Marsha Stephanie Blake | |
|---|---|
 Blake in production of The Merchant of Venice (2010) | |
| Born | c. May 1974 (age 49) |
| Alma mater | Dartmouth College UCSD (MFA) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Children | 1 |
Marsha Stephanie Blake (born c. May 1974) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Linda McCray in the Netflix miniseries When They See Us , for which she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. [1]
Blake was born in Jamaica and emigrated to the United States in the late 1980s with her family. [2] She attended Dartmouth College and graduated in 1996. [3] She received an MFA from the graduate acting program at UCSD. [4]
Blake has played many roles on Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including The Merchant of Venice , Come and Gone, The Crucible , An Octoroon , and Hurt Village . [5] On television, she guest-starred in Law & Order , Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , Third Watch , Elementary , and The Good Wife .
In 2015, Blake joined the cast of the Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black playing Berdie Rogers. [5] Along with the cast, she received the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. [6] She also had recurring roles on Happyish , Getting On and The Blacklist . In 2019, Blake played Linda McCray in the Netflix miniseries When They See Us directed by Ava DuVernay. [7] [8] [2] Later in 2019, Blake was cast as Vivian Maddox in How to Get Away with Murder for the sixth and final season, [9] and in fourth season of This Is Us opposite her When They See Us co-star, Asante Blackk. [10]
Blake also has appeared in a number of movies, including The Architect (2006), Stand Clear of the Closing Doors (2013), Nasty Baby (2015), Person to Person (2017), Crown Heights (2017), The Wilde Wedding (2017), Luce (2019), See You Yesterday (2019), The Laundromat (2019), and I'm Your Woman (2020). [11] [12] She received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Supporting Performance in a Film at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023, for her performance as Ruth in the drama film Brother . [13]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | A-Alike | Jada | Short film |
| 2006 | The Architect | Missy Neeley | |
| 2007 | Lifted | Nadine | Short film |
| 2012 | Django Unchained | House Slave | Deleted scene |
| 2013 | Stand Clear of the Closing Doors | Carmen | |
| 2014 | The Story of Milo & Annie | Shirley | Short film |
| 2015 | Nasty Baby | Mo's Sister / Haimy | |
| 2015 | Our Nation | Margaret | |
| 2017 | Person to Person | Janet | |
| 2017 | Crown Heights | Briana | |
| 2017 | Imitation Girl | Karen | |
| 2017 | The Wilde Wedding | Officer Brady | |
| 2019 | Luce | Rosemary Wilson | |
| 2019 | Goldie | Carol | |
| 2019 | See You Yesterday | Phaedra | |
| 2019 | The Laundromat | Vincelle Boncamper | |
| 2020 | The Photograph | Violet Eames | |
| 2020 | An American Pickle | Inspector Sanders | |
| 2020 | I'm Your Woman | Teri | |
| 2022 | Brother | Ruth | Nominated — Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Film Nominated — Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Canadian Film |
Alfre Woodard is an American actress. Known for portraying strong-willed and dignified roles on stage and screen, she has received various accolades, including four Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards as well as nominations for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and two Grammy Awards. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her as one of "The 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century". She is a board member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Lorraine Toussaint is a Trinidadian-American actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including a Black Reel Award, a Critics' Choice Television Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Carol Denise Betts, known professionally as Niecy Nash, is an American actress and television host. Her acting career began in the late 1990s, with appearances in the films Boys on the Side (1995) and Cookie's Fortune (1999). She garnered recognition for her portrayal of Deputy Raineesha Williams in the comedy series Reno 911!, along with hosting the Style Network show Clean House (2003—2010), for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award.
Salli Richardson-Whitfield is an American actress, director and producer. Richardson is known for her role as Angela in the film A Low Down Dirty Shame (1994) and for her role as Dr. Allison Blake on the Syfy comedy-drama series Eureka (2006–2012).
Aunjanue L. Ellis-Taylor is an American actress. Known for her work in several film and television productions, she has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards.
Vera Ann Farmiga is an American actress. Farmiga began her professional acting career on stage in the original Broadway production of Taking Sides (1996). After expanding to television and film, Farmiga's breakthrough came in 2004 with her starring role as a drug addict in the drama Down to the Bone. She received praise for starring in the 2009 comedy-drama Up in the Air, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Colman Jason Domingo is an American actor. Prominent on both screen and stage, he has received various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and nominations for an Academy Award and two Tony Awards.
