Uzo Aduba

Uzoamaka Nwanneka Aduba, known professionally as Uzo Aduba, is an American actress born on February 10, 1981, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Igbo parents from Nigeria. She grew up in Medfield, Massachusetts, where she graduated from Medfield High School in 1999. Aduba attended Boston University, where she studied classical voice and competed in track and field. As a child she was a promising figure skater, and her family has been described as sports-oriented; her younger brother Obi played hockey at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and competed professionally for six seasons.

Among her earliest notable stage work, Aduba earned a Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Resident Play for her performance in Translations of Xhosa at the Olney Theatre Center in 2003. She played Amphiarus in The Seven at New York Theatre Workshop in 2006 and reprised the role at La Jolla Playhouse in 2008. Her Broadway debut came in 2007, when she portrayed Toby in Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Coram Boy at the Imperial Theatre. During the 2011–12 season, she performed "By My Side" as part of the original revival cast of Godspell at the Circle in the Square Theatre. Her first television appearance was as a nurse on Blue Bloods in 2012.

Aduba gained widespread recognition beginning in 2013 through her portrayal of Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren in the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black, a role she continued through the series' conclusion in 2019. Her performance earned an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2014 and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2015, making her one of only two actors — alongside Ed Asner — to win Emmy Awards in both the comedy and drama categories for the same role. She also received two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series, in 2014 and 2015, and nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film for her work in seasons two and three.

In 2015, Aduba played Glinda the Good Witch in the NBC live musical event The Wiz Live! and made her film debut in the musical comedy-drama Pearly Gates. Subsequent film credits include American Pastoral (2016), My Little Pony: The Movie (2017), in which she voiced Queen Novo, Candy Jar (2018), Miss Virginia (2019), in which she played the title role, Steven Universe: The Movie (2019), National Champions (2021), and Lightyear (2022). In March 2014, she performed at Broadway Backwards, the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS benefit concert, joining Rachel Bay Jones for a rendition of "Lily's Eyes" from The Secret Garden.

Following the conclusion of Orange Is the New Black, Aduba was cast as Shirley Chisholm in the Hulu miniseries Mrs. America (2020), opposite Cate Blanchett and Sarah Paulson. The role earned her a third Emmy Award, for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie, as well as the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Movie/Miniseries. In 2020, she was also cast as therapist Dr. Brooke Taylor in the fourth season of the HBO series In Treatment. In 2023, she starred as Edie Flowers in the Netflix limited series Painkiller. In 2025, she starred in the Netflix series The Residence, earning a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series at the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Aduba's Broadway career spans 2007 to 2021. In addition to Coram Boy and Godspell, she appeared in Barack on Broadway and starred in Lynn Nottage's play Clyde's in 2021. Her performance in Clyde's earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play in 2022. In 2024, her memoir, The Road is Good: How a Mother's Strength Became Her Daughter's Purpose, was published by Viking Books. Across her career, Aduba's accolades include three Emmy Awards, five Screen Actors Guild Awards, and nominations for three Golden Globe Awards and one Tony Award.