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When Uzo Aduba’s mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the actor stepped into the role of caregiver until her mother’s death. During the grievous period, the three-time Emmy winner etched the beginnings of a memoir, published last year, called “The Road Is Good: How a Mother’s Strength Became a Daughter’s Purpose.” In it, Aduba writes, “This is a story not about death but about life. This is my mother’s story as much as it is my own.” That deep connection to her mother has come to define her.
“The woman that I have become is founded on the way I was mothered. I am the daughter of Nonyem Aduba, and so much of the way she moved through life as a woman — not only did it impact and shape my fortitude and commitment to working hard, but even how I see characters, specifically female characters, is built off the teachings that were poured into me as a daughter.”
Best known among those characters is certainly Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black,” a breakout role for which Aduba earned two Emmy Awards. That performance opened other doors, including portraying former politician and presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm in Hulu’s 2020 miniseries “Mrs. America.” Her galvanizing depiction brought a third Emmy. “People really did take a real liking to her as a human, despite the politics, which I think is fascinating given the time. We’re talking about a woman, a Black woman in a very specific chapter in American history, so close to the Civil Rights Act,” she says of coming to understand Chisholm.
Have such successes validated her journey as an actor, one she nearly gave up on in leaner days? “I became an actor because I loved the creation of art, to tell stories,” she says. “However, I, too, have felt the worry looming from the artist’s doubt: Is there space in this room for a voice like mine to exist? And I’d say that, throughout the years, these wins, given to me by my peers, have left me encouraged to believe that yes, there is.”
Uzo Aduba stars as a detective in Netflix’s White House-set comedic murder mystery, and David Mitchell leads BritBox’s comedy as a puzzle maker impersonating his missing twin, a detective.
Her voice comes now by way of Cordelia Cupp, a full-time birder and part-time crime solver in Netflix’s “The Residence,” from creator Paul William Davies. The eight-episode whodunit, from Shonda Rhimes’ production company, Shondaland, is set in the halls of the White House, where the death of one of its East Wing employees during a state dinner party triggers panic.
Enter the cape-wearing Cupp with her superhero ability to read people and spot clues. For Aduba, the character jumped off the page. “I remember reading the material, and she had this power that was really present for me. It would seem like she would get just a grain of information and there would suddenly be a wealth of knowledge that she was able to extract from it.”
Finding the character’s mannerisms was another central study. “She read like somebody who spoke really fast because she processes information really quickly. So I wanted her to be able to speak as fast as possible and for us to get inside the head of how she does her investigative work,” she says. “This is a woman who listens to the proposition you said, then she’s like a hawk — pun intended — perched up on the investigative table. So I started thinking this might be an exercise of stillness both when she speaks and when she listens.”
That stillness — an uncomfortable silence to many — often leads those being questioned to fill the void with more information than they intended to share. During one magnetic monologue, where Cupp pieces the clues together to whom she believes is the killer, we see all the cogs of her intelligence and humor turning swiftly. “She takes her job very seriously, and for me to achieve that technically, it inspired this idea of flatlining her a little bit. It felt like she’s not here to tell jokes but what she says is funny. She’s five feet gone past the joke, and you’re like, ‘Wait, what did she just say?’”
Uzo Aduba stars as an eccentric, bird-watching sleuth in Netflix’s new murder-mystery comedy, a role that feels revolutionary to the actor.
Aduba’s full name is Uzoamaka Nwanneka Aduba. She was born in Massachusetts to Nigerian immigrants and, as a teen, was an exceptional figure skater: one who could land double axels with a practiced ease that betrayed the intense commitment behind them. She attended Boston University on a track-and-field scholarship as a sprinter, studying classical voice and discovering acting. Today, she’s the mother to a daughter and seems to have softened her intensity: She has a passion for cooking, reading books (Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist” is a favorite) and watching reality television. Her guilty pleasure: “The Real Housewives.”
And she still holds her time as a caregiver close, recently providing the narration for Bradley Cooper’s documentary “Caregiving,” which is a hard look at care in America. She connected with Cooper’s story of caring for his father during his fight with lung cancer. “I know what that life looks like. I know what that world is. I know what it means to be juggling your front-facing life with your private life, your professional responsibilities with your familial desires,” Aduba says.
“I could just see a lot of myself in those stories, and that made it a real no-brainer for me,” she adds. “This is an opportunity to try and spotlight that work happening every single day, and we might, through this process, alleviate some of the stress and the overwhelming feelings that come with that invisible labor.”
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