Danielle Deadwyler

Danielle Deadwyler (born May 3, 1982) is an American actress. Deadwyler earned critical acclaim for her roles in The Harder They Fall (2021), as Mamie Till in Till (2022), and as a conflicted mother in The Piano Lesson (2024). She received British Academy Film Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Till, and a second SAG nomination for The Piano Lesson.

In 2025, Time magazine named Deadwyler one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

She began her career as a theatre actress in Atlanta, Georgia. Deadwyler then transitioned to film and television roles and made her screen debut in the 2012 drama film A Cross to Bear. She appeared in the primetime soap opera The Haves and the Have Nots (2015–2017), the drama series P-Valley (2020), and the miniseries Station Eleven (2021–2022) and From Scratch (2022).

Deadwyler was born on May 3, 1982, in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in Southwest Atlanta. She is the daughter of a legal secretary and a railroad supervisor and has three siblings. Deadwyler graduated from Grady High School (now Midtown High School) and then Spelman College with an undergraduate degree in History and African American Studies. She received a Master's of Arts in American Studies from Columbia University and another master's degree in creative writing at Ashland University in 2017.

Deadwyler began her career appearing on stage productions, including Charlotte's Web, The Real Tweenagers of Atlanta, and most notable playing the role of Lady in Yellow in For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf at the True Colors Theater in Atlanta in 2009. Deadwyler received positive reviews for leading performance in Alliance Theatre's The C.A. Lyons Project. On Atlanta stage, she appeared in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Clybourne Park at Aurora Theater, portrayed an actress injured doing Shakespeare in Smart People at True Colors Theater, and played multiple roles in The Temple Bombing at the Alliance Theater.

Deadwyler made her film debut playing the leading role of a homeless, alcoholic mother in the 2012 drama A Cross to Bear directed by Tandria Potts. Deadwyler later acted in a number of short films, then landed roles on television. In 2015, Deadwyler guest-starred in the second season of BET's drama series Being Mary Jane. Later that year, she joined the cast of Tyler Perry's series The Haves and the Have Nots, playing antagonist LaQuita "Quita" Maxwell. Deadwyler left the series during Season 4. Eventually, she had secondary roles in the films Gifted and The Leisure Seeker, and appeared in the television series Greenleaf, Atlanta and Watchmen. In 2018, Deadwyler played the title role of Jane Manning James in the period drama film Jane and Emma. She played a leading role and produced the 2019 thriller film The Devil To Pay. The film and Deadwyler's performance received positive reviews from critics. Cath Clarke from The Guardian wrote in her review: "Deadwyler's soulful performance really grounds The Devil to Pay even as it cranks into revenge-movie mode." In 2020, Deadwyler was cast in a series regular role in the series Paradise Lost, with Josh Hartnett, Bridget Regan and Barbara Hershey. The series was not renewed for a second season. That same year, Deadwyler guest-starred on FBI: Most Wanted and had a recurring role as Yoli in the series P-Valley.

In 2021, Deadwyler played the role of Cuffee in the Netflix western film The Harder They Fall. The character was inspired by Cathay Williams. The film and her performance received positive reviews from film critics. Deadwyler received an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture nomination for her performance and well as number of Best Ensemble awards. Later that year, Deadwyler played Miranda Carroll in the miniseries Station Eleven. Also that year, she was in the Netflix miniseries From Scratch, based on Tembi Locke's memoir. Deadwyler played the role of lead character' older sister, receiving positive reviews.

In 2022, Deadwyler starred as Mamie Till in the biographical film Till directed by Chinonye Chukwu. She received positive reviews from critics for her lead performance in the movie. Manohla Dargis in The New York Times: "With fixed intensity and supple quicksilver emotional changes, Deadwyler rises to the occasion as Mamie, delivering a quiet, centralizing performance that works contrapuntally with the story's heaviness, its profundity and violence." Deadwyler received the National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance (shared with Gabriel LaBelle for The Fabelmans) and the Gotham Independent Film Award for Outstanding Lead Performance for her performance.