Portrait of Danielle Brooks

Danielle Brooks

Acting

Biography

Danielle Brooks (born September 17, 1989) is an American actress. Her breakthrough role was as prison inmate Tasha "Taystee" Jefferson in the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019). In 2015, Brooks made her Broadway debut in the musical revival of The Color Purple as Sofia, for which she received a nomination for a Tony Award and won a Grammy Award. In 2023, Brooks reprised her role as Sofia in the film adaptation of The Color Purple and was nominated for an Academy Award, British Academy Film Award, and Golden Globe Award for her performance. In 2021, she played gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in the made-for-television biographical film Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia, for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie 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 has since starred in the fantasy adventure comedy A Minecraft Movie. Description above from the Wikipedia article Danielle Brooks, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Born: September 17, 1989

Place of Birth: Augusta, Georgia, USA

Filmography

2025
The Bad Guys 2

as Kitty Kat (voice)

2025
2023
2022
Sherri

as Self - Guest

2022
Instant Dream Home

as Self - Host

2022
Top Chef VIP

as Danielle Brooks - Invitada

2022
Peacemaker

as Leota Adebayo

2021
Karma’s World

as Dr. Lillie Carter-Grant (voice)

2021
2020
2020
2020
2020
Close Enough

as Pearle Watson (voice)

2019
Clemency

as Evette Wilkinson

2019
The Day Shall Come

as Venus Al Shabaz

2019
Tamron Hall

as Self - Guest

2018
Sadie

as Carla

2017
Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure

as Ruthless Ruth (voice)

2016
2016
The Angry Birds Movie

as Olive Blue / Monica the Crossing Guard (voice)

2015
Master of None

as Shannon

2015
2014
Time Out of Mind

as Receptionist

2014
Trailblazer Honors

as Self - Honoree

2013
Orange Is the New Black

as Tasha 'Taystee' Jefferson

2008
Fireproof

as Young Catherine (voice)

2006
2004
2004
Project Runway

as Self - Guest Judge

1997
The View

as Self - Guest

1996
1988
1953
The Oscars

as Self

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Checkmate

as Leota Adebayo