Danai Jekesai Gurira (/dəˈnaɪɡʊˈrɪərə/; born February 14, 1978) is a Zimbabwean-American actress, playwright, screenwriter, producer, and activist. She is best known for her starring roles asMichonne in theAMC horror drama franchiseThe Walking Dead andOkoye in theMarvel Cinematic Universe. Her films have grossed $6.98 billion, making her the seventh highest-grossing actress of all time.[1][2]
She has been aUN Women Goodwill Ambassador since 2018,[8] and has founded two non-profit organizations.[9][10] In 2023, she was honored with theTIME100 Impact Award.[11] She is the founder of the production company Gurazoo Productions, which has an overall television deal withABC Studios.[12]
Gurira was born on February 14, 1978, inGrinnell, Iowa, to Josephine Gurira, a college librarian, and Roger Gurira, a tenured professor in the Department of Chemistry atGrinnell College (both parents later joined the staff ofUniversity of Wisconsin–Platteville).[13][14][15] Her parents moved from Southern Rhodesia, which is now Zimbabwe, to the United States in 1964.[16] She is the youngest of four siblings; Shingai and Choni are her sisters and Tare, her brother.[14] Gurira lived in Grinnell until December 1983, when at age five she and her family moved back toHarare, the capital of Zimbabwe,[17] afterRobert Mugaberose to power in 1980.[18]
Gurira taught playwriting and acting in Liberia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.[14] One of her earliest notable performances occurred in 2001, as a senior at Macalester College. Gurira performed in a production of theNtozake Shange playFor Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf, directed and choreographed byDale Ricardo Shields. "She was a very intelligent, strong and independent young lady," said Shields. "She approached her studies, her classes, with a lot of focus, and you can see the same things in her performance inBlack Panther."[21]
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.[16]
"Born into this world as an African girl, I never understood the absence of voices and people who were similar to me, it never made sense to me that I couldn't see that representation. The very massive magnitude of content you get in television and film, and yet there was this almost absolute absence of the stories of women from the continent and of the continent. [...] I didn't accept any ideas as to why it wasn't there. It just needed to be there. It just has to happen, and I guess I'll have to do it."[22]
Gurira's 2012 playThe Convert premiered as a co-production between theGoodman Theatre in Chicago and theMcCarter Theatre in New Jersey. Later that year, Gurira received theWhiting Award for an emerging playwright[27] and a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Writing in 2013. The play is a historical drama set in 1890s Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) about a woman who turns to the Catholic Church to escape an arranged marriage.[15]
In January 2015,Familiar, a play written by Gurira and directed by Rebecca Taichman, opened atYale Repertory Theatre.[28] It later premiered Off-Broadway in New York atPlaywrights Horizons. The play is about family, cultural identity, and the experience of life as a first-generation American. Gurira has said that it was inspired in part by her family and friends.[29]
In 2015,Lupita Nyong'o starred in Gurira's play,Eclipsed (2009), Off-Broadway atThe Public Theater.[31] It was announced that the play would move to Broadway in 2016 at theJohn Golden Theatre.[32][33][34] It was the first play to premiere on Broadway with an all female, black cast and creative team.[35] The play is set in war-tornLiberia and focuses on three women who are living as sex slaves to a rebel commander, as well as one of his former wives, and a relief worker, and follows and how they deal with this difficult situation.[36] It starredLupita Nyong'o,Akosua Busia,Saycon Sengbloh,Zainab Jah, andPascale Armand and was directed by Liesl Tommy.[37] The inspiration for Gurira's play was a photo of Colonel Black Diamond, a female freedom fighter from Liberia, in an article inThe New York Times. "Just to see these women standing there, you know, in their jeans and ... fashionable tops and their hair is all done, and they're all carrying AK-47s, was just an image I couldn't get out of my head." The image prompted curiosity about Liberia's fourteen-year civil wars, as well as a research trip to Liberia in 2007. Gurira interviewed more than 30 women who had been raped, among whose daughters that had been taken by rebel fighters and turned into sex slaves. She also spoke to female peace activists who were instrumental in ending the violence. The names of the women inEclipsed come from the people Gurira met during her travels, whereas the fifth character is unnamed.[38]
Her playsEclipsed andFamiliar received a score of 88 onShow Score which indicate "Excellent" on the platform, For Eclipsed from 570 reviews and Familiar with 119 reviews.[44][45]
In 2013, Gurira played a lead role in directorAndrew Dosunmu's independent drama filmMother of George, which premiered at2013 Sundance Film Festival.[16] Gurira received critical acclaim for her performance as a Nigerian woman struggling to live in the United States.[46][47] In June 2013, Gurira won the Jean-Claude Gahd Dam award at the 2013Guys Choice Awards.[48] The film was featured inIndiewire's 100 Best Movies of the Decade list and she was called a "stand out" in the film.[49]
