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Noma Dumezweni
NomaDumezwen2018.png
Dumezweni in a 2018 Tony Awards video
Born (1969-07-28) 28 July 1969 (age 55)
Nationality
  • British
  • South African
Occupation Actress
Years active 1990s–present
Children 1
Awards Laurence Olivier Award

Noma Dumezweni (born 28 July 1969) is a South African-British actress. In 2006, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role for her performance as Ruth Younger in A Raisin in the Sun at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. In 2017, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as Hermione Granger in the original West End run of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child; she reprised the role for the show's original Broadway run and, in 2018, was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

Personal life

Born in Mbabane, Swaziland (present-day Eswatini) in 1969 to South African parents, Dumezweni lived in Botswana, Kenya and Uganda. She arrived in England as a refugee at the age of 7 with her sister and mother. She first lived in Felixstowe, Suffolk, where she was educated, before moving to London at 18 years old.

Career

Theatre

Early work

Dumezweni's work in theatre includes: President of an Empty Room and The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other at the National Theatre, London; A Raisin in the Sun for the Young Vic at the Lyric Hammersmith, London (for which she won her first Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role); A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Master and Margarita, Nathan the Wise and The Coffee House at Chichester Festival Theatre, Six Characters in Search of an Author in the Chichester Festival production at the Gielgud Theatre and The Bogus Woman at the Traverse and the Bush.

Royal Shakespeare Company

Dumezweni performed in the 2014 Macbeth with Anthony Sher as the First Witch. In 2002, she played Charmian in Antony and Cleopatra and Ursula in Much Ado About Nothing for the RSC. In 2006, she performed in Breakfast with Mugabe.

She returned to the RSC in 2009-11. In spring of 2009 she appeared in the RSC's The Winter's Tale. She also played Olyana in The Grainstone, Calphurnia in Julius Caesar, the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Morgan Le Fay in Le Morte d'Arthur, the Doctor in Little Eagles, and Alice in Adelaide Road.

Other theatres

In 2012, she played Rita in Belong at Royal Court Theatre. In 2013, she played Mistress Quickly and Alice in Henry V starring Jude Law at the Noël Coward Theatre. At Royal Court, she played Mrs. Twit in The Twits, a stage adaptation of the story by Roald Dahl of the same name.

In 2013–2014, she appeared in A Human Being Died That Night at the Fugard Theater in Cape Town, the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, which later transferred to the Hampstead Theatre in London. In 2015, the show moved to Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and she was lauded for her "impeccable performance". She starred in Linda at London's Royal Court Theatre in November 2015, stepping into the role vacated by Kim Cattrall with a few days' notice before press night. Awarding the production five stars, the Daily Telegraph's chief theatre critic Dominic Cavendish wrote: "If they can bottle and mass-produce whatever it is that Noma Dumezweni has got then, please, I want to order a life-time's supply." ..... In 2015, she played Don José in Carmen Disruption, an adaptation of Georges Bizet's Carmen.

In December 2015, it was announced that Dumezweni had been cast as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. On the announcement, theatre critic Kate Maltby described her as "an actress who consistently engages and enthrals." The casting of the black Dumezweni as Hermione sparked fervent discussion, to which J. K. Rowling responded that Hermione's skin was never specified as white. In 2017, she won her second Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role. Because of her performance in the role, Dumezweni was listed as one of BBC's 100 women during 2018. She reprised her role on Broadway at the Lyric Theatre in 2018.

In 2022, she played Nora Helmer in Lucas Hnath's A Doll's House, Part 2.

Television

Dumezweni appeared on numerous television shows, and in 2018, she starred in Black Earth Rising, the Hugo Blick drama about the prosecution of war criminals. She played the marine biologist Fiffany in the HBO Max comedy series Made for Love (2021–2022).

In 2020, she appeared in the HBO series The Undoing alongside Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, and Donald Sutherland. The series received several nominations at the Golden Globes and Emmy Awards. She plays Haley Fitzgerald, a powerhouse attorney hired by a wealthy New York psychotherapist (Kidman) to represent her husband (Grant), a pediatric cancer doctor who has been charged with the brutal killing of his mistress. This role enabled Dumezweni to reach an American audience thanks to the success of the series.

