DeWanda Wise

DeWanda Wise
Wise in 2019
Born	DeWanda Jackson (1984-05-30) May 30, 1984 (age 40) Jessup, Maryland, U.S.
Alma mater	Tisch School of the Arts
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2006–present
Spouse	Alano Miller ​ (m. 2009)​

DeWanda Wise (née Jackson; born May 30, 1984)[1][2] is an American actress. She starred in Spike Lee's Netflix comedy-drama series She's Gotta Have It (2017–19), a contemporary adaptation of his 1986 film.[3][4]

Early life and education

Wise was born in Jessup, Maryland and raised in Woodlawn, Laurel, and Baltimore.[3][5] In high school, she thought she wanted to be a therapist until she took AP Psychology and decided it was not for her.[6] She began acting during her sophomore year at Atholton High School when her high school theatre director offered her a part in a production in lieu of detention.[5]

In 2006, she graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a bachelor's in fine arts in drama and urban studies, where she befriended Gina Rodriguez.[5] During her undergraduate years, Wise worked as a resident assistant and a stocker at Trader Joe's.[7]

Career

Wise first appeared in episodes of television series including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Good Wife and Boardwalk Empire. She made her film debut in the 2007 drama Spinning into Butter starring Sarah Jessica Parker, then had secondary roles in Steam (2007) and Precious (2009). In 2016, she starred in the independent romantic comedy film How to Tell You're a Douchebag that premiered at Sundance Film Festival.[8][9] The next year, she had a recurring role in the WGN period drama series Underground, and starred opposite Sanaa Lathan in the Fox miniseries Shots Fired.[10]

In 2017, she had a leading role in the Netflix comedy-drama series She's Gotta Have It, which was canceled after two seasons in 2019.[11] In 2018, she was cast in Disney's Captain Marvel, but left the project due scheduling conflicts with her Netflix series.[12] That year, she appeared in the comedy film The Weekend directed by Stella Meghie.[13] In 2019, she starred with Gina Rodriguez and Brittany Snow in the romantic comedy film Someone Great for Netflix, where she and a pantsless Rodriguez sung and danced to Lizzo's "Truth Hurts", ultimately making the song more popular and a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.[14][15] She later appeared opposite Kevin Hart and Alfre Woodard in the comedy-drama Fatherhood (2021), and co-starred in Jurassic World Dominion.[16][17]

Personal life

Wise married actor Alano Miller in 2009 after three months of dating.[18][19][20][5] She is a vegan.[5][21] She lives in Pasadena, California.[22]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006	Super Powers	Mrs. Elliot	Short film
	Who's Calling	Val
2007	Pariah	Mike
	Spinning into Butter	Claudia Thompson
	Soul Mates	Psyche
	African Booty Scratcher	Isatu	Short film
	Steam	Lynn
2009	Precious	Miriam	Uncredited
	Us: A Love Story	Scowling Woman	Short film
	Beyond Words	Paige
2010	Train
	Pour aimer, encore	Syl
2011	A Walk in the Park
	Smoking Nonsmoking	Reporter
	Black Swan Theory		Short film
2012	Frisk	G
2015	Knucklehead	Charlotte
2016	How to Tell You're a Douchebag	Rochelle Marseilles
2018	The Weekend	Margo Johnson
2019	Someone Great	Erin Kennedy
2021	Fatherhood	Lizzie aka Swan
	The Harder They Fall	Eleanor Love
2022	Jurassic World Dominion	Kayla Watts
2023	Poolman	June Del Rey
2024	Imaginary	Jessica	Also executive producer
2025	Love, Brooklyn	Nicole	Post-production
TBA	Killing Faith	Sarah	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Angela	Episode: "World's Fair"
2008	One Life to Live	Julianna	Episode: "Jumpin' Jehosophat"
2009	The Unusuals	Nurse	Episode: "42" (S01E05)
2011	The Good Wife	Jenni Salerno	Episode: "Breaking Up"
2011	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Lakeisha Watkins	Episode: "Dirty"
2011	Tokens the Series	Keisha/Karen
2011	Boardwalk Empire	Henny Walker	Episode: "What Does the Bee Do?"
2012	Firelight	Terry Easle	TV movie
2014	The Mentalist	Tanya Dean	Episode: "Blue Bird"
2015	Sorta My Thing	Andrea	Two episodes
2017	Underground	Clara	5 episodes
2017	Shots Fired	Shameeka Campbell	Main cast, 10 episodes Nominated—Black Reel Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress, TV Movie or Limited Series
2017–2019	She's Gotta Have It	Nola Darling	Main cast, 19 episodes Nominated—Black Reel Award for Outstanding Actress, Comedy Series
2019	The Twilight Zone	Alexa Brandt	Episode: "Six Degrees of Freedom"
2021	Invasion	Deputy Grady	Episode: "Last Day"
2023	Three Women	Sloane	Main cast, 10 episodes

