Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we're diving
deep into an artist whose recent triumphs feel,
well, both like a whirlwind and somehow completely
earned. Divine Joy Randolph. Absolutely. And,
you know, Time magazine naming her one of the
100 most influential people in 2024. That really
underscores her impact right now. It really does.
And that's why we wanted to do this deep dive,
because I think for a lot of people, she sort
of burst onto the scene with that incredible
Oscar win. But when you look at the sources,
when you dig into her background, there's this
incredibly rigorous classical training foundation
there. Yeah. It's quite remarkable, actually.
It really is. She wasn't an overnight success.
She was built, crafted through years of intense
work. Exactly. So our mission today is to unpack
that whole journey. We're going chronologically,
starting with her early life, that intense education.
Yeah, the opera. The opera roots, then moving
through her Broadway debut, her shift to screen
roles, both comedy and drama. All that versatility.
And culminating, of course, in the holdovers
and that just astonishing award sweep. And what
you'll see, I think, is how each big moment connects
back to that early groundwork. It's a fascinating
trajectory, really shows the power of deep preparation.
So where do we start? The beginning, I guess.
Let's start right at the beginning. Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, born May 21st, 1986. And even before
we get into the arts training, we need to talk
about her name. Oh, yeah. The name story is lovely.
It really is. It gives you a little window into
her family, doesn't it? It does. So her first
name, it's pronounced Davine Joy, like two separate
names, no middle name. Davine Joy. Yeah. And
the story our sources highlight is that her parents,
they tried for seven years to have a child. Wow.
Seven years. Yeah. And so when she was born,
they called her their divine joy. Ah, that's
beautiful. Sort of sets a certain expectation,
maybe. A blessing. Definitely a sense of destiny,
perhaps. And she grew up in Mount Airy, Philly.
And this is where the serious foundational work
really kicks in. We're not just talking about
high school drama club here. No, not at all.
This is next level stuff. Absolutely. So she
intended Interlochen Arts Camp first. That's
already a pretty elite environment. Focus on
theater initially. Okay. But then Temple University.
And this is the key thing. She didn't just study
theater. She focused on classical vocal performance.
Opera. Opera. That always stands out to me because
you look at her peers, other major award -winning
actors today, and that specific background is,
well, it's rare. It's incredibly rare for screen
actors. So what does that give you, that intense
technical opera training? Yeah. How does that
translate beyond singing? Oh, it's huge. Mechanically,
you get insane breath control, vocal stamina.
Right. The ability to project and sustain your
voice without damage. That's crucial even for
stage acting, let alone singing. Right, endurance.
Exactly. But maybe even more importantly, it
gives you this deep understanding of vocal texture,
rhythm, pitch, how sound itself conveys emotion,
sometimes more than the words. You learn to use
your voice like a finely tuned instrument. I
see. So she had this amazing vocal toolkit, but
then she made a switch at Temple. Yeah, a really
interesting pivot. In her junior year, she shifted
her focus from classical opera to musical theater.
Okay. Why do you think she did that? Well...
One can only speculate, but it suggests maybe
she wanted a broader canvas, you know, where
acting, dialogue, movement were just as central
as the singing. But she still graduated in 2008
with that powerful musical foundation. The opera
training didn't vanish. It just became this sort
of secret weapon. A secret weapon. I like that.
And the education didn't stop at Temple. Not
by a long shot. No way. Post -grad, she aimed
for the very top. She got into and graduated
from the Yale School of Drama, master's degree
in 2011. Yale. Okay, that's serious dramatic
training. Absolutely. One of the best programs
in the world. That's where you really hone acting
instincts, text analysis, applying that voice
to complex dramatic and comedic roles. It refines
everything. As if temple opera and Yale drama
weren't enough. Yeah. She added Shakespeare.
Yep. She also studied overseas. She's an alumna
of the British American Drama Academy, BADA.
Spent a summer studying Shakespeare at Oxford.
So think about the combination. Opera voice,
Yale analysis, Shakespearean language and presence.
She basically built this artistic toolkit that
could handle almost anything. High drama, broad
comedy, musical theater. She was ready. And that
readiness paid off almost immediately, didn't
it? Straight out of that intense training period
and onto Broadway. Pretty much instantly. 2012,
she makes her Broadway debut, Ghost, the musical.
