36 Facts About Danai Gurira

Danai Jekesai Gurira is an American actress and playwright.

Danai Gurira is best known for her starring roles as Michonne on the AMC horror drama series The Walking Dead and as Okoye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films, beginning with Black Panther and most recently appearing in its sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Danai Gurira's parents moved from Southern Rhodesia, which is Zimbabwe, to the United States in 1964.

Danai Gurira is the youngest of four siblings; Shingai and Choni are her sisters and Tare, her brother, is a chiropractor.

Danai Gurira lived in Grinnell until December 1983, when at age five she and her family moved back to Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, after Robert Mugabe rose to power in 1979.

Danai Gurira attended high school at Dominican Convent High School.

Danai Gurira earned a Master of Fine Arts in acting from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Danai Gurira taught playwriting and acting in Liberia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Danai Gurira said that she began writing plays in an effort to better utilize her strengths as an actress, and to tell stories that convey ideas about strong women with whom she identifies.

Danai Gurira co-wrote and co-starred in In the Continuum, first at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company and later Off-Broadway, which won her an Obie Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, and a Helen Hayes Award for Best Lead Actress.

In 2009, Danai Gurira made her acting debut on Broadway in August Wilson's play Joe Turner's Come and Gone playing Martha Pentecost.

Later that year, Danai Gurira received the Whiting Award for an emerging playwright.

In January 2015, Familiar, a play written by Danai Gurira and directed by Rebecca Taichman, opened at Yale Repertory Theatre.

The play is about family, cultural identity, and the experience of life as a first-generation American, and Danai Gurira has said that it was inspired in part by her family and friends.

In 2015, Lupita Nyong'o starred in Danai Gurira's play, Eclipsed, Off-Broadway at The Public Theater.

The inspiration for Danai Gurira's play was a photo of Colonel Black Diamond, a female freedom fighter from Liberia, in an article in The New York Times.

Danai Gurira spoke to female peace activists who were instrumental in ending the violence.

The names of the women in Eclipsed come from the people Danai Gurira met during her travels, whereas the fifth character is unnamed.

Danai Gurira starred in the drama film The Visitor in 2007, for which she won Method Fest Independent Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In March 2012, AMC announced on a live broadcast that Danai Gurira would join the cast of their horror-drama series The Walking Dead, the highest rated series in cable television history, in its third season.

Danai Gurira plays Michonne, a relentless, katana-wielding character who joins a close-knit group in an apocalyptic world.

Danai Gurira had to learn how to ride horses for the series, which she enjoyed because it was a physical challenge.

In February 2019, reports emerged that Danai Gurira would be exiting the show once she had filmed her last episodes during the tenth season.

In 2013, Danai Gurira played a lead role in director Andrew Dosunmu's independent drama film Mother of George, which premiered at 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Danai Gurira received critical acclaim for her performance as a Nigerian woman struggling to live in the United States.

In June 2013, Danai Gurira won the Jean-Claude Gahd Dam award at the 2013 Guys Choice Awards.

Danai Gurira played rapper Tupac Shakur's mother, Afeni Shakur, in All Eyez on Me, a 2017 biopic about the rap star.

Danai Gurira then starred in Marvel's film Black Panther, which was released in February 2018.

Danai Gurira played Okoye, the head of the Dora Milaje, the personal bodyguards of the Black Panther, and received critical acclaim for her performance.

Danai Gurira reprised Okoye in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

In 2008, Danai Gurira appeared at the Global Green Sustainable Design Awards to read a letter written by a New Orleans native displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

In 2011, Danai Gurira co-founded Almasi Arts, an organization dedicated to continuing arts education in Zimbabwe.

In 2015, Danai Gurira signed an open letter begun by the ONE Campaign.

On December 2,2018, Danai Gurira was announced as a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador by UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka at the Global Citizen Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Danai Gurira is a Christian and lives in Los Angeles, though she regularly spends time in New York City.

Danai Gurira speaks four languages: French, Shona, basic Xhosa, and English and stays physically fit through Pilates and cross training.