Early career Gurira taught playwriting and acting in Liberia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Theater and playwriting Gurira said that she began writing plays in an effort to better utilize her strengths as an actress, and to tell stories that convey ideas about strong women with whom she identifies. an
Outer Critics Circle Award, and a
Helen Hayes Award for Best Lead Actress. In 2009, Gurira made her
Broadway acting debut in
August Wilson's play ''
Joe Turner's Come and Gone'' playing Martha Pentecost. Gurira's 2012 play
The Convert premiered as a co-production between the
Goodman Theatre in Chicago and the
McCarter Theatre in New Jersey. Later that year, Gurira received the
Whiting Award for an emerging playwright and a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Writing in 2013. The play is a historical drama set in 1890s Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) about a woman who turns to the Catholic Church to escape an arranged marriage. It later premiered Off-Broadway in New York at
Playwrights Horizons. The play is about family, cultural identity, and the experience of life as a first-generation American. Gurira has said that it was inspired in part by her family and friends. In May 2023, Gurira played
Richard III in a
Shakespeare in the Park production for which she received a nomination for Best Lead Actress in a Play for the 2022
Audelco Awards.
Eclipsed In 2015,
Lupita Nyong'o starred in Gurira's play,
Eclipsed (2009), Off-Broadway at
The Public Theater. It was announced that the play would move to Broadway in 2016 at the
John Golden Theatre. It was the first play to premiere on Broadway with an all female, black cast and creative team. The play is set in war-torn
Liberia and focuses on three women who are living as sex slaves to a rebel commander, as well as one of his former wives, and a relief worker, and follows and how they deal with this difficult situation. It starred
Lupita Nyong'o,
Akosua Busia,
Saycon Sengbloh,
Zainab Jah, and
Pascale Armand and was directed by Liesl Tommy. The inspiration for Gurira's play was a photo of Colonel Black Diamond, a female freedom fighter from Liberia, in an article in
The New York Times. "Just to see these women standing there, you know, in their jeans and ... fashionable tops and their hair is all done, and they're all carrying AK-47s, was just an image I couldn't get out of my head." The image prompted curiosity about Liberia's fourteen-year civil wars, as well as a research trip to Liberia in 2007. Gurira interviewed more than 30 women who had been raped, among whose daughters that had been taken by rebel fighters and turned into sex slaves. She also spoke to female peace activists who were instrumental in ending the violence. The names of the women in
Eclipsed come from the people Gurira met during her travels, whereas the fifth character is unnamed. She received the 2016 Sam Norkin Award, for
Eclipsed and
Familiar, presented by the
Drama Desk Awards, which said, in part: "Danai Gurira demonstrates great insight, range and depth, bringing a fresh new voice to American theater."
Eclipsed received six nominations for the
Tony Awards, including the
Tony Award for Best Play, and won the
Tony Award for Best Costume Design in a Play. Gurira also received a
Helen Hayes Award, and an
NAACP Theatre Award, and was nominated for a
New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. Her plays
Eclipsed and
Familiar received a score of 88 on
Show Score which indicate "Excellent" on the platform, For Eclipsed from 570 reviews and Familiar with 119 reviews.
Film and television Gurira starred in the drama film
The Visitor in 2007, for which she won
Method Fest Independent Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actress. She appeared in the 2008 film
Ghost Town, the 2010 films
3 Backyards and
My Soul to Take, and
Restless City in 2011, as well as the television series
Law & Order: Criminal Intent,
Life on Mars, and
Law & Order. From 2010 to 2011, she appeared in the
HBO drama series
Treme. In 2013, Gurira played a lead role in director
Andrew Dosunmu's independent drama film
Mother of George, which premiered at
2013 Sundance Film Festival. In June 2013, Gurira won the Jean-Claude Gahd Dam award at the 2013
Guys Choice Awards. The film was featured in
Indiewire's 100 Best Movies of the Decade list and she was called a "stand out" in the film. Gurira played rapper
Tupac Shakur's mother,
Afeni Shakur, in
All Eyez on Me, a 2017 biopic about the rap star. Her performance gathered praise with
IndieWire saying "Danai Gurira- as Tupac's beloved mother Afeni comes out swinging during the film's opening sequence and never lets up, believably burning right through the screen, conjuring the kind of passion the rest of the film lacks. If anyone makes off with a movie star turn in "All Eyez on Me," it's Walking Dead" star Gurira."