And not just in the chorus, she lands the iconic
role of Oda Mae Brown. The Whoopi Goldberg role
from the movie. That's a huge part. Huge. And
the casting story itself is fantastic. It really
speaks to her talent just shining through. How
so? Well, the sources say she didn't even go
in aiming for Oda Mae Brown initially. She auditioned
for an understudy position for the Broadway transfer.
An understudy. Seriously? Seriously. But apparently
she blew them away in the audition. They saw
her potential and cast her directly in the principal
role. That's incredible talk about making an
impression. Right. But before the Broadway show
even opened, she got thrown into the deep end.
Oh. What happened? The actress playing Oda Mae
in the London production, Sharon D. Clarke, had
a minor knee injury. This was just as they were
finalizing the Broadway transfer. Ah. Okay. Bad
timing. For Clarke, yeah. Yeah. But maybe good
timing for Randolph. They needed someone strong,
quickly, so they flew Divine over to London to
cover the role. Wow. So her actual professional
debut in the role? was in the West End. Yeah,
December 16th, 2011. Imagine that pressure stepping
into a hit show in a major role in London months
before your own Broadway opening. That's a trial
by fire. Must have proved she could handle anything.
Absolutely. So when the Broadway production finally
opened in April 2012, she wasn't just prepared,
she was seasoned. And the critics noticed. They
did. She got rave reviews for her... Energy,
her comedy. And immediate industry recognition.
Right out of the gate, her first Broadway show,
she gets a Tony nomination for best featured
actress in a musical. Incredible. And a Drama
League nomination, too. I mean, coming straight
from Yale to a Tony nom, that sets a career trajectory
few actors ever get to experience. So she conquers
Broadway. But what's really interesting is how
quickly she pivots, or rather expands, into screen
work. That jump from stage, especially opera
and big musicals, to the camera. It can be tricky.
It often is. The scale is so different. But she
managed it seamlessly, likely because that Yale
training focused so much on nuanced acting, not
just projection. So when did the film work start?
Very quickly, 2013, just a year after the Tony
nom, she's in her first feature film, Mother
of George. Okay. It was an independent film premiered
at Sundance. So right away, she's positioned
in that serious art house cinema world. But she
didn't stay just in indie drama. Nope. The very
next year, 2014, she's in a mainstream Hollywood
comedy, The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, playing
a nurse opposite Robin Williams. Wow, from Sundance
indie to a Robin Williams comedy in a year. That's
a range of shit. Showing she could operate at
different volumes, different styles. Right from
the start. But maybe the key early screen role,
especially for her comedy chops, was the sitcom
Selfie in 2014. Ah, Selfie. I remember that show.
Karen Gillan and John Cho. That's the one. Randolph
starred as Charmonique Whitaker. It was a kind
of modern take on My Fair Lady, but with social
media. Right, right. It didn't last long, did
it? Sadly, no. Cancelled after just one season.
But it developed this really passionate cult
following online. People loved it. and her character,
Charmonique. She was fantastic, smart, grounded,
really funny, often the voice of reason, but
with great comedic timing. It definitely put
her on the map for TV comedy. And it seems like
that show really meant something to her personally,
too. Yeah, that's a key point. Years later, like
in 2022, she was still talking about how much
she loves Selfie and the character, said she'd
absolutely come back for a movie or a revival
if they ever did one. That's telling. It shows
she values the work, the character, the connection
with the audience, not just the project's commercial.
success. And it built her a loyal fan base early
on. OK, so after Selfie and those early film
roles, we enter this period, say, 2015 to 2022.
And looking at her credits, it's just relentless.
She worked constantly. It's an avalanche, like
you said, and this is where you really see her
consciously building that versatility, I think,
refusing to be typecast. She's jumping between
genres constantly. Yeah. Heavy drama, one minute,
broad comedy, the next. Exactly. Look at her
TV work in this period. On the drama side, she
had a recurring role, Tanya, in the first season
of This Is Us. That show was huge and known for
its emotional weight. Right, 2016. Very intense
role. Then she's playing Pound Cake in Empire
from 2017 to 2018. Another big, dramatic, slightly
heightened network show. She could handle that
scale, grounded it in emotion. That's the Yale
training again. But she wasn't just doing heavy
drama. Not at all. Simultaneously, she starred
in People of Earth for two seasons, 2016, 2017.
