Danielle Brooks

Danielle Brooks (born September 17, 1989) is an American actress. After studying drama at the Juilliard School she earned her breakthrough in television before expanding to theater and film. She has received a Grammy Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Tony Award.

Her breakthrough role was as prison inmate Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson in the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019). She made her Broadway debut as Sofia in the musical revival of ''The Color Purple as well as a Grammy Award. She reprised her role in the 2023 film adaptation for which she was nominated for an Academy Award, British Academy Film Award, and Golden Globe Award. She played the title role in the Lifetime film '' Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia'' (2021) earning a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award as an executive producer.

In 2022, Brooks 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'', for which she received a Drama Desk Award nomination. She is also known for her recurring role in the Netflix comedy series ''Master of None'' (2015–2017) and her role in the fantasy adventure comedy ''A Minecraft Movie'' (2025).

Early life and education

Brooks was born in Augusta, Georgia, and grew up in Simpsonville, South Carolina, in a Christian family. Her father Dunnel is a BMW worker and a deacon and her mother LaRita is a teacher and 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 is a 2007 YoungArts alumnus. She studied drama at the Juilliard School and graduated in 2011 with a Bachelors of Fine Arts.

Career

2013–2019: Breakthrough

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. While starring in show, Brooks still worked a second job due to a low salary. In an interview with ''The New Yorker'' she said that she was paid less on the final season than the lead child actors made that same year on ''Stranger Things''. 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. For her performance, Brooks received three NAACP Image Awards nominations; one for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2016, and two for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series. She also received the 2014 Young Hollywood Awards for Breakthrough and three Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.

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. The following year she made her big screen debut appearing in the drama film '' Time Out of Mind''. In 2015 she starred in the comedy-drama film '' I Dream Too Much''. From 2015 to 2017 she also appeared in Netflix series ''Master of None''. 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". She has done voice-over work in the 2016 animated feature ''The Angry Birds Movie'' and later appeared in films '' Sadie'' (2018), ''Clemency'' (2019) and ''The Day Shall Come'' (2019).

Brooks made her Broadway debut in the 2015 revival of ''The Color Purple and Cynthia Erivo. The musical opened on December 10, 2015, at the Bernard B. Jacobs. Brooks received good reviews 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. Also in 2019, Brooks recorded her first single titled "Black Woman".

2020–present

In 2020, Brooks co-starred opposite Tony Hale in the comedy film ''Eat Wheaties!''. In 2021 she played gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in the made-for-television biographical film '' Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia'', for which she received nominations for Critics' Choice Awards, Satellite Awards, and NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special, and an Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie as an executive producer. From 2021 to 2022, Brooks voiced Lillie Carter-Grant, mother of protagonist Karma and doctor, in the animated series ''Karma's World''. In 2022, Brooks was cast in James Gunn's Max superhero series '' Peacemaker'' playing the role of Leota Adebayo, Amanda Waller's (Viola Davis) daughter. 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 a 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. The role gained her a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television nomination in 2022.

In 2022, Brooks starred as Berniece in a Broadway revival of August Wilson's ''The Piano Lesson'' starting on September 19, 2022, directed by LaTanya Richardson Jackson; the production received mixed reviews from critics. Brooks received a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play nomination for her performance. In 2022, Brooks also hosted the Netflix reality series ''Instant Dream Home'' and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Daytime Program Host.

In 2023, Brooks starred in ''The Color Purple

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