Danielle Brooks Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Angelique Jackson The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) has announced the lineup for this year’s Talks Series, headlined by 2023 festival ambassador Lena Waithe. The 27th edition of the festival will be held June 14-18 in Miami Beach, followed by a virtual program June 19-25 on ABFF Play. On Thursday, June 15, the Emmy-winning writer, producer and actor will sit for an intimate one-on-one conversation, billed as “The Lena Waithe Effect,” where she’ll recount her journey in the entertainment industry. In addition to Waithe, the series of conversations and panels also features: “That’s Our Business,” a candid conversation with Tabitha Brown and her husband Chance Brown; a panel discussion with TV One Networks’ Kirk and Tammy Franklin (“The One”) and LisaRaye McCoy (“Asking for a Friend”); a look behind-the-scenes of Bounce TV’s “Act Your Age” starring Kym Whitley and Yvette Nicole Brown; a celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary with the Xfinity Original Series “Hip House”; and the WBD Access Music Supervisor Panel featuring Morgan Rhodes (“The Color Purple”) and Carolyn Owens (“Cherish the Day”).

Some of the biggest names of Broadway (and Hollywood) won’t be receiving those phone calls of congratulations today, as this morning’s Tony Awards nominations included more than a few surprising (or, in some cases, not surprising) omissions.

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday. Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday. Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

The musical The Color Purple movie is being released later this year and the cast just made an appearance at CinemaCon!

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Without giving away a single favorite thing, Oprah Winfrey brought the house down with a surprise appearance at CinemaCon 2023. Revelers at the annual convention of movie theater owners were delighted by the mogul’s cameo at Tuesday’s presentation from Warner Bros. Pictures. Winfrey is a producer on the studio’s upcoming movie musical “The Color Purple,” based on the 1985 Steven Spielberg classic in which the former daytime host starred. “‘The Color Purple,’ in 1985 was the biggest and most important thing that happened to me. This is a full circle moment to be part of this film. It holds great personal meaning,” Winfrey told the crowd.

EXCLUSIVE: Wicked filmmaker Jon M. Chu will direct a new film version of the famed Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat for Amazon Studios.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Bleecker Street, the Oscar-nominated studio behind “Captain Fantastic” and “Trumbo,” has partnered with New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) to award three scholarships to women attending film schools in the New York City area. The grants are part of NYWIFT’s scholarship fund and will assist with educational costs associated with film production, living expenses, books, travel and tuition needs. Bleecker Street’s contribution will be officially acknowledged at NYWIFT’s upcoming Muse Awards on March 28, which recently announced a mix of film executives, actors and filmmakers — including Arianna Bocco, Danielle Brooks, Deborah Chow, Maria Hinojosa, Sandra Lee, Freida Pinto, Lauren Ridloff, Sharon Stone, and Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences president Janet Yang — as this year’s honorees.

Katie Reul editor Frieda Pinto, Sharon Stone and Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences President Janet Yang.are among a line-up of female luminaries set to be honored at this year’s New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) Muse Awards. “What better way to celebrate Women’s History Month than to return to celebrate this incredible roster of women that are reinventing how media is made,” said NYWIFT CEO Cynthia Lopez. “They are influencers on screen, behind the camera, in the newsroom, and in the executive suite.” In addition, Danielle Brooks, best known for recurring roles in “Orange Is the New Black” and “Peacemaker,” will receive the “Made in NY” Award, recognition of her portrayal of resilient characters who promote body positivity. Most recently, the actor-producer starred in a remake of “The Color Purple,” which is scheduled for a December 2023 release. The “Made in NY” Award will be presented to Brooks by the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.

The long-running The Phantom of the Opera was once again Broadway’s highest grossing show last week, taking in a mighty $2,483,532 for the week ending Jan. 29, outpacing runners-up Funny Girl ($1,872,862) and Hamilton ($1,871,921) by a noticeable margin.

On my way down to Tribeca to meet actor John David Washington for lunch, I had a lot of questions swirling in my head that made me nervous about our encounter. I am meeting a man who comes from a Hollywood dynasty of sorts. Washington has had so many experiences, what questions could I possibly ask that would make our conversation relatable and engaging. John David is the oldest of four children and his parents are two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington and actress/singer Pauletta Washington. 

EXCLUSIVE: Apple TV+ is expanding its kids and families slate with Shape Island, a new stop-motion animated series based on Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen’s internationally best-selling trilogy of Shapes picture books. Shape Island premieres globally January 20 on Apple TV+.

Covid isn’t done with New York’s theater scene just yet. At least four Broadway and major Off Broadway productions have either canceled or postponed performances or temporarily replaced principal cast members in the last week due to the virus.

Broadway box office held steady at $28,621,480 last week as a slate of new productions began or continued previews (Almost Famous and Kimberly Akimbo filled more than 90% of their seats), MJ and Leopoldstadt set house records and The Phantom of the Opera was once again standing room only as the long-running Andrew Lloyd Webber musical heads toward its Feb. 18 closing.