Oh, yeah, the quirky sci -fi comedy. She played
the postal worker, Yvonne. Exactly. Completely
different tone, light, funny, dealing with aliens.
And she had great guest spots, too. The good
wife, Veep. Veep? That requires razor -sharp
comedic timing. Totally. Which she clearly had.
But then comes the film role that I think really
shifted things into high gear for her industry
standing. The one that kind of paved the way
for the holdovers. You mean Dolomite is my name?
That's the one. 2019. Playing Lady Reed opposite
Eddie Murphy. Such a great movie. And she was
phenomenal in it. Phenomenal is the right word.
Lady Reed, based on a real person, needed swagger,
vulnerability, incredible comedic timing, but
also real traumatic depth. She wasn't just a
sidekick to Murphy's dolomite. No, she was more
like his anchor, his conscience sometimes. Exactly.
And the film was seen as this big comeback for
Eddie Murphy. But everyone, critics and audiences
alike, pointed to her performance as a major
highlight. She stole scenes left and right. How
did the industry respond specifically to that
role? It was huge. She started getting major
award nominations, specifically within Black
Cinema Circles, AAFCA nominations, NAACP Image
Award nomination. And then she swept the Black
Reel Awards. Oh, wow. What did she win there?
Both Outstanding Supporting Actress and Outstanding
Breakthrough Performance. That breakthrough win
is significant. It's the industry saying, OK,
she's arrived. She's ready for more substantial
leading type roles. That makes sense. It felt
like a real moment for her. Okay, let's talk
about another major thread running through this
period, something that connects directly back
to temple and opera, voice acting. Oh, yeah.
She's incredibly prolific as a voice actor, and
you can absolutely hear how that classical vocal
training gives her an edge. How so? What's the
connection? Well, voice acting requires immense
vocal agility, control, and endurance. You might
be doing multiple characters, different pitches,
different accents, sometimes all in one session.
Right. Opera training builds that vocal stamina
and flexibility. It teaches you to use your voice
efficiently, powerfully, without strain. So she
can embody a cartoon animal in the morning and
a gritty detective in the afternoon. And the
list of her voice roles is extensive. It really
is. Early on, Christine and Abby Fisher in the
Mr. Peabody and Sherman show on Netflix. Then
bigger stuff. Ranger Wolf in Madagascar. a little
wild tamarind toucan and the brilliant adult
animation tuka and birdie tina and chicago party
ant detective gail johnson and ultra city smiths
she's everywhere in animation and major animated
films too absolutely she was in trolls world
tour as bliss marina and shalia b and a role
i just loved mama luna and puss in boots the
last wish oh mama luna the cat lady she was wonderful
wasn't she so warm so eccentric a completely
distinct character voice totally different from
her live action work, just pure vocal performance
skill. And while doing all this voice work, she's
still churning out live action roles. Can't stop.
She was a main cast member, Sharice, in the High
Fidelity series on Hulu in 2020. Loved her in
that. Then she's playing Rosalyn in the biopic,
the United States versus Billie Holiday in 2021,
serious dramatic territory again. And then something
lighter, bigger budget. Yep, The Lost City in
2022. The action comedy with Sandra Bullock and
Channing Tatum. She played Beth Hatton. It showed
she could hang. and a big star -driven studio
comedy ensemble, she was consistently working
with A -listers. And we have to mention the TV
role that's probably most familiar to people
right now, besides the holdovers, and earned
her another major nomination. Detective Williams
in Only Murders in the Building. Yes, such a
great character. She's fantastic in it, playing
the, uh... Very dry, very skeptical, very pregnant
detective dealing with the absurdity of the main
trio. She's the perfect straight woman to their
antics. Totally. And it's a recurring role she's
had since 2021. That performance earned her a
primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest
Actress in a Comedy Series just this year, 2024.
So let's just recap that. Tony nominee, Black
Reel Award winner, Emmy nominee. prolific voice
actor the range is just incredible stage scream
drama comedy voice work she'd already proven
she could do pretty much everything and do it
exceptionally well she was already a deeply respected
actor as actor by this point yeah but even with
all that success nothing could quite prepare
us for what came next no the holdovers was different
a whole other level it really was so 2023 she
stars in alexander payne's film the holdovers
playing mary lamb and mary lamb What a character.