Before the 2020 pandemic, a limited series adaptation ofChimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novelAmericanah was being produced forHBO MAX with Danai writing the pilot and serving asshowrunner andLupita Nyong'o as the lead actress.[53] However, production delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic forced Nyong'o to drop out of the series over scheduling conflicts, which ultimately led to HBO Max's decision to drop the project.[54][55]
She owns a production company called Gurazoo Productions.[12]
In March 2012,AMC announced on a live broadcast that Gurira would join the cast of their horror-drama seriesThe Walking Dead, the highest rated series in cable television history,[59] in its third season.[60][61][62] Gurira plays the iconic characterMichonne, a relentless and strongkatana-wielding woman with a mysterious past and steely resolve, who becomes part of the close-knit group in azombie apocalypse world and gradually reveals deeply compassionate and intelligent traits.[61][63] Gurira had to learn how to ride horses for the series, which she enjoyed because it was a physical challenge.[64]Rolling Stone ranked Michonne first in their list of the 30 Best The Walking Dead Characters, describing Gurira's performance as extraordinary.[65] In March 2025,Ranker ranked Michonne 9th in the top 10 list of Greatest Female TV characters of all time.[66]
In February 2019, reports emerged that Gurira would be exiting the show once she had filmed her last episodes during the tenth season.[67] Gurira's final episode, "What We Become" aired in March 2020. By the time of her departure, she was second-billed in the opening credits and had appeared in 96 episodes of the show.
In July 2022, it was announced byScott M. Gimple,Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira atSan Diego Comic-Con a spin-off mini-series centered around the couple Michonne andRick Grimes, with Lincoln and Gurira reprising their roles from the original television series.[68] The limited series, titledThe Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, premiered in February 2024 and consisted of six episodes.[69] She co-created it, produced it and wrote the fourth episode, titled "What We".[70] That episode received positive reviews from critics[71][72][73] and got her a nomination for the 2024 Black Reel Television award for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series.[74] The episode was also submitted for the 2024 Emmys and was listed onVariety's Emmy Prediction Top 15 list at number 10 in the writing category.[75] The series was well received by both critics and audiences, "Danai Gurira and Andrew Lincoln's phenomenal performances feel like The Walking Dead at its best."[76]
Danai was cast to star in Marvel's filmBlack Panther, which was released in February 2018. She played the loyal and highly skilledGeneral Okoye, the head of theDora Milaje; an elite all-female special forces unit protectors ofWakanda and its king, theBlack Panther. She received critical acclaim for her performance,[77] aSAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, aPeople's Choice Awards for The Action Movie Star of 2018, aSaturn Award for Best Supporting Actress and anNAACP Image award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture. She also got a nomination for theIndiana Film Journalists Association for Best Supporting Actress.[78]
Gurira is an advocate for women, the end of poverty, and forHIV/AIDS awareness.[81][82]
In 2008, Gurira appeared at the Global Green Sustainable Design Awards to read a letter written by aNew Orleans native displaced byHurricane Katrina.[83]
In 2011, Gurira co-founded Almasi Arts, an organization dedicated to continuing arts education in Zimbabwe.[15][84][9] Gurira currently serves as the Executive Artistic Director.[85]
In 2015, Gurira signed an open letter begun by theONE Campaign. The letter was addressed toAngela Merkel andNkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, urging them to focus on women as they serve as the head of theG7 in Germany and the AU in South Africa respectively.[86]
In 2016, Gurira founded the non-profit organization Love Our Girls, which aims to highlight the issues and challenges that specifically affect women throughout the world.[87][10] In the same year, Gurira partnered withJohnson & Johnson in the fight againstHIV/AIDS.[88] She campaigned forHillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election.[89]
On December 2, 2018, Gurira was announced as aUN WomenGoodwill Ambassador by UN Women Executive DirectorPhumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka at theGlobal Citizen Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa. As a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, Gurira dedicates her support to putting a spotlight on gender equality and women's rights, as well as bringing unheard women's voices front and center.[8] Also in 2018, Gurira teamed up with the international conservation organizationWildAid in the campaign "Poaching Steals From Us All", focused on raising awareness of the threat poaching poses to animals such as therhinoceros andelephants.[91]
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