Danai Gurira Plays A Barren Nigerian Woman In ‘Mother Of George’
Zimbabwean-American actress and playwright, Danai Gurira seems to be having the time of her life. She’s a fan-favourite on the hit show, The Walking Dead; she landed a Tony nomination for her play, Eclipsed; she shined in Marvel’s Black Panther; and she is now set to adapt Chimamanda’s Americanah.
While the world seems to finally be realising just how talented she is, we’ve been privileged to know this for almost half a decade now — thanks, in no small part, to her incredible performance in Andrew Dosunmu’s underseen 2013 drama, Mother Of George.
Mother Of George tells the gripping story of Ayodele (Issach de Bankolé) and Adenike (Danai Gurira) Balogun, a newly married Nigerian couple in Brooklyn, who own and manage a small restaurant while struggling with fertility issues.
With a well-deserved 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Mother Of George is the second most critically acclaimed film Danai Gurira has starred in — after Black Panther. The critics’ consensus is that the acting is “powerful”, the script is “thoughtful” and the visuals are “gorgeous”.
Speaking with IndieWire about what drew her to the role, Danai said:
“I was raised in Zimbabwe, where my parents are definitely from. It was fascinating, because I really do appreciate specificity when it comes to telling African stories.
As a playwright, I make sure that I tap into specific experiences. I love celebrating our specificity because I think that the horrible thing about how Africa is treated is that it’s very generalized.”
The film also stars Tony Okungbowa (The Bold and the Beautiful), Yaya DaCosta (The Butler), Angélique Kidjo (The CEO), Chinaza Uche (Blue Bloods), Babs Olusanmokun (Black Mirror) and the late Bukky Ajayi (Women’s Cot).
