Danai Gurira
Danai Gurira | |
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Danai Gurira at the 2015 San Diego Comic Con
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Born | Danai Jekesai Gurira February 14, 1978 Grinnell, Iowa, United States |
Citizenship | American |
Alma mater | Macalester College (B.A) New York University (M.F.A.) |
Occupation | Actress, playwright, model |
Years active | 2004–present |
Website | danaigurira |
Danai Jekesai Gurira (born February 14, 1978) is a Zimbabwean American actress and playwright, best known for her role as Michonne on The Walking Dead, an AMC television horror drama series.
Contents
Early life
Gurira was born in Grinnell, Iowa, to Josephine Gurira, a university librarian, and Roger Gurira, a lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Platteville.[1][2][3] Her parents came to the United States from Southern Rhodesia, which is now Zimbabwe, in 1964.[4] She is the youngest of four siblings; Shingai and Choni are her sisters and Tare, her brother,[2] is a chiropractor. Gurira lived in Grinnell until December 1983, when at age five she and her family moved back to Harare, Zimbabwe,[5] after the country gained independence.[6]
She attended high school at Dominican Convent High School. Afterwards, she returned to the United States to study at Macalester College,[3] in Saint Paul, Minnesota, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology.[4] Gurira also earned a Master of Fine Arts in acting, from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.[7]
Career
Theater
Gurira said that she began writing plays in an effort to better utilize her strengths as an actor, and to tell stories that convey ideas about strong women with whom she identifies.[4] She co-wrote and co-starred in the off-Broadway play In the Continuum, which won her an Obie Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, and a Helen Hayes Award for Best Lead Actress.[7] In December 2011, In the Continuum commemorated World AIDS Day 2011. The play, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Zimbabwe, was performed at Harare’s Theatre and featured the story of two women who were navigating the world after contracting the AIDS virus.[8]
In 2009, Gurira debuted on Broadway in August Wilson's play Joe Turner's Come and Gone.[9] Gurira received the Whiting Award in 2012.[10] In January 2015, Familiar, a play written by Gurira and directed by Rebecca Taichman, opened at Yale Repertory Theatre.[11] The play is about family, cultural identity, and the experience of life as a first-generation American, and Gurira has said that it was inspired in part by family and friends of hers.[12]
In 2015, Lupita Nyong'o starred in Gurira's 2009 play, Eclipsed, at The Public Theater.[13] It was announced the play would move to Broadway from Off-Broadway.[14][15] The play is set in war-torn Liberia and focuses on three women who are living as sex slaves to a rebel commander, and is about how they deal with this difficult situation.[16] The play was inspired by a photograph of female fighters and their tale of survival.[17] It stars Saycon Sengbloh, Akosua Busia, Lupita Nyong'o, Zainab Jah and Pascale Armand and is directed by Liesl Tommy.[18]
She received the 2016 Sam Norkin Award, for Eclipsed and Familiar, presented by the Drama Desk Awards, which said, in part: "Danai Gurira demonstrates great insight, range, and depth, bringing a fresh new voice to American theater."[19] The play is currently nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play.
Acting
Gurira starred in the 2007 film The Visitor, for which she won Method Fest Independent Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has appeared in the films Ghost Town, 3 Backyards, My Soul to Take, and Restless City, as well the television shows Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Life on Mars, and Law & Order. From 2010 to 2011, she appeared in the HBO drama series Treme.
