Danielle Deadwyler (born May 3, 1982) is an American actress. She began her career as a theatre actress in Atlanta, Georgia. Deadwyler then transitioned to film and television roles and made her screen debut in the 2012 drama film '' A Cross to Bear''. She appeared in the primetime soap opera '' The Haves and the Have Nots'' (2015–2017), the drama series '' P-Valley'' (2020), and the miniseries '' Station Eleven'' (2021–2022) and '' From Scratch'' (2022). Deadwyler received acclaim for her performances in the western film ''The Harder They Fall'' (2021), the biographical drama ''

Till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

'' (2022), and the drama '' The Piano Lesson'' (2024). Her portrayal of Mamie Till in ''Till'' and a troubled mother in ''The Piano Lesson'' earned her several accolades, including a nomination for the

BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Best Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performan ...

for the former and

Screen Actors Guild Awards Screen Actors Guild Awards (also known as SAG Awards) are accolades given by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). The award was founded in 1995 to recognize outstanding performances in movie an ...

nominations for both. In 2025, ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine named Deadwyler one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Early life

Deadwyler was born in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and raised in Southwest Atlanta. She is the daughter of a legal secretary and a railroad supervisor and has three siblings. Deadwyler has a son named Ezra. She graduated from Grady High School (now Midtown High School) and then

Spelman College Spelman College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia ...

with an undergraduate degree in History and African American Studies. Deadwyler received a Master's of Arts in American Studies from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and another master’s degree in creative writing at

Ashland University Ashland University is a private university in Ashland, Ohio, United States. The university consists of a main campus and several off-campus centers throughout central and northern Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern U ...

in 2017.

Career

2009–2020

Deadwyler began her career appearing on stage productions, including ''

Charlotte's Web ''Charlotte's Web'' is a book of children's literature by American author E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams. It was published on October 15, 1952, by Harper & Brothers. It tells the story of a livestock pig named Wilbur and his frie ...

'', ''The Real Tweenagers of Atlanta'', and most notable playing the role of Lady in Yellow in ''

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf #REDIRECT For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf {{R from move ...

'' at the True Colors Theater in Atlanta in 2009. Deadwyler received positive reviews for leading performance in Alliance Theatre's ''The C.A. Lyons Project''. She made her film debut playing the leading role of a homeless, alcoholic mother in the 2012 drama '' A Cross to Bear'' directed by Tandria Potts. Deadwyler later acted in a number of short films, then landed roles on television. In 2015, Deadwyler guest-starred in the second season of BET's drama series '' Being Mary Jane''. Later that year, she joined the cast of

Tyler Perry Tyler Perry (born Emmitt Perry Jr., September 13, 1969) is an American actor, filmmaker, and playwright. He is the creator and performer of Madea, Mabel "Madea" Simmons, a tough elderly woman, and also portrays her brother Joe Simmons and her ...

's series '' The Haves and the Have Nots'', playing antagonist LaQuita "Quita" Maxwell. Deadwyler left the series during Season 4. Eventually, she had secondary roles in the films '' Gifted'' and '' The Leisure Seeker'', and appeared in the television series '' Greenleaf'', ''

'' and ''

Watchmen ''Watchmen'' is a comic book Limited series (comics), limited series by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins (comics), John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 19 ...

''. On Atlanta stage, Deadwyler appeared in the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning play ''Clybourne Park'' at Aurora Theater, portrayed an actress injured doing Shakespeare in ''Smart People'' at True Colors Theater, and played multiple roles in ''The Temple Bombing'' at the Alliance Theater. In 2018, she played the title role of Jane Manning James in the period drama film '' Jane and Emma''. Deadwyler played a leading role and produced the 2019 thriller film '' The Devil To Pay''. The film and her performance received positive reviews from critics. Cath Clarke from ''The Guardian'' wrote in her review: "Deadwyler’s soulful performance really grounds ''The Devil to Pay'' even as it cranks into revenge-movie mode." In 2020, Deadwyler was cast in a series regular role in the series ''

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an Epic poetry, epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The poem concerns the Bible, biblical story of the fall of man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their ex ...

