Danielle Brooks
Danielle Brittany Brooks, born on September 17, 1989, is an American actress best known for her roles as Tasha “Taystee” Jefferson on the comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019) and Leota Adebayo on the superhero series Peacemaker (2022–present).
She made her Broadway debut in the musical revival of The Color Purple in 2015, for which she received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. She returned to Broadway in the revival of the August Wilson play The Piano Lesson in 2022.
Brooks was born in Augusta, Georgia, and grew up in South Carolina in a Christian family. She began acting at the age of six in a nativity play put on by her church. She attended South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts & Humanities for her final two years of high school. She studied drama at the Juilliard School and graduated in 2011.
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. Her character, Tasha “Taystee” Jefferson, was originally intended to be featured in the show for only two episodes but was written into the rest of the first season and subsequent seasons.
In 2021, she received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Television Movie as an executive producer on Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia. She has been married to Dennis Gelin since January 13, 2022. They have one child.
She made her Broadway debut in the musical revival of The Color Purple in 2015, for which she received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. She returned to Broadway in the revival of the August Wilson play The Piano Lesson in 2022.
Brooks was born in Augusta, Georgia, and grew up in South Carolina in a Christian family. She began acting at the age of six in a nativity play put on by her church. She attended South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts & Humanities for her final two years of high school. She studied drama at the Juilliard School and graduated in 2011.
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. Her character, Tasha “Taystee” Jefferson, was originally intended to be featured in the show for only two episodes but was written into the rest of the first season and subsequent seasons.
In 2021, she received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Television Movie as an executive producer on Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia. She has been married to Dennis Gelin since January 13, 2022. They have one child.
Born
September 17, 1989
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