Danielle Brooks on her Oscar nomination, fair pay and The Color Purple: ‘We are more than just sassy Black women’
Danielle Brooks knows how you’re meant to react to an Oscar nomination. The tears. The shock. The “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it,” the Orange Is the New Black star mimics, dryly. “But,” she says, “I do believe it. This has been a culmination of so many years of hard work and patience; not getting discouraged, not quitting.”
The 34-year-old is speaking from New Zealand, where she’s filming a movie based on the video game Minecraft. After double-checking with me that our video call won’t be seen by anyone but the two of us, Brooks switches on her camera and grins, makeup-free and dazzling. It’s the same smile that won her an army of fans back in 2013, as Orange Is the New Black’s scrappy prison inmate Taystee. Though the Netflix hit focused initially on a white, blonde, fish-out-of-water felon named Piper (Taylor Schilling), it was Taystee who stuck with you.
Brooks gave the character warmth, intelligence, and a shiny optimism about life despite her circumstances. It’s a skill she’s now brought, – and she’s earned and Oscar nods in the process.
