Danielle Brooks | |
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![]() Brooks in 2014 | |
Born | Danielle Brittany Brooks September 17, 1989 Augusta, Georgia, U.S. |
Education | Juilliard School (BFA) |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 2009–present |
Spouse |
Dennis Gelin (m. 2022) |
Children | 1 |
Danielle Brittany Brooks (born September 17, 1989)[1] is an American actress. She starred as prison inmate Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson on the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019). In 2015, she made her Broadway debut in the musical revival of The Color Purple as Sofia, for which she received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
After appearing in the HBO series Girls (2014), Netflix's Master of None (2015–2017), and the animated sitcom Close Enough (2020–2022), in 2021, she received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Television Movie as an executive producer on Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia.[2] In 2022, she hosted Netflix's reality series Instant Dream Home and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Daytime Program Host. The same year Brooks starred in the superhero series Peacemaker (2022–present), and returned to Broadway in the revival of the August Wilson play The Piano Lesson. In 2023, Brooks acted again as Sofia in Blitz Bazawule's film adaptation of the musical The Color Purple, being nominated for the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award and BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.
Brooks was born in Augusta, Georgia,[1] and grew up in Simpsonville, South Carolina,[3] in a Christian family. Her father Dunnel is a BMW worker and a deacon and her mother LaRita is a teacher and a minister.[4][5][6] She began acting at the age of six in a nativity play put on by her church.[7][8] For her final two years of high school, she attended South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities, a selective arts high school.[6] She studied drama at the Juilliard School and graduated in 2011.[9]
After graduating from Juilliard, Brooks won roles in two theater productions: the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Servant of Two Masters, and Blacken the Bubble. She left both productions in 2013 to join the cast of the Netflix-produced television series Orange Is the New Black, a show about a women's prison, based on Piper Kerman's memoir of the same name. Brooks played as Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson.[9] Her character originally was intended to be featured in the show for only two episodes, but was written into the rest of the first season and subsequent seasons.[9] Taystee's onscreen best friend Poussey is played by Samira Wiley, with whom Brooks has been friends since they met while studying together at Juilliard.[10] Brooks' performance on the show has been favorably reviewed by TV critics,[11] with one writer calling her "the breakout actress of the show and one of the most refreshing and exciting new talents of 2013."[6] Brooks was upgraded from a recurring cast member to a series regular for the show's second season.[12] She competed against co-star Uzo Aduba in an episode of Spike's Lip Sync Battle that aired on June 28, 2017. Brooks won with performances of Ciara's "1, 2 Step" and Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer".[13]
In September 2013, Brooks was cast in a third-season episode of the HBO series Girls, becoming the first African-American actress on the show.[12]
Brooks made her Broadway debut in the 2015 revival of The Color Purple as Sofia.[1][14] The musical opened on December 10, 2015, at the Bernard B. Jacobs. Brooks received good notices for her performance,[by whom?][15] and received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.[16] In June 2019, she played Beatrice in The Public Theater's production of Much Ado About Nothing, receiving a Drama League Award nomination for her performance.[17][18]
In 2022, Brooks co-starred in James Gunn's Peacemaker television series, playing the role of Leota Adebayo. The series is spin-off of Gunn's film The Suicide Squad (2021) and is the first television series to be included in the DCEU. In an 2022 interview, Brooks revealed that Gunn was a big fan of Orange is the New Black and wrote the part of Adebayo with her in mind.[19]
It was announced that Brooks would star in a Broadway revival of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson starting on September 19, 2022,[20] directed by LaTanya Richardson Jackson.[21] She also appeared in The Color Purple, a feature adaptation of the musical of the same name, directed by Blitz Bazawule.[22]
From 2021 to 2022, Brooks voiced Lillie Carter-Grant, mother of protagonist Karma and doctor, in the animated series Karma's World.[23]
On July 2, 2019, Brooks announced that she was pregnant with her first child.[24] In November, she gave birth to a girl, Freeya Carel.[25] She married Dennis Gelin in January 2022 in Miami, Florida.[26][27]
* | Denotes works that have not yet been released |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | Time Out of Mind | Receptionist | ||
2015 | I Dream Too Much | Abbey | ||
Phenomenal Woman, a Short Film | Woman | Short film | ||
2016 | The Angry Birds Movie | Olive Blue/Monica the Crossing Guard (voice) | ||
2018 | Sadie | Carla | ||
2019 | Clemency | Evette | ||
The Day Shall Come | Venus | |||
The Public's Much Ado About Nothing | Beatrice | Filmed production | ||
All the Little Things We Kill | Claire Soto | |||
2020 | Eat Wheaties! | Wendy | ||
2023 | The Color Purple | Sofia | [28][29] | |
2025 | Minecraft * | Dawn | Filming | [30] |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2012 | Modern Love | Raimy | TV movie |
2013 | Black Girls Rock! 2013 | Herself | TV movie |
2013–2019 | Orange Is the New Black | Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson | Main role, 89 episodes |
2014 | Girls | Laura | Episode: "Females Only" |
