Danielle Brooks On Tony Nomination, Oprah’s Reaction To Sofia & Being On #TeamNoSleep

Danielle Brooks

Danielle Brooks known for her role as Taystee on the hit Netflix series Orange is the New Black has been making headlines from her incredible performance on the stage of Broadway’s hit stage
play/musical “The Color Purple.” Recently, she sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to talk about her Tony nomination from the play as the role of Sofia. She spoke about her character in the musical, what
she’s given up in order to do the Broadway play, and what Oprah Winfrey has told her about how she feels she portrays Sofia. Peep excerpts below.

On how she feels about the nomination: 

It’s happening! I have one of these!

On what she loves about her character Sofia:

Sofia gives women the hope to say “Hell, No!” to some things, and prioritize yourself. As actors, what we do is not easy, standing in front of 1,100 people every night and performing on four or five hours of sleep, hoping our voice is strong and that our brain doesn’t cut off and say, ‘I’m just not here today!’ But I love it. I get to sing the words, “All my life I had to fight.”

On what she’s given up for the role:

Resting. I was doing Orange and Color Purple at the same time, and I’m about to get into that next month. No sleep for me.

Cynthia Erivo, Danielle Brooks-Jennifer Hudson

On what Oprah has said to her about her role as Sofia:

She said to me, ‘You found it and you really made it your own.’ It was her second time seeing it, and she asked how I made it deeper [since the first performance she saw]. It’s because I keep rereading the book. I think she was pleased!

On her toughest scene: 

The jail scene. You don’t see her actually get beat up, but the book, it’s described that her skull was cracked open, her ribs are cracked, she’s blind in one eye, and her nose is torn loose on one side. I don’t have make up to help me; I have to use my imagination every night to bring that scene to life. Unfortunately I just think about what’s going on in the world – Sandra Bland, all these black women who have lost their sons to police brutality, the list goes on.

Click here for the full interview.

By –@authorsequaia