In 2013, Gurira played a lead role in director Andrew Dosunmu's independent drama film Mother of George, which premiered at 2013 Sundance Film Festival.[4] Gurira received critical acclaim for her performance as a Nigerian woman struggling to live in the United States.[20][21] In June 2013, Gurira won the Jean-Claude Gahd Dam award at the 2013 Guys Choice Awards.[22]
In January 2016, it was announced Gurira had been cast as Tupac Shakur's mother, Afeni Shakur, in All Eyez on Me, a biopic about the rap star.[23]
The Walking Dead
In March 2012, AMC announced on a live broadcast that Gurira would join the cast of their horror-drama series The Walking Dead, the highest rated series in cable television history,[24] in its third season.[25][26][27] Gurira plays Michonne, a mistrustful, katana-wielding character who joins a close-knit group in an apocalyptic world.[26][28] Together they are forced to relentlessly fight flesh-eating zombies and certain of the few surviving humans, some of whom are even more diabolical and dangerous than the zombies themselves.[28] Gurira had to learn how to ride horses for the show, which she enjoyed because it was a physical challenge.[29]
Activism
- 2008: Appeared at the Global Green Sustainable Design Awards to read a letter written by a New Orleans native displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
- 2011: Co-founded Almasi, an organization dedicated to continuing arts education in Zimbabwe.[3][30][31]
- 2015: Gurira signed an open letter begun by the ONE Campaign. The letter was addressed to Angela Merkel and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, urging them to focus on women as they serve as the head of the G7 in Germany and the AU in South Africa respectively.[32]
Personal life
Gurira is a Christian.[2] She currently lives in Los Angeles,[33] and speaks four languages: French, Shona, basic Xhosa, and English.[2] She has taught playwriting and acting in Liberia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.[2] She regularly spends time in New York City[34] and maintains an active lifestyle to keep physically fit.[35]
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2007 | The Visitor | Zainab | Method Fest Film Festival for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast Nominated – Gotham Awards for Best Ensemble Cast |
2008 | Ghost Town | Assorted ghost | |
2010 | 3 Backyards | Woman in Blue Dress | |
2010 | My Soul to Take | Jeanne-Baptiste | |
2011 | Restless City | Sisi | |
2013 | Mother of George | Adenike Olumide Balogun | Black Reel Award for Best Actress Nominated – Black Reel Award for Best Breakthrough Performance Nominated – American Black Film Festival – Best Actress |
2015 | Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast | Fury (voice) | |
2016 | All Eyez on Me[36][37] | Afeni Shakur | Post-production |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2004 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Marei Rosa Rumbidzai | Episode: "Inert Dwarf" |
2009 | Life on Mars (US) | Angela | Episode: "The Simple Secret of the Note in Us All" |
2009 | Law & Order | Courtney Owens | Episode: "Fed" |
2010 | American Experience | Sarah Steward | Episode: "Dolley Madison" |
2010 | Lie to Me | Michelle Russo | Episode: "Exposed" |
2010–2011 | Treme | Jill | 6 episodes |
2012–present | The Walking Dead | Michonne | Season 3-present (main role; 50 episodes) Satellite Award for Best Cast – Television Series (2012) Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (2016)[38] Pending – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television (2016) |
Stage
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2005 | In the Continuum | Abigail, et al. | Also writer Obie Award Outer Critics Circle Award Helen Hayes Award John Gassner Award |
2009 | Joe Turner's Come and Gone | Martha Pentecost | |
2009 | Eclipsed | Writer | |
2011 | Measure for Measure | Isabella | |
2012 | The Convert | Writer[39] Nominated – Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Writing[40] |
|
2015 | Familiar[12] | Writer |
Works or publications
- Gurira, Danai. Running Head: The Neglect of Black Women in Psychology. 2001. Honors paper, Macalester College
- Gurira, Danai, and Nikkole Salter. In the continuum. New York, NY: Samuel French, 2008. ISBN 978-0-573-65089-5
- Gurira, Danai. Eclipsed. New York: Dramatists Play Service, 2010. ISBN 978-0-822-22446-4
- Gurira, Danai. The Convert. Washington, DC : Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, 2013.
References
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External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to [[commons:Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).|Lua error in Module:WikidataIB at line 506: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).]]. |
- Danai Gurira (official website)
- Danai Gurira at the Internet Movie Database
- Articles with hCards
- Commons category link from Wikidata
- 1978 births
- Actresses from Iowa
- American film actresses
- American stage actresses
- American television actresses
- Living people
- Obie Award recipients
- Alumni of Dominican Convent High School
- Macalester College alumni
- Tisch School of the Arts alumni
- American people of Zimbabwean descent
- American Christians
- 21st-century American actresses
- People from Grinnell, Iowa
- 21st-century women writers
- Writers from Iowa
- American Shakespearean actresses
- 21st-century American writers
- American women dramatists and playwrights