In 2022, Dumezweni appeared in the Netflix series The Watcher as the private investigator hired by the Brannock family, Theodora Birch.

Film

Dumezweni has had several roles in feature films, including Miss Penny Farthing in Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns in 2018. In 2019, she played Edith Sikelo in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, directed by and starring Chiwetel Ejiofor. She played Dionne Davis in Peter Hedges' large ensemble drama The Same Storm and critic Stephen Farber wrote, her "powerhouse performance strikes the right mournful but modestly hopeful note as we exit the theater." She was in Disney's live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid as Queen Selina, the adoptive mother of Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) and a new character created for the film, and joined Liam Neeson in the cast of the film Retribution.

Acting credits

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2002 Dirty Pretty Things Celia
2018 Mary Poppins Returns Miss Penny Farthing
2019 The Kid Who Would Be King Mrs. Lee
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind Edith Sikelo
2021 The Same Storm Dionne Davis
2023 The Little Mermaid Queen Selina
Retribution Angela Brickman
TBA The Friend Filming

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2003 Holby City Hannah Keelan 1 episode
2005 Silent Witness DS Erin Jacobs 1 episode
The Bill Building Society Manager 1 episode
2006 Mysterious Creatures Chanelle Pinkerton Television film
Holby City Hesta Mukaka 1 episode
After Thomas Paula Murray Television film
2007 Shameless Mrs. Newman 1 episode
Fallen Angel Carla 1 episode
New Tricks Sophie Oyekambi 1 episode
EastEnders D.C. Wright 1 episode
2008 The Last Enemy Valerie 1 episode
Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic Marchessa Television film
Fallout Joyce Abena Television film
2008–2009 Doctor Who Captain Erisa Magambo 2 episodes
2012 Casualty Marsha Chilcot 2 episodes
2013 Frankie Angie Rascoe 6 episodes
2015 Midsomer Murders Ailsa Probert 1 episode
Capital Greaves 2 episodes
Casualty Susan Blossom 1 episode
2017 Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams Senior Agent Okhile 1 episode
2018 Black Earth Rising Alice Munezero Main role, 7 episodes
2020 Normal People Gillian 1 episode
The Undoing Haley Fitzgerald Miniseries, 4 episodes
2021 Nature Narrator 1 episode
Pose Tasha Jackson 1 episode
2021–2022 Made for Love Fiffany Main role
2022 The Watcher Theodora Birch Main role
2023 Best Interests Dr. Samantha Woodford 3 episodes
Only Murders in the Building Maxine 2 episodes
2024 Presumed Innocent Judge Lyttle Miniseries, 8 episodes
TBA Murderbot Mensah Filming

Stage

Year Title Role Theatre
2002 Antony and Cleopatra Chairmian Theatre Royal Haymarket
2008 The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other Royal National Theatre
2014 Henry V Mistress Quickly/Alice Noël Coward Theatre
2016–2018 Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Hermione Granger Palace Theatre
Lyric Theatre
2022 A Doll's House, Part 2 Nora Helmer Donmar Warehouse

Radio

In radio, she has appeared in Jambula Tree, Seven Wonders of the Divided World, From Fact to Fiction, From Freedom to the Future, Handprint, Jane's Story, Sagila, Shylock, The Farming of Bones, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, The Seven Ages of Car, The Bogus Woman and Breakfast with Mugabe.

She voiced various roles in the BBC Radio 4 dramatic recordings of Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness. From 2004-2014, she intermittently voiced characters for the long-running BBC Radio 4 The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.

Audiobooks

She voiced the young adult adventure series Steeplejack by A. J. Hartley that is set in an imaginary world loosely resembling Victorian South Africa.

Accolades

Year Award Category Work Result Ref.
2006 Laurence Olivier Award Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Play A Raisin in the Sun Won
2016 Evening Standard Theatre Award Best Actress in a Leading Role Linda Nominated
2017 Laurence Olivier Award Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Won
2018 Tony Award Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Play Nominated
Drama League Award Distinguished Performance Nominated
Theatre World Award N/A Honouree
2021 International Online Cinema Awards Best Guest Actress in a Drama Series Pose Won
Satellite Awards Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film The Undoing Nominated

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Noma Dumezweni para niños

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Noma Dumezweni para niños

  • List of British actors
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