Oprah Taps Celebrity Pals For Documentary Series

The trio, along with American actress Mariel Hemingway and Irish actor Gabriel Byrne, will produce documentaries for Winfrey's new OWN TV network, set to launch next year (11).

The shows will be part of a monthly Documentary Film Club.

Roberts will present and executive-produce Extraordinary Moms, a film looking at the power of mothers who have fought to make their kids - and the world - better, while Whitaker will produce and narrate One Last Shot, a film that goes inside Louisiana's Angola prison.

Hawn will produce, host and narrate Searching for Happiness, a documentary that will focus on positive psychology; Byrne will look at homelessness in Nashville, Tennessee with the film Tent City, and Hemingway will explore the legacy of suicide in her own family in the film Seven Suicides, reports Variety.

A spokesperson for OWN says, "All of these documentaries fundamentally explore human interaction, relationships and emotions. We're excited to provide viewers with new perspectives and new ways of looking at core themes that shape and affect their lives."

The group joins a growing number of A-list celebrities to work with the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Country music singer Shania Twain will star in Why Not? With Shania Twain, which will follow her life on the rebound after a messy public divorce, while Jenny MCCarthy has reportedly landed a deal for her own talk show.

Over the weekend (ends25Jul10), executives also acknowledged that former British royal Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, was in talks for an OWN "docu-series".