Noma Dumezweni

Noma Dumezweni
Noma Dumezweni in a 2018 Tony Awards video
Born	(1969-07-28) 28 July 1969 (age 52) Swaziland
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2001–present
Children	1

Noma Dumezweni (born 28 July 1969)^[1] is a British actress. In 2006, she won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Play for her performance as Ruth Younger in A Raisin in the Sun at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre.^[2] She starred as Hermione Granger in the original West End and Broadway runs of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which garnered her a second Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Play and a nomination for a Best Featured Actress in a Play at the 72nd Tony Awards.

Early and personal life[]

Born in Swaziland to South African parents, Dumezweni lived in Botswana, Kenya and Uganda. She arrived in England as a refugee on 17 May 1977 with her sister and mother.^[3] She first lived in Felixstowe, Suffolk, where she was educated,^[2] before moving to London. She has a daughter, Qeiva, born in 2007.^{[citation needed]}

Acting career[]

Dumezweni's work in theatre includes: President of an Empty Room and The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other^[4] at the National Theatre, London;^[5] Breakfast with Mugabe,^[6] Antony and Cleopatra^[7] and Much Ado About Nothing^[8] for the RSC; A Raisin in the Sun for the Young Vic at the Lyric Hammersmith, London^[9] (for which she won her Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role^[10]); A Midsummer Night's Dream,^[11] The Master and Margarita,^[12] Nathan the Wise^[13] and The Coffee House at Chichester Festival Theatre, Six Characters in Search of an Author in the Chichester Festival production at the Gielgud Theatre^[14][15] and The Bogus Woman^[16] at the Traverse and the Bush. In spring of 2009 she appeared in the RSC's The Winter's Tale.^[17][18][19] In 2013–2014, she appeared in A Human Being Died That Night at the Fugard Theater in Cape Town, the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, which later transferred to the Hampstead Theatre in London.^[20]

She starred in Linda at London's Royal Court Theatre in November 2015, stepping into the role vacated by Kim Cattrall with a few days notice before press night. Awarding the production five stars, the Daily Telegraph's Chief Theatre Critic Dominic Cavendish wrote: "If they can bottle and mass-produce whatever it is that Noma Dumezweni has got then, please, I want to order a life-time’s supply."^[21]

In December 2015, it was announced that Dumezweni had been cast as Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.^[22] On the announcement, theatre critic Kate Maltby described her as "an actress who consistently engages and enthrals."^[23] The casting of the black Dumezweni as Hermione sparked fervent discussion, to which J. K. Rowling responded that Hermione's skin was never specified as white.^[24][25] Because of her role she was listed as one of BBC's 100 women during 2018.^[26] Dumezweni reprised her role on Broadway at the Lyric Theatre in 2018.^[27]

In 2020, she played in the HBO series The Undoing alongside Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, and Donald Sutherland.^[28] The series got several nominations at the Golden Globes and Emmy Awards.^[29] She plays Haley Fitzgerald, a powerhouse attorney hired by a wealthy New York psychotherapist (Kidman) to represent her husband (Grant), a pediatric cancer doctor who has been charged with the brutal killing of his mistress.^[28] This role enabled the actress the reach an American audience thanks to the success of the series.^[30]

Acting credits[]

Film[]

Television[]

Stage[]

Radio[]

In radio, she has appeared in Jambula Tree, Seven Wonders of the Divided World, From Fact to Fiction,^[32] From Freedom to the Future, Handprint,^[33] Jane's Story,^[34] Sagila, Shylock,^[35] The Farming of Bones,^[36] The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency,^[37][38] The Seven Ages of Car, The Bogus Woman^[39] and Breakfast with Mugabe.^[40]

Audiobooks[]

She voiced the young adult adventure series Steeplejack by A.J. Hartley which are set in an imaginary world loosely resembling Victorian South Africa.

Accolades[]

See also[]

• List of British actors

References[]

External links[]

• Noma Dumezweni at IMDb