'', with

Josh Hartnett Joshua Daniel Hartnett (born July 21, 1978) is an American actor. He began his career on American Broadcasting Company, ABC's drama series ''Cracker (American TV series), Cracker'' (1997–1998), after which he became known as a teen idol thro ...

, Bridget Regan and

Barbara Hershey Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey (born February 5, 1948), is an American actress. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema in several genres, including Wester ...

. The series was not renewed for a second season. That same year, Deadwyler guest-starred on '' FBI: Most Wanted'' and had a recurring role as Yoli in the series '' P-Valley''.

2021–present

In 2021, Deadwyler played the role of Cuffee in the Netflix western film '' The Harder They Fall''. The character was inspired by Cathay Williams. The film and her performance received positive reviews from film critics. Deadwyler received a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture nomination for her performance and well as number of Best Ensemble awards. Later in 2021, Deadwyler played Miranda Carroll in the miniseries '' Station Eleven''. Also that year, she was in the Netflix miniseries '' From Scratch'', based on Tembi Locke's memoir. Deadwyler played the role of lead character' older sister, receiving positive reviews. Deadwyler starred as Mamie Till in the biographical film ''

'' (2022) directed by Chinonye Chukwu. She received positive reviews from critics for her lead performance in the movie. Manohla Dargis in ''The New York Times'': "With fixed intensity and supple quicksilver emotional changes, Deadwyler rises to the occasion as Mamie, delivering a quiet, centralizing performance that works contrapuntally with the story’s heaviness, its profundity and violence." Deadwyler received the National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance (shared with Gabriel LaBelle for ''

The Fabelmans ''The Fabelmans'' is a 2022 American coming-of-age drama film directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg, who co-wrote the screenplay with Tony Kushner. Loosely based on Spielberg's early life and beginnings as a filmmaker, the semi-autobiog ...

'') and the Gotham Independent Film Award for Outstanding Lead Performance for her performance. In 2024, Deadwyler played the leading role in the science fiction thriller film '' Parallel'' directed by Kourosh Ahari, a remake of Lei Zheng's feature of the same name. She starred in the horror-thriller film '' I Saw the TV Glow'', which premiered at the 2024

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

to positive reviews from critics. Deadwyler also starred in '' The Piano Lesson'', an adaptation of the

August Wilson August Wilson (né Frederick August Kittel Jr.; April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005) was an American playwright. He has been referred to as the "theater's poet of Black America". He is best known for a series of 10 plays, collectively called '' ...

play, and in the Canadian post-apocalyptic thriller film '' 40 Acres''. For ''The Piano Lesson'', Deadwyler earned her second

nomination in the Supporting Actress category, her first having been in Leading Actress for her role in ''Till''. Deadwyler appeared in the action thriller '' Carry-On'' for Netflix. She also starred in the horror film '' The Woman in the Yard''. Both films were directed by

Jaume Collet-Serra Jaume Collet-Serra (; born 23 March 1974) is a Spanish-American film director and producer. He directed the horror films ''House of Wax (2005 film), House of Wax'' (2005), ''Orphan (2009 film), Orphan'' (2009), and ''The Shallows (film), The Sh ...

. ''Time'' magazine named Deadwyler one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2025.

Upcoming

Deadwyler is set to executive produce and play a lead role in the forthcoming comedic thriller '' The Saviors''. She has also been cast to play Zelma Redding, the widow of American singer

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

, in an upcoming biographical film titled ''Otis & Zelma''. In February 2025, it was announced that Deadwyler had been cast as a series regular in an upcoming untitled

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

comedy series, starring opposite

Steve Carell Steven John Carell (; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He starred as Michael Scott in the NBC sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2011, 2013), and also worked at several points as a producer, executive producer, writer, a ...

. She will portray a poetry professor and published author. In April 2025, Deadwyler was cast as the protagonist in the film adaptation of the 1946 novel '' The Street'', written by Ann Petry.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

Major associations

Other awards

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Deadwyler, Danielle Actresses from Atlanta 21st-century African-American actresses 21st-century American actresses American television actresses Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Living people 1980s births 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women Spelman College alumni Ashland University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)