Uzo Aduba

Uzo Aduba stars in Clyde's at the Hayes Theater from November 2021.

Uzoamaka Nwanneka Aduba, known professionally as Uzo Aduba, is a film, television, and stage actress. She was born February 10, 1981, in Boston, Massachusetts. She is best known for her award-winning performances as Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black and as Shirley Chisholm in Mrs. America.

Though she has gained the most widespread acclaim as a television actress, her first major acting roles occurred in the theatre. After graduating from Boston University with a degree in classical voice, she sang for Kira Lallas's one-woman coming-of-age show Translations of Xhosa at the Olney Theatre Center for the Arts. The gig earned her a Helen Hayes Award nomination. What followed would be a prolific stage career across America over the next 10 years; Aduba played Amphiarus in The Seven at New York Theatre Workshop and La Jolla Playhouse in 2006 and 2008, respectively, and in between she made her Broadway debut as Toby in Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Coram Boy in 2007. Her most recent appearance on the New York stage, prior to her fall 2021 run in Clyde's on Broadway, was as Anna Monroe in The Public Theater's 2013 production of Venice.

Aduba did not appear onscreen until 2012, when she was cast in an episode of Blue Bloods. It was only a year later that she received the main role of Crazy Eyes in Orange Is the New Black, and she appeared in all seven of the show's seasons between 2013 and 2019. She has gathered two Emmy Awards, one each for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, making her the first actress to win a comedy and drama Emmy for the same role. Aduba also won a Screen Actor's Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series and two back-to-back Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for playing Crazy Eyes.

Her other most high-profile role, as trailblazing presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm in the Hulu series Mrs. America alongside Cate Blanchett, won her a Primetime Emmy Award. Her other television appearances include an episode each of Saturday Night Live and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, recurring voiceover roles in Steven Universe and 3Below: Tales of Arcadia, and as the main role of the therapist in the 2021 HBO series In Treatment. In a TV-theatre hybrid, she also starred as Glinda the Good Witch in NBC's The Wiz Live! in 2015.

Aduba has also held roles in films including Tallulah as Detective Louisa Kinnie, American Pastoral as Vicky, Showing Roots as Pearl, Candy Jar as Julia Russell, and Miss Virginia as Virginia Walden. Her latest film project is as Katherine in the sports drama National Champions, based on the play of the same name about a college quarterback who strikes for fair compensation. It is scheduled for release in November 2021.