Danielle Deadwyler opens up about recognition and the fight for equity in Hollywood

Danielle Deadwyler, a renowned American actress who began her acting career with A Cross to Bear, recently opened up about her Oscar nomination after being snubed previously.

While having a conversation with the Los Angeles Times, the 42-year-old actress said that she feels more “relaxed” for her Oscar consideration for The Piano Lesson.

Deadwyler said, “I’m relaxed about it. I’ve always known what has always been most valuable, which is people, what is going on with people, what is going on with culture.”

Articulating her thoughts, she added, “This is so much about the ensemble, about how much we are connecting and the joy that it brought us all to make. It’s not about recognition individually.”

The Parallel star stated that awards “should not overwhelm one’s ego or psyche,” and highlighted that “the incessant questioning about awards, awards, awards can be too much.”

For those unversed, Deadwyler did not get nominated for her role in 2022’s film Till, and several other Black women were also left out of the top award nominations for their respective roles.

This included director Gina Prince-Bythewood and actress Viola Davis for The Woman King.

Some people thought that Andrea Riseborough’s unexpected Best Actress nomination for the small indie film To Leslie may have affected Deadwyler’s chances for a nomination.

Moreover, Deadwyler herself called the campaign an “example of misogynoir,” which means a mix of s***** and racism against Black women.

Reminiscing over that incident, she quipped, “Controversy always surrounds Blackness. That year was about a group of Black women being pushed out. The abject nature of Blackness is inherent in the way people were perceiving what it means for us to be present or not present in a conversation about what it means to get recognition.”

Moving forward, Deadwyler emphasised that the “recognition that is offered to a certain group of people, the conversation isn’t afforded to them,” highlighting that Black people “have to begin to question ourselves truly if we want a space to have any form of equity.”

It is pertinent to mention that Deadwyler’s musical drama The Piano Lesson will be available on Netflix from November 22, 2024, which is based on August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name.