

Austin Herrera Davis

Cheating Boy

Janet Borrus

Cheating Boy's Mom

Wolfgang Bodison

Akeelah's Father

Marcus Hawkins Dungey

Chuckie

Bonita Friedericy

Volunteer

Caroline J. Smith

Mary Calveretti

Neil Soni

Rajeev Subramonian

Jack Ong

Korean Grocer

Fay Hauser

Woman on TV

Keshell Lucas

Little Girl on TV

Corina Boettger

Red-Haired Girl

Shyann Chatman

Eighth-Grade Girl

Todd Wagner

Regional Bee Assistant Judge

Brittany Curran

District Speller #1 (as Brittany Elizabeth Curran)

Alexandra Rieger

District Speller #2

Eric Don

Regional Speller #1

Julia Kelleher

Regional Speller #2

Zac Gardner

Regional Speller #3

John A. Ausick

"Sacciform" Speller

Maddy Kloss

"Scutellate" Speller

Mason Green

"Longicollis" Speller

Jessy J. Hwang

"Ginglymus" Speller

Biplab Panda

"Empennage" Speller

Alexander Christian Stephans

"Souchong" Speller

Katie L. Brown

"Intussusception" Speller

John Oxenreiter

"Engastrimythic" Speller

Katie Olson

"Escharotic" Speller

Jason Ortenberg

"Flocculation" Speller

Lance Norling

Boy in Wheelchair

Jmeka Cherrel

Driver

Kahlil Ashanti

Postman

D.T. Carney

(uncredited)

Pierre D. Chambers

Parent

Rennie Cowan

Parent

Jemma Evans

Spelling Bee Audience Member (uncredited)

Eric Fallecker

Student (uncredited)

Aaron Fonseca

Audience Member (uncredited)

Andrea Frisby

Audience Member (uncredited)

Thomas Gilbert

Photographer (uncredited)

Justin Rodgers Hall

Parent

Stephanie Hass

National Spelling Bee Press Reporter (unconfirmed) (uncredited)

Dava Hulsey

Finals - Judge (uncredited)

Carshenah Jefferson

National Spelling Bee Press Reporter (uncredited)

Lanaria Johnson

Audience Member (uncredited)

Robert McMurrer

Audience Member (uncredited)

Kelron Mixon

Audience Member (uncredited)

Justin D. Reininga

Spelling Bee Audience Member (uncredited)

Renee Stobaugh

Javier's Friend (uncredited)

Holly Traister

Finals Judge

Brittany M. Wildman

Speller (uncredited)

Kaitlyn Williams

Featured Speller (uncredited)

Did you know?

Trivia

This is one of 4 projects that Laurence Fisburne and Angela Bassett have been in together.

Share this

Filmed in 31 days with a budget of $6 million.

Share this

The filmmakers initially considered Sidney Poitier to play Dr. Larabee before deciding they wanted someone younger, and then selected Laurence Fishburne.

Share this

Goofs

Akeelah's principal talks about her competing against schools in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills in the district finals. This would be impossible, as these communities are not part of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Share this

When Akeelah and her friends in Woodland Hills spell "euphoric" and "psoriasis", they tell her that she should study Latin. However, both of these words come from Greek.

Share this

At the beginning of the film, they state that Akeelah is 11 years old. At the end of the film, even though clearly a whole year has passed, her age is still mentioned to be 11.

Share this

Quotes

Akeelah: Okay. But when I'm at the bee, and they tell me to spell some little fish from Australia or some weird bacteria on the moon, we're going to wish we'd done a little bit more "rotemorizing" and not so much essay reading. If you don't mind me saying.

Share this

Dr. Larabee: Where do you think big words come from?

Share this

Derrick-T: Man, that's a white word if I ever heard one. It's a trick. Stop playing!

Share this

Faq

How did this movie do at the box office, revenue-wise?

Budget: $8 millionGross revenue: $18,948,425 (worldwide)

Share this