Theatre Early work Dumezweni's work in theatre includes:
President of an Empty Room and
The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other at the
National Theatre, London;
A Raisin in the Sun for the
Young Vic at the
Lyric Hammersmith, London (for which she won her first
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role); ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Master and Margarita, Nathan the Wise and The Coffee House
at Chichester Festival Theatre, Six Characters in Search of an Author in the Chichester Festival production at the Gielgud Theatre and The Bogus Woman'' at the
Traverse and the
Bush.
Royal Shakespeare Company Dumezweni performed in the 2014
Macbeth with
Anthony Sher as the First Witch. In 2002, she played Charmian in
Antony and Cleopatra and Ursula in
Much Ado About Nothing for the
Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). In 2006, she performed in
Breakfast with Mugabe. She returned to the RSC in 2009–11. In spring of 2009, she appeared in the RSC's ''
The Winter's Tale. She also played Olyana in The Grainstone
, Calphurnia in Julius Caesar, the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, Morgan Le Fay in Le Morte d'Arthur, the Doctor in Little Eagles
, and Alice in Adelaide Road''.
Other theatres In 2012, she played Rita in
Belong at the Royal Court Theatre. In 2013, she played Mistress Quickly and Alice in
Henry V starring
Jude Law at the
Noël Coward Theatre. At Royal Court, she played Mrs. Twit in
The Twits, a stage adaptation of the story by
Roald Dahl of the same name. In 2013–2014, she appeared in
A Human Being Died That Night at the
Fugard Theater in Cape Town, the
Market Theatre in Johannesburg, which later transferred to the
Hampstead Theatre in London. In 2015, the show moved to
Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and she was lauded for her "impeccable performance". She starred in
Linda at London's
Royal Court Theatre in November 2015, stepping into the role vacated by
Kim Cattrall with a few days' notice before press night. Awarding the production five stars, the
Daily Telegraphs chief theatre critic Dominic Cavendish wrote: "If they can bottle and mass-produce whatever it is that Noma Dumezweni has got then, please, I want to order a life-time's supply." In 2014, she played Hippolita in ''
'Tis Pity She's A Whore at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. In 2015, she played Don José in Carmen Disruption'', an adaptation of
Georges Bizet's
Carmen. In December 2015, it was announced that Dumezweni had been cast as
Hermione Granger in
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. On the announcement, theatre critic Kate Maltby described her as "an actress who consistently engages and enthrals." The casting of the black Dumezweni as Hermione sparked fervent discussion, to which
J. K. Rowling responded that Hermione's skin was never specified as white. In 2017, Dumezweni won her second
Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role. Because of her performance in the role, Dumezweni was listed as one of
BBC's 100 women during 2018. She reprised her role on
Broadway at the
Lyric Theatre in 2018. In 2022, she played
Nora Helmer in
Lucas Hnath's ''
A Doll's House, Part 2''.
Television Dumezweni appeared on numerous television shows, and in 2018, she starred in
Black Earth Rising, the
Hugo Blick drama about the prosecution of war criminals. She played the marine biologist Fiffany in the
HBO Max comedy series
Made for Love (2021–2022). In 2020, she appeared in the
HBO series
The Undoing alongside
Nicole Kidman,
Hugh Grant, and
Donald Sutherland. The series received several nominations at the
Golden Globes and
Emmy Awards. Dumezweni plays Haley Fitzgerald, a powerhouse attorney hired by a wealthy New York psychotherapist (Kidman) to represent her husband (Grant), a pediatric cancer doctor who has been charged with the brutal killing of his mistress. In 2022, Dumezweni appeared in the
Netflix series
The Watcher as Theodora Birch, the private investigator hired by the Brannock family. In 2025 she played the role of Mensah in the
television adaptation of
Martha Wells' science fiction series
The Murderbot Diaries on
Apple TV+. It was announced in July that the series would be renewed for a second season.
Film Dumezweni has had several roles in feature films, including Miss Penny Farthing in
Disney’s
Mary Poppins Returns in 2018. In 2019, she played Edith Sikelo in
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, directed by and starring
Chiwetel Ejiofor. She played Dionne Davis in Peter Hedges' large ensemble drama
The Same Storm and critic Stephen Farber wrote, her "powerhouse performance strikes the right mournful but modestly hopeful note as we exit the theater." She was in Disney's
live-action adaptation of
The Little Mermaid as
Queen Selina, the adoptive mother of
Prince Eric (
Jonah Hauer-King) and a new character created for the film, and joined
Liam Neeson in the cast of the film
Retribution. ==Acting credits==