Ava Marie DuVernay is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, film and television producer. She is a recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award, two NAACP Image Award, a BAFTA Film Award and a BAFTA TV Award, as well as a nominee of an Academy Award and Golden Globe. In 2011 she founded her independent distribution company ARRAY.
Adepero Oduye is an American actress, director, singer, and writer. She is known for Pariah (2011), 12 Years a Slave (2013), The Big Short (2015), and Widows (2018).
Bradford Marcel Young, A.S.C is an American cinematographer. He is best known for his work on the films Selma, A Most Violent Year, Arrival (2016)—which earned him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography—and Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), as well as the Netflix miniseries When They See Us (2019).
The third season of the American comedy-drama television series Orange Is the New Black premiered on Netflix on June 11, 2015, at 12:00 am PST in multiple countries. It consists of thirteen episodes, each between 53–60 minutes, with a 90-minute finale. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison (2010), about her experiences at FCI Danbury, a minimum-security federal prison. The series is created and adapted for television by Jenji Kohan.
Storm Reid is an American actress. After early roles in the television A Cross to Bear (2012), the drama film 12 Years a Slave (2013), and the superhero film Sleight (2016), she earned Teen Choice Award and NAACP Image Award nominations for playing Meg Murry in the fantasy film A Wrinkle in Time (2018). She garnered further recognition with roles in the thriller film Don't Let Go (2019) and the horror film The Invisible Man (2020).
Jharrel Jerome is an American actor. He made his on screen film debut in Barry Jenkins's drama film Moonlight (2016) which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and gained prominence for his portrayal of Korey Wise in Ava DuVernay's Netflix miniseries When They See Us (2019), which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. In 2023, he starred in the lead role of Cootie in Boots Riley's limited series I'm a Virgo.
Dead to Me is an American black comedy-drama television series that stars Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini as two grieving women who bond during therapy. It was created by Liz Feldman and executive produced by Feldman, Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, and Jessica Elbaum. The series premiered on May 3, 2019, on Netflix and received positive reviews. In June 2019, Netflix renewed the series for a second season which was released on May 8, 2020. At the 71st Primetime Emmy Awards, Applegate received a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
Lauren Ridloff is a deaf American actress known for her roles in the TV series The Walking Dead and the film Eternals. She gained prominence in 2018 with a lead role in the Broadway revival of Children of a Lesser God, earning her a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play. Ridloff was born in Chicago, Illinois. She attended California State University, Northridge and later earned a master's degree in education from Hunter College. She initially worked as a teacher before pursuing acting, and she was also crowned Miss Deaf America.
When They See Us is a 2019 American crime drama television miniseries created, co-written, and directed by Ava DuVernay for Netflix, that premiered in four parts on May 31, 2019. It is based on events of the 1989 Central Park jogger case and explores the lives and families of the five Black and Latino male suspects who were falsely accused then prosecuted on charges related to the rape and assault of a white woman in Central Park, New York City. The series features an ensemble cast, including Jharrel Jerome, Asante Blackk, Caleel Harris, Jovan Adepo, Michael K. Williams, Logan Marshall-Green, Joshua Jackson, Blair Underwood, Vera Farmiga, John Leguizamo, Felicity Huffman, Niecy Nash, Aunjanue Ellis, Marsha Stephanie Blake, and Kylie Bunbury.
Victoria Pedretti is an American actress. Her accolades include an MTV Award, a Saturn Award, and nominations for two Critics' Choice Awards.
Asante Duah Ma'at, known professionally as Asante Blackk, is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the miniseries When They See Us (2019), for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination.
Origin is a 2023 American biographical drama film written and directed by Ava DuVernay. It is based on the life of Isabel Wilkerson, played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, as she writes the book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Over the course of the film, Wilkerson travels throughout Germany, India, and the United States to research the caste systems in each country's history. Origin premiered in competition at the 80th Venice International Film Festival on September 6, 2023, and began its theatrical release on January 19, 2024, by Neon. It received positive reviews from critics.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
