Danielle Deadwyler

Danielle Deadwyler is a multidisciplinary performance artist, actor, and filmmaker.

An Atlanta native, Deadwyler is rooted in theatre, dance, and creative writing. Hometown staples such as Gate City Heritage House, Total Dance Theatre, Gary Harrison Studios, Atlanta Street Theatre, Henry W. Grady High School, and Spelman College cumulatively honed Deadwyler amongst a distinctly Southern landscape. As a graduate student, she focused her analysis on issues facing women and African Americans while at Columbia University.

As a professional actor, Deadwyler has performed in productions with Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre, Horizon Theatre, Synchronicity Theatre, Theatrical Outfit, Aurora Theatre, and the Tony Award-winning Alliance Theatre. She is recognized as the Creative Loafing Atlanta Critics Pick for Best Actress and Reader’s Pick for Best Performance Artist. In 2015, she was the recipient of the Suzi Bass Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a play. Deadwyler has since performed in numerous television and film roles, including Watchmen, Atlanta, FBI: Most Wanted, Being Mary Jane, and as Quita Maxwell on Tyler Perry’s The Haves & The Have Nots, among a host of independent films and experimental works.

As a filmmaker and producer, Deadwyler’s work has been screened in Creative Loafing Atlanta's shorts contest, WonderRoot Local Film night, New Orleans Film Festival, Cucalorus Film Festival, and Oxford Film Fest. Her multimedia project "MuhfuckaNeva(Luvd)Uhs: Real Live Girl" was the Jury award winner of WonderRoot Film Night. She also starred in and co-produced the short film "Ir/Reconcilable," featuring Jasmine Guy, Dick Gregory, and Crystal Fox. Another notable work, "SuPerHeRoInUh," was screened as part of the Airport Shorts program and Atlanta Film Festival’s 40th anniversary. Her experimental film "CHOR(E)S" won the jury award for experimental film at New Orleans Film Fest, and her documentary "bustitOpen" received the Georgia Film Award at the Atlanta Film Festival.

As a performance artist, Deadwyler’s race and gender-centric works have been featured in exhibitions such as MAMBU BADU collective's "If We Came From Nowhere Here, Why Can't We Go Somewhere There?" and at Mint Gallery, Whitespace Gallery, The Luminary, Atlanta Contemporary Museum, and Atlanta Film Festival. She presented "(dis)possessed: the live mixtape," a one-woman theatrical performance art project, at Spelman College’s Museum of Fine Art. Numerous grants have supported Deadwyler’s works, including IDEA CAPITAL, ELEVATE Atlanta, Living Walls, Synchronicity Theatre Stripped Bare Lab, and Artadia. She is a former Atlanta Film Festival Filmmaker-in-Residence and MINT Leap Year Residency Fellow.