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About
11-year-old Akeelah Anderson has a way with words. After winning her schoolwide spelling bee, she decides to enter the competition, despite her classmates' derision and the antipathy of her mother Tanya. Thanks to the efforts of her teacher Dr. Larabee, she reaches the finals. As she gets to know her fellow competitors, Akeelah realizes that coming first isn't everything in life.
Theatrical
Apr 28, 2006
DVD / Blu-ray
Aug 29, 2006
Box Office
$18.9M
Budget
$8.0M
Return
2.4x
Director
Producers
Nancy Hult Ganis, Mike Upton, Laurence Fishburne
Music
Studio
Lions Gate Films, 2929 Productions, Out of the Blue... Entertainment, Starbucks Entertainment, Cinema Gypsy Productions
Trailers & Clips
Cast
Full credits →
Keke Palmer
Akeelah Anderson
L
Laurence Fishburne
Dr. Larabee
A
Angela Bassett
Tanya Anderson
C
Curtis Armstrong
Mr. Welch
J
J.R. Villarreal
Javier
S
Sean Michael Afable
Dylan Chiu
S
Sahara Garey
Georgia
L
Lee Thompson Young
Devon
J
Julito McCullum
Terrence
E
Erica Hubbard
Kiana
E
Eddie Steeples
Derrick-T
D
Dalia Phillips
Ms. Cross
T
Tzi Ma
Mr. Chiu
J
Jeris Poindexter
Steve
S
Sara Niemietz
Polly
C
Craig Wasson
Ted Saunders
J
Jeff Marlow
District Judge
L
Lee Garlington
Regional Judge
S
Sidney Ganis
Regional Pronouncer
J
Janet Borrus
Cheating Boy's Mom
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Quotes
See all →Encouragement in a Spelling Competition
Katie Kerwin McCrimmon
Several of the kids placed very high in last year's bee, especially Dylan Chiu. He's come in second two years in a row.
[commentating on TV]
Derrick-T
Kick his butt, Akeelah! B-U-T-T, butt!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
The Weight of Spelling Bees
Akeelah
This is all starting to sound heavy.
Boy
It is heavy. Spelling bees are serious. I think I'll take a shot. On second thought, can I spell the word?
[throws the ball, but misses the hoop]
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
