Every Day every hour, a black woman is somewhere making history....
Today we want to take a look at multi talented Singer and Actress Uzo Aduba ...Born UZOUAMAKA ADUBA on the 10th
of February 1981. She is a descent of Achi, Enugu state, Nigeria and was raised in Boston, Massachusetts.
Uzo
started off as an athlete in high school and won an athletics scholarship into
the college of Fine Arts, Boston University.
She then ventured into stage acting and built a career.
Uzo moved to New York
in pursuit of her career in acting, taking free roles on stage
performances while working as a waiter.
Hard work paid off soon as
she got her first award in performing arts, after her performance with the
American Repertory Theatre, she was awarded for Outstanding
Musical Performance and nominated for Helen Hayes Award for her performance in
Translations of Xhosa by Comedy central. With
a reputable career in theatre productions she eventually moved to screen
acting.
When Uzo auditioned
for the Netflix Series, ‘Orange Is The New Black’ she didn’t get the role she set out for, she had a call
back from the producers and was asked to take on an entirely different
role “Suzanne Warren” also known
as crazy eyes.
Orange Is The New Black series
is set in a women’s prison, showcasing the
Lifestyle and survival of the
inmates. Her role as Crazy eyes has been
described as a cultural phenomenon and it marked the turning point in
her career as an actress. Her role as Crazy Eyes bagged her millions of fans
worldwide, and awards including Screen Actors Guild for Outstanding Performance
by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series, 2014 Emmy for Outstanding guest actress
in a comedy and 2015 Emmy for Outstanding
Supporting actress in a drama series. With both Emmy awards in comedy and drama genres of the same
role, Uzo is recorded alongside Ed Asner
as the only actors in history to win any Emmy in both Comedy and Drama for the same role.
Quote
“If they can learn to say Tchaikovsky and Michelangelo and Dostoyevsky,
then they can learn to say Uzoamaka”
NB: During her early days
in Boston, Uzo had it tough with having to relate her name to her peers and requested a change of name to Zoe, her mother refused her a change
of name saying the quote above. And these words made her sustain her traditional name.
Remember to Like and Share!! :-)
Related sources: http://www.biography.com/people/uzo-aduba
-Written by
Korikiye Teke
Thinker and Talker and creative writer.
Contributor for Black African and Female
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