Danielle Brooks, the guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, is a tremendously gifted stage and screen actress who is equally at home in dramas, comedies, musicals and everything in-between.
Also, there’s something about Brooks and colors. Indeed, the two parts for which she is best known are prison inmate “Taystee” on the Netflix comedy-turned-drama series Orange Is the New Black, on which she appeared from 2013 through 2019 (The Daily Beast called her “the breakout actress of the show”); and strong-willed 1920s woman Sofia in the musical The Color Purple, which she was a part of on Broadway from 2015 through 2017 (bringing her a Grammy Award and a Tony Award nomination), and to which she returned for the film version that has been a huge hit since debuting in theaters on Christmas Day of 2023 (which has already brought her best supporting actress Golden Globe and Critics Choice award noms, with additional recognition likely to come).
Over the course of a conversation at the London West Hollywood hotel, the 34-year-old reflected on her journey from Greenville, South Carolina, to Juilliard to fame; how her part on Orange Is the New Black expanded from two episodes to series regular to show-stealer — and how The Color Purple first entered the picture for her during Orange’s fourth season, creating a juggling-act for the ages; why she doubted herself even when she was garnering massive acclaim for both of those productions; how she, felt years later, when it was uncertain that she would be offered the chance to reprise her part in the big screen adaptation of the musical version of The Color Purple; plus much more.