Uzoamaka Nwanneka Aduba (; born February 10, 1981) is an American actress. She gained wide recognition for her role as Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren on the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

original series ''

Orange Is the New Black ''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a ...

'' (2013–2019), for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2014, an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2015, and two SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series in 2014 and 2015. She is one of only two actors to win an Emmy Award in both the comedy and drama categories for the same role. In 2020, Aduba played

Shirley Chisholm Shirley Anita Chisholm ( ; ; November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician who, in 1968, became the first black woman to be elected to the United States Congress. Chisholm represented New York's 12th congressional distr ...

in the

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television series ...

miniseries '' Mrs. America'', for which she won a Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and the

Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Movie/Miniseries The Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Movie/Miniseries is one of the award categories presented annually by the Critics' Choice Television Awards (BTJA) to recognize the work done by television actors. The winners a ...

. Aduba has appeared in films including ''

American Pastoral ''American Pastoral'' is a Philip Roth novel published in 1997 concerning Seymour "Swede" Levov, a successful Jewish American businessman and former high school star athlete from Newark, New Jersey. Levov's happy and conventional upper middle cl ...

'' (2016), '' Candy Jar'' (2018), ''

Miss Virginia The Miss Virginia competition is a scholarship pageant for women, with the titleholder representing Virginia in the Miss America pageant. The competition was founded in 1953 as a scholarship contest for young women, although women had represente ...

'' (2019), and ''

Lightyear A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

'' (2022). In 2021, she starred in

Lynn Nottage Lynn Nottage (born November 2, 1964) is an American playwright whose work often focuses on the experience of working-class people, particularly working-class people who are Black. She has received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice: in 2009 for h ...

's play '' Clyde's'' on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

for which she received a

Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play The Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actresses for quality supporting roles in a Broadway play. Th ...

nomination.

Early life

Uzo Aduba was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, to parents from

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, and grew up in Medfield, Massachusetts. She graduated from Medfield High School in 1999. She attended

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original cam ...

, where she studied classical voice and competed in

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

. She has called her family a "sports family". Her younger brother, Obi, played hockey at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

and six seasons professionally.

Career

Early roles

Aduba first garnered recognition for her acting in 2003, when her performance in ''Translations of Xhosa'' at the Olney Theatre Center for the Arts earned her a

Helen Hayes Award The Helen Hayes Awards are theater awards recognizing excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are named in tribute of Helen Hayes, who is also known as the "First Lady of American Theatre." They ar ...

nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Play. In 2006, she played Amphiarus in ''

The Seven "The Seven" is the 123rd episode of the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. This was the 13th episode for the seventh season, originally airing on February 1, 1996. In this episode, Elaine and Kramer turn to Newman to resolve a dispute over which of them ...

'' at

New York Theatre Workshop __NOTOC__ New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) is an Off-Broadway theatre noted for its productions of new works. Located at 79 East 4th Street between Second Avenue and Bowery in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, it hou ...

and again in 2008 at La Jolla Playhouse. In 2007, she made her Broadway debut, portraying Toby in

Helen Edmundson Helen Edmundson (born 1964) is a British playwright, screenwriter and producer. She has won awards and critical acclaim both for her original writing and for her adaptations of various literary classics for the stage and screen. Early life E ...

's adaptation of ''

Coram Boy ''Coram Boy'' is a 2000 children's novel by Jamila Gavin. It won Gavin a Whitbread Children's Book Award. Stage adaptation The book was adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson, with music by Adrian Sutton, and played for two runs on the Ol ...

'' at the

Imperial Theatre The Imperial Theatre is a Broadway theater at 249 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1923, the Imperial Theatre was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed ...

. In 2011–12, she sang "By My Side" as part of the original revival cast of ''

Godspell ''Godspell'' is a musical composed by Stephen Schwartz with book by John-Michael Tebelak. The show is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with music mostly set to lyrics from traditional hym ...

