David Oyelowo joins Steven Spielberg's Lincoln biopic

Although his name is still unknown to most, David Oyelowo may have had the best summer of anybody. The British thesp scored two box office smash hits with roles in The Help and Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and that's nothing compared to what he's got next. He'll work with Lee Daniels(Precious) in his adaptation of The Paperboy; square off with Tom  Cruise in One Shot; and coming up in January we'll see him in the George Lucas produced Red Tails.

Well now he can add Steven Spielberg to that impressive list of filmmakers, as Deadline reports Oyelowo will join Lincoln, the director's biopic on our 16th President. Based on historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's novel, Team of Rivals, the story focuses on the many personalities that made up Lincoln's Cabinet in the last few months of his life.  Tony Kushner(Angels in America) wrote the script.

Oyelowo will play a cavalryman, which doesn't sound like an important role at all, but with his talent I'm sure he'll make it noteworthy. He'll now get to bump shoulders with an extraordinary cast featuring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones, John Hawkes, Hal Holbrook, James Spader, Tim Blake Nelson, Bruce McGill, Joseph Cross, David Strathairn, Walton Goggins, Lee Pace and Jackie Earle Haley.