Trai Byers and Grace Gealey are expecting!

Danielle Brooks celebrated the opening night of her Broadway show The Piano Lesson just days ago and she sadly has to take a break from performing as she just tested positive for COVID-19.

Michael Appler When Tony and Emmy-nominee Danielle Brooks was 17 years old, at home in Greenville, S.C., she picked up a copy of August Wilson’s “Century Cycle,” a canon of 10 plays spanning the 20th century which chronicled African American life in its most vivid, lyrical and intimate settings yet written for the stage. Sifting through the collection, she picked out “The Piano Lesson” and read it, thumbing across the names of African American actors and actresses whom she didn’t yet know. “Today is about preservation,” she told Variety on Thursday at the opening night of the first Broadway revival of “The Piano Lesson,” in which Brooks stars as Berniece alongside Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington.

opened Thursday night on Broadway, is mostly in tune.  The August Wilson play’s greatest asset is its young leads John David Washington and Danielle Brooks, both of whom are already widely admired, but display an altogether new and enticing range of skills. 2 hours and 45 minutes, with one intermission. At the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 243 W.

There’s abundant magic still in The Piano Lesson, August Wilson’s grand, 1987 Pulitzer Prize winning tale of a Black family torn between legacy and ambition, the past and the future, and, it’s not an overstatement to note, between life and death.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Samuel L. Jackson had his marching orders. So when actor John David Washington approached him for tips about playing Boy Willie, a role Jackson originated in the 1987 production of August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson,” he clammed up. “I was specifically told by the director not to give him advice,” Jackson says. “John David asked several times, but when he realized that I was not allowed to help him, he stopped asking.” The director, in this case, is LaTanya Richardson Jackson, who also happens to be Jackson’s wife, as well as the first woman to oversee a production of Wilson’s work on Broadway. The two are teaming up on the hotly anticipated revival of the classic drama, only this time Sam is playing Boy Willie’s uncle, Doaker Charles. It marks his first time on Broadway since 2011’s “The Mountaintop,” in which he played Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and LaTanya’s  first time directing after a run of acclaimed stage performances, including the 2014 revival of “A Raisin in the Sun” and 2018’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman have had a Pulp Fiction reunion backstage on Broadway.The actors, who played Jules Winnfield and Mia Wallace respectively in Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film alongside John Travolta, met up last Saturday (October 1) at the Broadway revival of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson.The play is currently being performed in previews at the Barrymore Theatre in New York.

The Piano Lesson led the pack of Broadway’s recent arrivals at the box office last week, with the August Wilson revival starring Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington and Danielle Brooks grossing $795,306 for its first seven performances at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

The cast of The Piano Lesson are hyping up their upcoming play!

Available Aug. 5The fantasy drama series “The Sandman” — based on the graphic novel by Neil Gaiman — centers on the legendary figure Morpheus, the King of Dreams, who must set sail to regain his power. As one of The Endless, Morpheus is immortal, but must follow several rules as he oversees the dreaming part of humanity.

The royally enjoyable cast of Signature Theatre’s The Color Purple (★★★★★) forges a chain of love with no weak links in Timothy Douglas’ knockout staging of the musical based on Alice Walker’s novel and the acclaimed 1985 motion picture.The show marks a milestone for Signature, which, according to artistic director Matthew Gardiner, had developed plans a decade ago for a take on the musical, fresh off a two-year Broadway run of the original Tony-winning production.But those plans were scuttled due to John Doyle’s 2015 Broadway revival starring powerhouses Cynthia Erivo, Jennifer Hudson, and Danielle Brooks.Eventually that production made its way to D.C. in the modified form of a Broadway touring company which, frankly, left a lot of the meat of this turbulent, decades-spanning drama still on the bone.

about the intense pressure to be thin in Hollywood, recently that she was body-shamed on the set of Coyote Ugly, even as she was already severely restricting her food intake. And in a new interview, she's reflected on the toll society's thin-obsession took on a friend: the late Brittany Murphy.Though denied rumors of an eating disorder, she lost a significant amount of weight as she transitioned from teen actor to adult movie star, and became profoundly thin and frail toward the as her health declined.

Gallery: 'My babies were huge. So, it was kind of not that comfortable. . . ' These stars HATED being pregnant! (BANG Showbiz)Danielle Brooks added: "Welcome to the club mama!!!" Gina previously admitted that she was desperate to become a mother but joked that she didn't want to go through being pregnant.

EXCLUSIVE: The Piano Lesson has a new Broadway home: The much anticipated production, which begins performances this fall and will star Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington and Danielle Brooks under the direction of LaTanya Richardson Jackson, will play at the the Ethel Barrymore Theatre rather than the previously announced St. James Theatre.

Taraji P. Henson has a lot going on, but if there's one project she's excited to chat about, it's .