'' at the

Circle in the Square Theatre The Circle in the Square Theatre is a Broadway theater at 235 West 50th Street, in the basement of Paramount Plaza, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is one of two Broadway theaters that use a thrust stage that extends ...

. Her first television appearance was as a nurse on '' Blue Bloods'' in 2012. Aduba also played Anna, the mother of the title character in ''Venice'' at

The Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...

in New York.

2013–2019: ''Orange Is the New Black''

In 2013, Aduba began portraying Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren in the

comedy-drama series ''

''. On being cast, Aduba said:

I auditioned for the show back in late July or early August of
012 012 may refer to: * Tyrrell 012, a Formula One racing car * The dialing code for Pretoria, South Africa See also * 12 (disambiguation) Twelve or 12 may refer to: * 12 (number) * December, the twelfth and final month of the year Years * 12 BC ...
I had been auditioning that summer for more television and film fter doing much theater I'd read a lot of scripts and I remember reading ''Orange Is the New Black'', and it was at the head of the pack. I remember thinking, 'Wow, that is really good, I would love to be a part of that.' I went in and auditioned for another part, and my representatives called me about a month later and they were like, "Hi, we have some really good news. You remember that audition you went on for ''Orange Is the New Black''? You didn't get it." I go, "So… okay, what's the good news?" They said they wanted to offer me another part, Crazy Eyes. I was like, "What in my audition would make someone think I'd be right for a part called Crazy Eyes?" But to be honest, when I got the script for it, it felt like the right fit.

Casting director Jennifer Euston explains the selection of Aduba for the role thus: "Uzo Aduba...had her hair in those knots for the audition...They saw something amazing in her and were able to connect it to what they were looking for in Crazy Eyes." In joining the series, Aduba obtained her

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to me ...

card, of which she said, "I was just like, 'Wow, this means I'm a full actress now.' It was such a big deal, and I remember being so thankful and feeling so proud." Aduba has been recognized for her performance as "Crazy Eyes", winning Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series at the 66th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards and Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series at the

4th Critics' Choice Television Awards The 4th Critics' Choice Television Awards ceremony, presented by the Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA), honored the best in primetime television programming from June 1, 2013, to May 31, 2014, and was held on June 19, 2014, at T ...

. She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film at the

18th Satellite Awards The 18th Satellite Awards ceremony, honoring the year's outstanding performers, films, television shows, home videos and interactive media, was presented by the International Press Academy at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Century City, Los ...

for her season one performance. Aduba's season two performance earned her the Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series at the 21st Screen Actors Guild Awards and a nomination for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film at the

72nd Golden Globe Awards The 72nd Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and American television of 2014, was broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on January 11, 2015, by NBC. The ceremony was produced by Dick Clark Producti ...

. Aduba won a second Primetime Emmy at the

67th Primetime Emmy Awards The 67th Primetime Emmy Awards honored the best in U.S. prime time television programming from June 1, 2014 until May 31, 2015, as chosen by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The ceremony was held on Sunday, September 20, 2015 at the M ...

in 2015, winning the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. This makes her the first actress to win both a drama and comedy Emmy for the same role. Her performance in the third season also earned another Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series win for the

22nd Screen Actors Guild Awards The 22nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, honoring the best achievements in film and television performances for the year 2015, were presented on January 30, 2016 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was broadcast o ...

. Aduba also earned a Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards. In March 2014, Aduba performed at

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA) is an American nonprofit organization that raises funds for AIDS-related causes across the United States, headquartered in New York City. It is the theatre community's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemi ...

benefit concert Broadway Backwards. She teamed with Rachel Bay Jones for a rendition of the song "Lily's Eyes" from the musical '' The Secret Garden''. In 2015, Aduba played Glinda the Good Witch in the NBC live musical event special '' The Wiz Live!'', receiving positive reviews from critics. Aduba made her film debut in the 2015 musical comedy-drama film ''Pearly Gates''. The next year, she starred alongside

Maggie Grace Margaret Grace Denig (born ) is an American actress and model. She is known for playing Shannon Rutherford on the ABC television series ''Lost'' (2004–2006; 2010), Kim Mills in the '' Taken'' trilogy (2008–2014), Irina in ''The Twilight Sa ...

in the comedy-drama ''

Showing Roots ''Showing Roots'' is a 2016 American comedy-drama film directed by Michael Wilson and starring Maggie Grace, Elizabeth McGovern, Adam Brody, Uzo Aduba and Cicely Tyson. Cast *Maggie Grace as Violet * Uzo Aduba as Pearl * Elizabeth McGovern as ...

