Danai Gurira

While her name may not be widely recognized upon first hearing it, Danai Gurira is certainly a name everybody should make an effort to learn. For those who don't know, Danai Gurira is a Zimbabwean-American actress, playwright, and activist born on February 14, 1978, to her parents Josephine Gurira and Roger Gurira as the youngest of four children. While she was born in Grinnell, Iowa, she moved with her family to Harare, Zimbabwe at the age of five. After attending Dominican Convent High School, she moved back to the United States to pursue a BA in psychology from Macalester University and a Master of Fine Arts in acting from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. 

Early on, Gurira taught playwriting and acting in Liberia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.  She was later commissioned by multiple theatre groups and nonprofits, including Yale Repertory Theatre. She made her Broadway acting debut in 2009 in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, then she continued to write plays such as In The Continuum (co-written with Nikkole Salter), The Convert, Familiar and Eclipsed. All of her plays have received at least one award; The Convert received six Obie awards and Eclipsed had two Tony Award nominations and a win for Best Costume Design in a Play. Through the years, Gurira has racked up an impressive list of acting and writing credits, alongside a total of 34 award nominations from a multitude of different organizations, with 19 of those nominations being won. In her many roles on stage and screen, she has become notorious for portraying Michonne in AMC’s The Walking Dead universe and General Okoye in Marvel’s Black Panther films.

Though Danai Gurira is known for her acting career, she is incredibly involved in activism. In 2011, she co-founded and continues to serve as the Executive Artistic Director for Almasi Arts, an organization dedicated to sustaining arts education in Zimbabwe. Gurira signed an open letter started by the ONE Campaign (a non-profit and non-partisan made to fight poverty and preventable diseases, especially in Africa) in 2015, partnered with Johnson & Johnson the following year in the fight against HIV and AIDS, and became a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador in December of 2018. Danai Gurira has emphasized her support of gender equality and women’s rights, leading to her founding Love Our Girls. 

Inspired by her Valentine’s Day birthday, Gurira formed Love Our Girls to reclaim the holiday as a day to validate girls and women, raise unheard voices, and highlight injustices across the globe. Danai wrote, “This year, and every year to come, I am seeking to reclaim Valentine’s Day, to make it about loving our girls.” 

On the Love Our Girls website, you find blog and newsletter pages showcasing women and girls creating a difference in their own ways. They also provide statistics on the gender gap, female healthcare, and other serious issues typically glossed over by the media, along with a variety of links regarding topics such as human rights, violence and bullying, poverty, education, gender equality, and more. These links lead you to other websites and organizations aimed at educating people, where you can also donate and provide support. 

Danai Gurira has always aspired to be an advocate for women across the world through her writing, acting, and activism. She works to tell stories about strong women she can identify with, saying on the Love Our Girls website: “As a writer, scripting narratives is my act of resistance, my way of bringing that unheard African female voice front and center and allowing it to manifest its astounding value. I have always had a passion for women and girls, a hope to see them function on the same playing field as men and have the same opportunities and appropriate protections.” Danai is truly an inspiration to people everywhere, and I am proud to recognize her as my hero.