Da'Vine Joy Randolph

Da'Vine Joy Randolph is an American actress born on May 21, 1986, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she grew up in the Mount Airy neighborhood. Her first name is pronounced "Day Vine Joy" and she has no middle name; her parents, who waited seven years to have children, described her birth as a "divine joy," which inspired the name. Randolph studied theatre at Interlochen Arts Camp during her youth before enrolling at Temple University, where she initially pursued classical vocal performance and opera before switching to musical theatre in her junior year. After graduating from Temple in 2008, she went on to earn a master's degree from the Yale School of Drama in 2011. She also studied Shakespeare at the University of Oxford through the British American Drama Academy.

Randolph made her Broadway debut in 2012 in Ghost The Musical, playing the psychic Oda Mae Brown opposite Richard Fleeshman and Caissie Levy. Her path to the role was unconventional: she had originally auditioned for an understudy position in the Broadway transfer of the production, which had been running in London's West End, but the producers chose to cast her in the principal role instead. Before the Broadway casting was publicly announced, Sharon D. Clarke, who had originated the role in London, sustained a minor knee injury, and Randolph was flown to London to cover the part. Her first performance there took place on December 16, 2011, and she shared the role with understudy Lisa Davina Phillip until Clarke returned in early January 2012. The Broadway production began previews in March 2012 and officially opened on April 23, 2012. The role earned Randolph a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical.

Randolph made her feature film debut in a supporting role in Mother of George, directed by Andrew Dosunmu, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The following year she appeared as a nurse in the comedy-drama The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, starring Robin Williams. In 2014 she took on a main role as Charmonique Whitaker in the television series Selfie, which starred Karen Gillan and John Cho and premiered on September 30, 2014. The show was canceled after one season despite developing a devoted following. During the same period, she had guest appearances on The Good Wife, See Dad Run, and Life in Pieces, as well as a recurring role as Tanya in This Is Us beginning in 2016. She also appeared in Office Christmas Party that year and starred for two seasons, from 2016 to 2017, as Yvonne Watson in the sitcom People of Earth. From 2015 to 2017, she voiced the character Christine in The Mr. Peabody and Sherman Show, and she held recurring roles in Empire from 2017 to 2018 and in On Becoming a God in Central Florida in 2019.

Her film profile rose significantly with her portrayal of Lady Reed in Dolemite Is My Name in 2019, starring alongside Eddie Murphy. The performance brought her nominations from the African-American Film Critics Association, the Black Reel Awards, and the NAACP Image Awards for Best Supporting Actress. She followed that with appearances in Kajillionaire and as a main cast member in High Fidelity, both in 2020, as well as a role in The United States vs. Billie Holiday in 2021. During this period she also contributed voice performances to several animated projects, including Trolls World Tour, Madagascar: A Little Wild, Tuca and Bertie, Ultra City Smiths, Chicago Party Aunt, Birdgirl, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. Since 2021 she has held a recurring role as Detective Williams in Only Murders in the Building, the Hulu mystery series starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez, and in 2024 she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for that work. She also appeared in The Last O.G. in 2021, The Lost City in 2022, and The Idol in 2023, and played gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in the 2023 political drama Rustin.

Her performance as Mary Lamb, a cook and bereaved mother, in Alexander Payne's The Holdovers marked a turning point in her career. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in 2023. For the role, Randolph won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, the British Academy Film Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 2024, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Among her accolades across her career are an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Golden Globe Award, alongside her Tony Award and Primetime Emmy Award nominations.