2015–2017 | Master of None | Shannon | 3 episodes |
2017 | Tangled: The Series | Ruthless Ruth (voice) | Episode: "The Wrath of Ruthless Ruth" |
Lip Sync Battle | Herself | Episode: "Danielle Brooks vs. Uzo Aduba" | |
2018 | Project Runway All Stars | Herself | Episode: "Damsels in Distress" |
High Maintenance | Regine | Episode: "Namaste" | |
Elena of Avalor | Charica (voice) | Episode: "A Lava Story" | |
2020–2022 | Close Enough | Pearle Watson (voice) | Recurring role (season 1); main (season 2) |
2020 | Social Distance | Imani | Episode: "And We Could All Together/Go Out on the Ocean" |
Sarah Cooper: Everything's Fine | Jordana Bachman | TV special | |
2021 | Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia | Mahalia Jackson | TV movie; also co-executive producer |
2021–2022 | Karma's World | Dr. Lillie Carter-Grant (voice) | 8 episodes |
2022–present | Peacemaker | Leota Waller Adebayo[31] | Main role, 8 episodes |
2022 | Instant Dream Home | Host | 8 episodes |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2015–17 | The Color Purple | Sofia | Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, Broadway |
2019 | Much Ado About Nothing | Beatrice | Delacorte Theater, Off-Broadway |
2022–23 | The Piano Lesson | Berniece | St. James Theatre, Broadway |
Award | Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Academy Awards | 2024 | Best Supporting Actress | The Color Purple | Pending | [32] |
Alliance of Women Film Journalists | 2024 | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Nominated | [33] | |
African-American Film Critics Association Awards | 2024 | Best Supporting Actress | Won | [34] | |
Best Ensemble | Won | ||||
Astra Film and Creative Awards | 2024 | Breakthrough Performer Award | Herself | Won | [35] |
Best Supporting Actress | The Color Purple | Nominated | [36] | ||
Best Cast Ensemble | Won | ||||
Austin Film Critics Association Awards | 2024 | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Pending | [37] | |
Celebration of Cinema and Television | 2023 | Ensemble Award – Film | Won | [38] | |
BAFTA Film Awards | 2024 | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Pending | [39] | |
Black Reel Awards | 2024 | Outstanding Supporting Performance | Won | [40] | |
Outstanding Breakthrough Performance | Nominated | ||||
Critics' Choice Movie Awards | 2024 | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | [41] | |
Best Acting Ensemble | Nominated | ||||
Critics' Choice Television Awards | 2022 | Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television | Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia | Nominated | [42] |
Critics' Choice Super Awards | 2023 | Best Actress in a Superhero Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie | Peacemaker | Nominated | [43] |
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association | 2023 | Best Supporting Actress | The Color Purple | 2nd place | [44] |
Daytime Emmy Awards | 2023 | Outstanding Daytime Program Host | Instant Dream Home | Runner-up | [45] |
Drama Desk Award | 2016 | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | The Color Purple | Nominated | [46] |
Drama League Award | 2020 | Distinguished Performance | Much Ado About Nothing | Nominated | [18] |
2023 | The Piano Lesson | Nominated | [47] | ||
Georgia Film Critics Association Awards | 2024 | Best Supporting Actress | The Color Purple | Nominated | [48] [49] |
Best Ensemble | Nominated | ||||
Golden Globe Awards | 2024 | Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | Nominated | [50] | |
Grammy Awards | 2017 | Best Musical Theater Album | The Color Purple (New Broadway Cast Recording) | Won | [51] |
Houston Film Critics Society Awards | 2024 | Best Supporting Actress | The Color Purple | Pending | [52] |
NAACP Image Awards | 2016 | Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series | Orange is the New Black | Nominated | [53] |
2018 | Nominated | [54] | |||
2019 | Nominated | [55] | |||
2022 | Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Limited Series or Dramatic Special | Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia | Nominated | [56] | |
Outer Critics Circle Award | 2016 | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | The Color Purple | Nominated | [57] |
Palm Springs International Film Festival | 2023 | Spotlight Award, Actress | Herself | Won | [58] |
People's Choice Awards | 2024 | The Movie Performance of the Year | The Color Purple | Pending | [59] |
Primetime Emmy Award | 2021 | Outstanding Television Movie | Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia | Nominated | |
Santa Barbara International Film Festival | 2024 | Virtuoso Award | The Color Purple | Won | [60] |
Satellite Awards | 2018 | Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television | Orange Is the New Black | Nominated | |
2022 | Best Actress in a Miniseries, Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television | Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia | Nominated | ||
Saturn Awards | 2022 | Best Supporting Actress in a Streaming Series | Peacemaker | Nominated | |
Screen Actors Guild Awards | 2014 | Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Orange is the New Black | Won | |
2015 | Won | ||||
2016 | Won | ||||
2017 | Nominated | ||||
2024 | Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role | The Color Purple | Pending | [61] | |
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture | Pending | ||||
Seattle Film Critics Society Awards | 2024 | Best Actress in a Supporting Role | Nominated | [62] | |
Theatre World Award | 2016 | Herself | Honoree | ||
Tony Awards | 2016 | Best Featured Actress in a Musical | The Color Purple | Nominated | |
Young Hollywood Award | 2013 | Breakthrough Actress | Orange is the New Black | Won | |
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards | 2023 | Best Supporting Actress | The Color Purple | Nominated | [63] |
Women Film Critics Circle Awards | 2023 | Best Supporting Actress | Nominated | [64] |