Danai Gurira

Danai Gurira is an American actress and playwright of Zimbabwean origin who is best known for her roles as Michonne on the AMC horror drama series 'The Walking Dead' and as Okoye in the Marvel superhero movies 'Black Panther' and 'Avengers: Infinity War'. Among her other notable movies is 'Mother of George', in which she played the lead role of a Nigerian woman. She has also made guest appearances on several television shows including 'Life on Mars', 'Law & Order', and 'American Experience'. She began her career on stage and has written critically acclaimed plays such as 'In the Continuum’, 'Eclipsed', 'The Convert' and 'Familiar', the last of which was commissioned by Yale Repertory Theatre. According to her, being “brought up by a scientist and a librarian”, she is “an academic at heart”, which helps her do the exhaustive research she needs to write her plays. Gurira, who feels that stories of African women are told very rarely, considers her three plays ¬– ‘In the Continuum’, ‘Eclipsed’ and ‘The Convert’ – as “parts of a trilogy on Zimbabwe’s coming of age from a feminine perspective”.