Priyanka Chopra to play real-life bio-terrorist Ma Anand Sheela

The 37-year-old actress will take the lead role in her upcoming film Sheela for Amazon Studios, according to Deadline.

It will focus on the true story of Sheela, who carried out the largest biological terrorist attack ever conducted in the U.S when she conspired to poison local restaurants in Wasco County, Oregon, with salmonella in 1984 in an effort to fix a local election.

She was also allegedly involved in immigration fraud, arson, espionage, and wiretapping, as well as serving as the personal secretary to Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh - the guru and leader of the Rajneesh movement.

Her story shot back into the spotlight in 2018 thanks to the Netflix documentary series Wild Wild Country, which focused on the conflict between the movement, locals, and officials in Oregon.

The movie will be directed by Barry Levinson, who will also produce alongside Priyanka, Jason Sosnoff and David Permut, while the script will be written by Nick Yarborough.

Meanwhile, Priyanka is in advanced talks to join the cast of The Matrix reboot.

She is set to play a role in the fourth instalment of the sci-fi franchise but details about her prospective character have been kept under wraps.

The Matrix 4 marks a revival for the popular sci-fi series and is set to be released in 2021. The original movie was released in 1999 with two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions both released in 2003.

Priyanka will join franchise newcomers Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick and Jonathan Groff in the project, with production set to begin imminently in California.

Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss are set to reprise their roles as Neo and Trinity respectively while Lana Wachowski is returning to direct the film.

However, Hugo Weaving, who played the role of Agent Smith in the first three films, recently confirmed that he will not be acting in it as filming clashed with his starring role in the theatre production of The Visit.