Profile Text
Deadwyler in 2018, photo by kathclick/bigstock.com
Birth Name: Danielle J. Deadwyler
Place of Birth: Atlanta, Fulton, Georgia, U.S.
Date of Birth: May 3, 1982
Ethnicity: African-American
Danielle Deadwyler is an American actress and writer. Her roles include the films A Cross to Bear , Jane and Emma , The Devil to Pay , The Harder They Fall , Till (2022), I Saw the TV Glow , Parallel , The Piano Lesson , 40 Acres , Carry-On (2024), and The Woman in the Yard ; and the shows The Haves and the Have Nots , Greenleaf , Watchmen , Paradise Lost , P-Valley , Station Eleven , and From Scratch .
She was raised in southwest Atlanta, the daughter of Carolyn Gordon, a legal secretary, and Rickey Lee Deadwyler, a railroad supervisor. She has a son.
Danielle’s paternal grandfather was Imel Deadwyler (the son of Roy Lee Hall and Hattie Mae Deadwyler). Imel was born in Clark County, Georgia. Roy was born in Georgia, the son of Roger Lowe and Mattie Lou Hall. Hattie was born in Georgia, the daughter of George Deadwyler and Mary Willie Glenn. George was the son of Gaines Deadwyler, who was born, c. 1840, in Georgia.
Danielle’s paternal grandmother was named Bessie Lee Adams. Bessie’s grandfather was named L. Stanley.
A DNA test whose results were displayed on the show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2026) stated that Danielle’s genetic ancestry consists of:
*79% Sub-Saharan African ——–*33% Nigeria ——–*10% Cameroon ——–*9% Mali ——–*9% Ivory Coast & Ghana ——–*5% Benin & Togo ——–*3% Western Bantu Peoples ——–*2% Senegal ——–*2% Central West Africa ——–*2% Nigerian Woodlands ——–*2% Southern Bantu People ——–*1% Yorubaland ——–*1% Central Nigerian *19% European ——–*5% Wales ——–*5% Germanic Europe ——–*4% Norway ——–*3% Ireland ——–*1% Sweden ——–*1% Scotland *1% Indigenous Americas ——–*1% Indigenous Americas North *1% Indian ——–*1% The Deccan & the Gulf of Mannar
*79% Sub-Saharan African ——–*33% Nigeria ——–*10% Cameroon ——–*9% Mali ——–*9% Ivory Coast & Ghana ——–*5% Benin & Togo ——–*3% Western Bantu Peoples ——–*2% Senegal ——–*2% Central West Africa ——–*2% Nigerian Woodlands ——–*2% Southern Bantu People ——–*1% Yorubaland ——–*1% Central Nigerian *19% European ——–*5% Wales ——–*5% Germanic Europe ——–*4% Norway ——–*3% Ireland ——–*1% Sweden ——–*1% Scotland *1% Indigenous Americas ——–*1% Indigenous Americas North *1% Indian ——–*1% The Deccan & the Gulf of Mannar
Genetically, she was found to have a common ancestor with British-American actress Rebecca Hall , through shared African ancestry.