Danielle Brooks facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Danielle Brooks
|
|
---|---|
Brooks in 2014
|
|
Born |
Danielle Brittany Brooks
September 17, 1989 Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
|
Alma mater | Juilliard School (BFA) |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 2009–present |
Spouse(s) |
Dennis Gelin
(m. 2022) |
Children | 1 |
Danielle Brittany Brooks (born September 17, 1989) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson on the comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019) and Leota Adebayo on the superhero series Peacemaker (2022–present). In 2015, she made her Broadway debut in the musical revival of The Color Purple, 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. She returned to Broadway in the revival of the August Wilson play The Piano Lesson in 2022.
Brooks also appeared in the HBO series Girls (2014), Netflix's Master of None (2015–17), and the animated sitcom Close Enough (2020–22). In 2021, she received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Television Movie as an executive producer on Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia.
Contents
Early life and education
Brooks was born in Augusta, Georgia, and grew up in South Carolina, in a Christian family; her father was a deacon, and her mother, a minister. She began acting at the age of six in a nativity play put on by her church. For her final two years of high school, she attended South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities, a selective arts high school. She studied drama at the Juilliard School and graduated in 2011.
Career
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. 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. 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. Brooks' performance on the show has been favorably reviewed by TV critics, with one writer calling her "the breakout actress of the show and one of the most refreshing and exciting new talents of 2013." Brooks was upgraded from a recurring cast member to a series regular for the show's second season. 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".
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.
Brooks made her Broadway debut in the 2015 revival of The Color Purple as Sofia. The musical opened on December 10, 2015, at the Bernard B. Jacobs. Brooks received good notices for her performance, and received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. 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.
In 2022, Brooks co-starred in James Gunn's Peacemaker television series alongside actor John Cena, playing the role of Leota Adebayo. The series is spin-off of Gunn's 2021 film The Suicide Squad, 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 the Netflix hit show Orange is the New Black, and wrote the part of Adebayo with her in mind.
It was announced that Brooks would star in a Broadway revival of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson starting on September 19, 2022 alongside Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington and directed by LaTanya Richardson Jackson. She will also appear in The Color Purple, a feature adaptation of the musical of the same name, directed by Blitz Bazawule.
From 2021 to 2022, Brooks voiced Lillie Carter-Grant, mother of protagonist Karma and doctor, in the animated series Karma's World.
Personal life
On July 2, 2019, Brooks announced that she was pregnant with her first child. In November, she gave birth to a girl. She is married to Dennis Gelin.
Filmography
Film
* | Denotes works that have not yet been released |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
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 | Post-production | |
2025 | Minecraft * | Dawn | Pre-production |
Television
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 |
2021–22 | Karma's World | Dr. Lillie Carter-Grant (voice) | 8 episodes |
2022–present | Peacemaker | Leota Adebayo | Main role, 8 episodes |
2022 | Instant Dream Home | Host | 8 episodes |
Theatre
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 |
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | Young Hollywood Award | Breakthrough Actress | Orange is the New Black | Won |
Screen Actors Guild Award | Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series | Won | ||
2015 | Won | |||
2016 | Won | |||
Tony Award | Best Featured Actress in a Musical | The Color Purple | Nominated | |
Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Nominated | ||
Outer Critics Circle Award | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Nominated | ||
Theatre World Award | Honoree | |||
2017 | Grammy Award | Best Musical Theater Album | Won | |
2020 | Drama League Award | Distinguished Performance | Much Ado About Nothing | Nominated |
2021 | Primetime Emmy Award | Outstanding Television Movie | Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia | Nominated |
2022 | Saturn Award | Best Supporting Actress in a Streaming Series | Peacemaker | Nominated |
2023 | Drama League Award | Distinguished Performance | The Piano Lesson | Nominated |
Daytime Emmy Awards | Daytime Program Host | Instant Dream Home | Pending |
See also
In Spanish: Danielle Brooks para niños