The Emmy-winning Uzo Aduba has served as a spokesperson for Stand Up To Cancer since 2018.
She had witnessed enough of her aunts, relatives, and friends battling the illness to know that she wanted to contribute in any way to the search for a cure.
The celebrity’s situation then took a “personal” turn. In November of same year, Nonyem, Aduba’s mother, passed away from pancreatic cancer. The mission’s reliance on the star grew significantly.
My designated place has changed. I used to be in the back, but now I have a front-row seat, she tells ESSENCE. I had no concept the extent of cancer until I lived with someone who had it.
The actress is presently working with Count Me In and Stand Up To Cancer to develop a PSA with a thought-provoking message.
American actress Uzoamaka Nwanneka Aduba was born on February 10th, 1981. She won multiple awards for her ground-breaking role as Suzanne.
“Crazy Eyes” Warren received two Screen Actors Guild Awards for Amazing Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Drama in 2014 and 2015 for her work on Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019).
Additionally, in 2014, she was awarded the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Drama. Additionally, in 2015, the Emmy for Spectacular Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.
She is one of just two actors to win an Emmy in both the comedy and drama categories for the same performance.
Aduba won the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries and the Emmy for Amazing Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her depiction of Shirley Chisholm in the 2020 Hulu miniseries Mrs. America.
The Television Critics Association has commended her for each of these. Along with Miss Virginia (2019), Candy Jar (2018), My Little Pony: The Movie (2017), Lightyear (2022), and American Pastoral (2016).
Aduba has acted in a variety of films. She performed as Clyde in Lynn Nottage’s play, for which she received a 2021 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play.
Born and raised in Medfield, Massachusetts, Uzo Aduba is a native of Nigeria. In 1999, she graduated from Medfield High School with a diploma.
She attended Boston University, where she took part in the classical singing programme as well as track and field.
Her own family has been referred to as a “sports family.”Her younger brother, Obi, spent six seasons playing hockey professionally and at UMass Amherst.
For her performance in Translations of Xhosa at the Olney Theatre Centre for the Arts, Aduba was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award as Best Supporting Actress in a Play in 2003, which marked the beginning of her acting career.
She created the part of Amphiarus for the New York Theatre Workshop and La Jolla Playhouse productions of The Seven in 2006 and 2008, respectively.
She made her Broadway debut as Toby in Helen Edmundson’s production of Coram Boy at the Imperial Theatre in 2007.
Since the series’ 2013 debut, Aduba has portrayed the part of Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on Orange Is the New Black. Aduba said following her casting:
The 66th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards recognised Aduba for her performance in “Crazy Eyes” with the Best Guest Actress in a Comedy Drama award.
This guest performer took up the prize for Best Guest Performer in a Comedy Series at the fourth annual Critics’ Choice Television Awards.
Aduba’s debut in a film was in the musical comedy-drama Pearly Gates, which was released in 2015.
After the miniseries’ April 15, 2020, premiere, which was greeted with acclaim from the critics, Aduba was given a Primetime Emmy Award.
The Danai Gurira-written HBO Max miniseries Americanah, in which she was slated to star alongside Lupita Nyong’o, was finally cancelled.
Aduba had been cast in the lead role in the upcoming Fargo fourth season on FX, but she was forced to leave the project due to “some personal family issues.”
Aduba played a supporting part in the upcoming romantic drama Love from 2020. In Treatment on HBO will premiere season four in October 2020, with her playing Dr. Brooke Taylor.
That year, Aduba’s performance in the Broadway production of Lynn Nottage’s play Clyde’s earned her a Tony Award nomination.
On February 1, 2023, Netflix revealed that Aduba had been cast as the main character in Shonda Rhimes’ upcoming murder mystery series The Residence, which is set in the White House.
Uzo Aduba frequently makes reference to her mother. She and her husband put in a lot of effort to provide their kids with “American experiences” and grow them to be well-rounded people.
Aduba asserts that even when the actress didn’t believe in herself, her mother did and that she went to remarkable measures to support her children.
When Aduba received her first Emmy nomination, she invited her mother, who is her greatest supporter, finest adviser, and admirer, to the awards ceremony. She asserted that she could have only desired for herself to be present for this significant occasion.
Currently, Uzo Aduba is balancing numerous tasks. Alongside Lupita Nyong’o and Tireni Oyenusi, she will appear in “Americanah” and “Solos,” which also has Morgan Freeman and Anne Hathaway.