The Hollywood Reporter says "Gurira gives great fiery intensity" and
Variety in their review said "Afeni Shakur is played by Danai Gurira(who would have been perfect as Nina Simone), Gurira makes her a ruthlessly intelligent analyst of the white power structure who is nevertheless consumed by a rage that has no outlet." For this movie she received a
NAACP Image awards nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture. In 2020, she signed a deal with ABC Studios. Before the 2020 pandemic, a limited series adaptation of
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novel
Americanah was being produced for
HBO MAX with Danai writing the pilot and serving as
showrunner and
Lupita Nyong'o as the lead actress. However, production delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic forced Nyong'o to drop out of the series over scheduling conflicts, which ultimately led to HBO Max's decision to drop the project. She owns a production company called Gurazoo Productions. She is also set to appear in a new remake of
The Thomas Crown Affair, directed by
Michael B. Jordan and slated for release in 2027. In addition, Gurira will star in
Here Comes the Flood, opposite
Denzel Washington and
Robert Pattinson, directed by
Fernando Meirelles.
The Walking Dead . In March 2012,
AMC announced on a live broadcast that Gurira would join the cast of their horror-drama series
The Walking Dead, the highest rated series in cable television history, in its third season. Gurira plays the iconic character
Michonne, a relentless and strong
katana-wielding woman with a mysterious past and steely resolve, who becomes part of the close-knit group in a
zombie apocalypse world and gradually reveals deeply compassionate and intelligent traits. Gurira had to learn how to ride horses for the series, which she enjoyed because it was a physical challenge.
Rolling Stone ranked Michonne first in their list of the 30 Best The Walking Dead Characters, describing Gurira's performance as extraordinary. In March 2025,
Ranker ranked Michonne 9th in the top 10 list of Greatest Female TV characters of all time. In February 2019, reports emerged that Gurira would be exiting the show once she had filmed her last episodes during the tenth season. Gurira's final episode, "
What We Become" aired in March 2020. By the time of her departure, she was second-billed in the opening credits and had appeared in 96 episodes of the show. In July 2022, it was announced by
Scott M. Gimple,
Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira at
San Diego Comic-Con a spin-off mini-series centered around the couple Michonne and
Rick Grimes, with Lincoln and Gurira reprising their roles from the original television series. The limited series, titled
The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, premiered in February 2024 and consisted of six episodes. She co-created it, produced it and wrote the fourth episode, titled "What We". That episode received positive reviews from critics and got her a nomination for the 2024 Black Reel Television award for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series. The episode was also submitted for the 2024 Emmys and was listed on
Varietys Emmy Prediction Top 15 list at number 10 in the writing category. The series was well received by both critics and audiences, "Danai Gurira and Andrew Lincoln's phenomenal performances feel like The Walking Dead at its best."
Marvel Cinematic Universe Danai was cast to star in Marvel's film
Black Panther, which was released in February 2018. She played the loyal and highly skilled
General Okoye, the head of the
Dora Milaje; an elite all-female special forces unit protectors of
Wakanda and its king, the
Black Panther. She received critical acclaim for her performance, a
SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, a
People's Choice Awards for The Action Movie Star of 2018, a
Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress and an
NAACP Image award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture. She also got a nomination for the
Indiana Film Journalists Association for Best Supporting Actress. Gurira reprised the role of Okoye in the movies
Avengers: Infinity War (2018),
Avengers: Endgame (2019) and in the sequel
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022). She was set to star in a spinoff series on
Disney+, but plans for the show were ultimately scrapped. == Activism and philanthropy ==