Danielle Brooks facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Danielle Brooks
Brooks in 2014
Born	(1989-09-17) September 17, 1989 (age 35) Augusta, Georgia, U.S.
Education	Juilliard School (BFA)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2009–present
Spouse(s)	Dennis Gelin ​ (m. 2022)​
Children	1

Danielle Brooks (born September 17, 1989) is an American actress. She became famous for her role as Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson in the Netflix TV show Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019).

In 2015, Danielle started acting on Broadway in the musical The Color Purple. She played the character Sofia and was nominated for a Tony Award and won a Grammy Award. Later, in 2023, she played Sofia again in the movie version of The Color Purple. For this role, she was nominated for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award. She also played gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in a TV movie called Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia in 2021.

In 2022, Danielle hosted the Netflix show Instant Dream Home. She was also in the superhero TV series Peacemaker and returned to Broadway in the play The Piano Lesson.

Early life and education

Danielle Brooks was born in Augusta, Georgia. She grew up in Simpsonville, South Carolina, in a Christian family. Her father worked for BMW and was a church leader, and her mother was a teacher and a minister. Danielle started acting when she was six years old in a church play.

For her last two years of high school, she went to the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts & Humanities. This is a special high school for students who are talented in the arts. She graduated from there in 2007. After high school, she studied drama at the Juilliard School, a very famous performing arts school. She earned her degree in 2011.

Career

Becoming a Star (2013–2019)

Brooks with the cast of Orange is the New Black in 2014

After finishing school, Danielle got roles in two theater plays. But in 2013, she joined the cast of the Netflix TV series Orange Is the New Black. This show was about a women's prison. Danielle played a character named Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson. Her character was only supposed to be in two episodes at first. But the show's creators liked her so much that they kept her for the rest of the first season and all the seasons after that!

Danielle's acting in the show was highly praised by TV critics. One writer even called her "the breakout actress of the show." She became a regular cast member for the second season. For her work, Danielle won three Screen Actors Guild Awards with the cast for their great performances. She also won a Young Hollywood Award for Breakthrough Actress in 2014.

In 2013, Danielle also appeared in an episode of the HBO series Girls. She was the first African-American actress to be on that show. The next year, she was in her first movie, Time Out of Mind. She also appeared in the Netflix series Master of None from 2015 to 2017. In 2017, she won an episode of Lip Sync Battle against her Orange Is the New Black co-star Uzo Aduba. Danielle also did voice work in The Angry Birds Movie in 2016.

Danielle made her big Broadway debut in 2015. She starred as Sofia in the musical The Color Purple. The musical opened to great reviews. Danielle's performance was highly praised, and she was nominated for a Tony Award. In 2019, she played Beatrice in a play called Much Ado About Nothing. That same year, Danielle released her first song, "Black Woman."

Recent Work (2020–Present)

In 2020, Danielle was in the comedy movie Eat Wheaties!. In 2021, she played the famous gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in a TV movie. For this role, she received several nominations, including a Critics' Choice Award. She was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award as an executive producer for the movie.

From 2021 to 2022, Danielle lent her voice to the animated series Karma's World. She played Dr. Lillie Carter-Grant, who is the main character Karma's mom and a doctor. In 2022, Danielle joined the cast of the superhero series Peacemaker. She plays Leota Adebayo, who is the daughter of a powerful character named Amanda Waller. The show's creator, James Gunn, wrote the part of Adebayo especially for Danielle because he was a big fan of Orange Is the New Black.

Also in 2022, Danielle starred in a Broadway play called The Piano Lesson. She played the character Berniece. She was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her performance. In the same year, Danielle also hosted the Netflix reality show Instant Dream Home. For this, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award.

In 2023, Danielle starred in the movie version of The Color Purple, playing Sofia again. Her performance was loved by critics. One critic said Danielle was "the film’s no-holds-barred knockout." Another called her "incredible." Her acting earned her nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Personal life

Danielle Brooks announced in July 2019 that she was expecting her first child. She gave birth to a baby girl in November. In January 2022, she married Dennis Gelin in Miami, Florida.

Filmography

Film

Key

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
2025	A Minecraft Movie	Dawn	Post-production
	The Bad Guys 2	Kitty Cat (voice)	In production
TBA	Oh. What. Fun.	TBA	Post-production

Television

Theatre

Awards and nominations

Images for kids

• 

  Brooks in 2014

• 

  Brooks with the cast of Orange is the New Black in 2014

See also

In Spanish: Danielle Brooks para niños