References

1. "DeWanda Wise - American actress". yahoo.com. Yahoo. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
2. "DeWanda Wise: Birthdays, Shows, Movies & Awards". directv.com. DIRECTV. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
3. "Baltimore actress to star in Spike Lee's 'She's Gotta Have It' Netflix series; Maryland musicians to be featured". Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
4. Andreeva, Nellie (October 14, 2016). "'She's Gotta Have It': DeWanda Wise Is Nola Darling In Netflix Series". Deadline. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
5. Britto, Brittany. "Maryland native DeWanda Wise brings a modern touch to Netflix revival of 'She's Gotta Have It'". baltimoresun.com. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
6. Nelson, Michelle Antoinette (January 2, 2018). "DeWanda Wise Stars in Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It". Baltimore magazine. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
7. Blake, Meredith (November 18, 2017). "'I am inherently politicized': DeWanda Wise on becoming Spike Lee's millennial Nola Darling". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
8. "'How to Tell You're a Douchebag': Sundance Review". The Hollywood Reporter. January 25, 2016.
9. Pais, Matt (January 28, 2016). "'How to Tell You're a Douchebag' is total amateur hour". chicagotribune.com.
10. Petski, Denise (February 18, 2016). "DeWanda Wise Aims At 'Shots Fired'; Adina Porter Joins 'The Jury'".
11. Petski, Denise (July 18, 2019). "'She's Gotta Have It' To End With Season 2 On Netflix".
12. Hipes, Patrick (March 15, 2018). "DeWanda Wise Exits 'Captain Marvel' Role".
13. Hipes, Patrick (March 8, 2018). "Sasheer Zamata, Tone Bell & DeWanda Wise To Star In Stella Meghie's Next Film 'The Weekend'".
14. Washington, Jasmine (April 19, 2019). "DeWanda Wise Shines In Netflix's 'Someone Great'". EBONY.
15. "How Lizzo Topped the Charts with a Two-Year-Old Song". September 4, 2019.
16. N'Duka, Amanda (July 2, 2019). "'She's Gotta Have It' Star DeWanda Wise Boards 'Fatherhood' Film At Sony".
17. D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 18, 2019). "'Jurassic World 3' Lands DeWanda Wise".
18. Porter, Lauren (October 26, 2020). "Married 'Underground' Stars Alano Miller and DeWanda Wise Photo". Essence.com. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
19. Oliver, Brittney (April 11, 2017). "Alano Miller Can't Believe DeWanda Wise Woke Up Like This". Essence.com. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
20. "DeWanda Wise plays a millennial Nola Darling in Spike Lee's updated 'She's Gotta Have It' – Jackson Observer". jacksonobserver.com. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
21. "Spike Lee's 'It' Girl DeWanda Wise and Husband Alano Miller are Vegan Couple Goals | LIVEKINDLY". LIVEKINDLY. October 31, 2017. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
22. "Loving Star Alano Miller Shares His Haute Secrets to LA". Haute Living. November 23, 2016. Retrieved January 25, 2018.

External links

• DeWanda Wise at IMDb