Danielle Deadwyler

Danielle Deadwyler is an American actress who achieved widespread critical acclaim for her performances in films such as The Harder They Fall, Till, and The Piano Lesson. Recognized for her work across feature films, television, and theatre, she has earned nominations for British Academy Film Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2025, Time magazine included her on its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Born on May 3, 1982, in Atlanta, Georgia, Deadwyler was raised in Southwest Atlanta alongside three siblings. She is the daughter of a legal secretary and a railroad supervisor. She attended Grady High School, now known as Midtown High School, before earning a degree in History and African American Studies from Spelman College. Deadwyler subsequently received a Master of Arts in American Studies from Columbia University and earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Ashland University in 2017.

Deadwyler began her acting career in Atlanta theatre, appearing in productions such as Charlotte's Web, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf, Clybourne Park, and The C.A. Lyons Project. She made her feature screen debut in the 2012 drama film A Cross to Bear. She then expanded her television and film work with roles in series such as Being Mary Jane, Greenleaf, Atlanta, and Watchmen. From 2015 to 2017, she portrayed LaQuita "Quita" Maxwell in The Haves and the Have Nots. She also starred in the period drama Jane and Emma and produced and starred in the 2019 thriller The Devil To Pay.

Her breakthrough came in 2021 when she played Cuffee in the Netflix western The Harder They Fall, receiving an NAACP Image Award nomination. That same year, she appeared in the miniseries Station Eleven and From Scratch. In 2022, Deadwyler gained international recognition for her starring role as Mamie Till in the biographical drama Till. Her performance earned her the National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance, a Gotham Independent Film Award, and nominations for both a Screen Actors Guild Award and a British Academy Film Award.

Deadwyler continued her work in prominent projects, starring in the 2024 science fiction thriller Parallel, the horror-thriller I Saw the TV Glow, the post-apocalyptic film 40 Acres, and the screen adaptation of August Wilson's play The Piano Lesson, which earned her a second Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. Her other screen credits include the action film Carry-On, the horror feature The Woman in the Yard, and a guest role on the television series The Bear.

Deadwyler subsequently joined several major projects, including roles in the HBO comedy series Rooster, the third season of Euphoria, and the drama film The Chaperones. She was cast to star in a reboot of The X-Files alongside Himesh Patel, as well as the biographical feature Otis & Zelma playing Zelma Redding, and a film adaptation of Ann Petry's novel The Street. She also set plans to executive produce and star in the comedic thriller The Saviors. In her personal life, Deadwyler has a son named Ezra.