'', and played supporting roles in '' Tallulah'', ''

Steven Universe ''Steven Universe'' is an American animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy, Steven Universe ( Zach Callison), who lives with the Crystal Gems—magical, mineral ...

'', and ''

'' directed by

Ewan McGregor Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British ...

. Aduba played a major role in the 2017 musical animated film '' My Little Pony: The Movie'', voicing Queen Novo, leader of the hippogriffs/seaponies. She co-starred in two Netflix films; '' Candy Jar'' in 2018, and '' Beats'' in 2019. Also in 2019, Aduba played the title role in the film ''

''.

2020–present: Limited series and theatre work

After ''Orange Is the New Black'' ended, Aduba was cast as politician

in the Hulu miniseries '' Mrs. America'', opposite

Cate Blanchett Catherine Elise Blanchett (; born 14 May 1969) is an Australian actor. Regarded as one of the finest performers of her generation, she is known for her versatile work across independent films, blockbusters, and the stage. She has received n ...

and

Sarah Paulson Sarah Catharine Paulson (born December 17, 1974) is an American actress. She began her acting career in New York City stage productions before starring in the short-lived television series ''American Gothic (1995 TV series), American Gothic'' ...

. Chisholm was the first black candidate for a major party's nomination for President of the United States, the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, and the first woman to appear in a United States presidential debate. The miniseries premiered on April 15, 2020, receiving critical acclaim, and Aduba won a

Primetime Emmy Award The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

. She was cast to star opposite

Lupita Nyong'o Lupita Amondi Nyong'o (, ; ; born 1 March 1983) is a Kenyan-Mexican actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, and nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award. The daughter of Kenyan politi ...

in the ultimately unproduced

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Ne ...

miniseries ''

Americanah ''Americanah'' is a 2013 novel by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, for which Adichie won the 2013 U.S. National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. ''Americanah'' tells the story of a young Nigerian woman, Ifemelu, who immigrates t ...

'' written by Danai Gurira. Aduba also was set to star in the fourth season of FX series '' Fargo'', but dropped out due to "some personal family issues". Aduba co-stars in the upcoming romantic drama film ''Really Love''. In October 2020, she was cast as therapist Dr. Brooke Taylor in the fourth season of the HBO series ''

In Treatment ''In Treatment'' is an American drama television series for HBO, produced and developed by Rodrigo Garcia, based on the Israeli series '' BeTipul'' ( he, בטיפול), created by Hagai Levi, Ori Sivan and Nir Bergman. The series is about a ...

''.

Advocacy

In April 2017, Aduba received the Point Courage Award from the Point Foundation for her support of the

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

community. In June 2018, Aduba became Heifer International's first-ever celebrity ambassador to Africa. She saw Heifer's impact firsthand on 2016 and 2018 field visits to Uganda. In July 2020, Aduba was announced as a minority investor in a then unnamed Los Angeles team, later unveiled as

Angel City FC Angel City Football Club is a National Women's Soccer League expansion team that began play in 2022. The team is based in Los Angeles, California, and was announced on July 21, 2020. The team has many high-profile owners, including Becky G, Natal ...

, that is scheduled to start play in the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federati ...

in 2022.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aduba, Uzo 1981 births Living people 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Boston Actresses from Massachusetts American film actresses American television actresses Angel City FC owners Boston University College of Fine Arts alumni American people of Igbo descent LGBT rights activists from the United States Igbo actresses Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winners Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners People from Medfield, Massachusetts African-American actresses