Danai Gurira is an award-winning American actress, activist, storyteller, and playwright. The stage and film actress is best known for her zombie role as Michonne in the AMC television horror drama series The Walking Dead and her most recent role as Okoye in the superhero blockbuster Black Panther in 2018.
Danai received the Tony Award for her writing skills and brilliance for her play Eclipsed. She has been commissioned as a playwright by Playwrights Horizons, the Yale Repertory Theatre, the Royal Court and the Center Theatre Group. According to the Black Panther star, the writing was a way of expressing her gender views and racial identity. Her play The Convert won her the 2012 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award and the 2013 NAACP Theatre Award for Best Playwright. The Convert” was the first play to premiere on Broadway with an all-black female cast including Lupita Nyong’o, Saycon Sengbloh, Zainab Jah, Akosua Busia, Pascale Armand and directed by Liesl Tommy. The story, inspired by an image of female combatants, revolved around the pitiable condition of Liberian women who were grossly sexually abused by militants.
The motif of the play also bears a certain resemblance to her role as Okoye in the feature film “Black Panther”. Side by side with her personality, Danai explained her role in the film as an essential self-confident attitude that the black woman of the 21st century owes to herself and to society. She suggested that black women should not be shy or afraid to undermine social lies about who they should or should not be. In her words, “a little” of the “fierce and feminine” Okoye will serve the purpose. Danai Gurira’s plays somehow reveal her own past struggle to be at home in her own skin and, more than that, to aspire to greatness as a black woman in the United States.
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Danai Gurira Bio, Age
The proud black, beautiful and strong personality, Danai Jekesai Gurira, was born on February 14, 1978, in Grinnell, Iowa, USA. She is of Zimbabwean descent. Her parents are Roger and Josephine Gurira. Roger worked as a lecturer in the chemistry department at Grinnell College, while Josephine was a librarian. The university staff had moved to the United States from Zimbabwe. Danai is the last of four children. She had two sisters – Shingai and Choni – and a brother – Tare, a chiropractor.
At the age of five, Danai moved back to Zimbabwe with her family. They lived in the capital of the country, Harare. At the age of 18, Danai returned to the United States for educational purposes. She studied and graduated in Social Psychology at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Prior to that, she had attended the high school of the Dominican monastery. Danai also earned a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Acting from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
The activist speaks four languages fluently-French, Shona, basic Xhosa, and English. Danai has also written a good number of published works. She lives in Los Angeles but often spends time in New York City.
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Husband, Affairs
Danai is not married. She may have dated some guys in the past, but there’s no record of it. In 2015, however, it was strongly believed that the brave star actress was in a romantic relationship with walking dead co-star Norman Reedus.
Net Worth
Danai Gurira has not yet reached the million-dollar mark. Her net worth is estimated at $500,000. However, it is speculated that her fortune will change for the better with the enormous success of the latest black superhero movie “Black Panther”. After its release in 2018, the revolutionary film will be the film with the highest revenues to date. Black Panther has earned well over 727 million dollars worldwide. In its four-day preview, the film earned over 240 million dollars, making it the second highest-grossing film in the United States. With a three-day gross income of 201.8 million dollars, the film also achieved the fifth-highest earnings ever. With all of this, Dana’s net worth is sure to grow in the years to come. After the African-born actress was critically acclaimed for her exceptional role as Okoye, she has potentially paved the way for bigger and better roles.
Danai Gurira Height
Their height is 1.70 m (5 ft 6 inches).