The head cook at this kind of lonely New England
boarding school over Christmas break in the 70s.
And she's just lost her son in the Vietnam War.
The grief is palpable, but so quiet. That's the
key. It's a performance built on restraint, on
unspoken emotion. She's surrounded by Paul Giamatti's
crusty teacher and Dominic Sessa's troubled student,
these more outwardly expressive characters, but
she is the absolute emotional core of the film.
And this feels like the ultimate payoff for all
that training we discussed, right? The opera?
Yale. Absolutely. This is where it all converges.
Opera teaches that breath control, that ability
to convey huge emotion with subtle vocal shifts,
not shouting. Yale teaches the deep character
work, the understanding of subtext. So she can
convey that ocean of grief without big showy
scenes. Exactly. There are long stretches where
Mary is just watching or cooking or just being
in her grief. And Randolph communicates everything
with these tiny shifts in her eyes, her posture,
the timbre of her voice when she does speak.
It's masterful, subtle work. And the critical
reaction was immediate and overwhelming, wasn't
it? Right from the Telluride premiere. It was
universal praise, not just good reviews, ecstatic
reviews focusing specifically on her. There's
that great quote from Pete Hammond at Deadline
Hollywood. Oh, which one? He wrote something
like, Randolph is simply wonderful, saying more
with a look than any words could ever do. She
is enormously touching and earns our tears along
the way. Saying more with a look. That sums it
up perfectly. That deep internal work manifesting
externally with such control. Precisely. And
that performance led to, you called her an avalanche
before? This was more like a tsunami. The awards
sweep. An unprecedented sweep, really. We have
to emphasize that. When we say sweep in this
context. What does that actually mean for the
listener? It means she won pretty much everything.
Every single major award for supporting actress
during the 2023 -2024 season. It signifies this
rare, overwhelming consensus across the entire
industry. Actors, directors, critics, everyone
agreed her performance was the one. So let's
tick them off, starting with the big televised
ones, the big four. Okay. She won the Academy
Award, the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.
She won the Golden Globe. for Best Supporting
Actress in a Motion Picture. She won the BAFTA,
the British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting
Actress. And she won the Screen Actors Guild
Award, the SAG Award, for Outstanding Performance
by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role. The big
four. That's incredibly rare air she's breathing
there. Yeah. Like Lupita Nyong 'o for 12 Years
a Slave. Viola Davis for Fences kind of territory.
Exactly. Historic stuff. But it wasn't just the
big televised awards. The critics groups were
just as unified. Right. And sometimes the critics
recognize performances the bigger awards miss.
But here. Here, they were completely on board.
She won the Critics' Choice Movie Award. She
won the Independent Spirit Award, recognizing
the film's indie roots. And the major regional
critics groups, the influential ones. Dominated
them. National Board of Review winner. New York
Film Critics Circle winner. L .A. Film Critics
winner, though that was a shared award, notably.
Shared. Interesting. Yeah, LA and Toronto critics
gave shared awards that year, possibly reflecting
the strength of the field, but also maybe how
integral her performance was felt to be alongside
others. She also won Boston, Chicago, Dallas,
Fort Worth. Just listing them gets exhausting.
It's an incredible list. It just shows the breadth
and depth of the acclaim. It wasn't just one
faction liking it. It was universal. Absolutely.
And it wasn't just her individual performance
being recognized. The Holdovers cast also won
several Best Ensemble awards from critics groups
like San Diego and St. Louis. Which reinforces
that idea of her being the anchor, the heart
of that ensemble. Exactly. Her quiet strength
elevated the entire film. So yeah, that awards
run. It wasn't luck. It felt like the culmination
of everything she'd been working towards, the
payoff for all that discipline. Absolutely earned.
And even while all this Holdover's madness was
happening, she wasn't resting on her laurels.
2023 was a busy year beyond that film, too. Incredibly
busy. She had two other really significant and
very different roles out that same year. Right.
What were they? First, she played the legendary
gospel singer Mahalia Jackson in Rustin, the
biopic about Bayard Rustin. Wow. Playing an icon
like Mahalia Jackson. Oh, yeah. That requires
serious presence and vocal chops, too, obviously.
Definitely a weighty historical role. And then
completely flipping the script. Yes. She played.
Destiny, the manager of the pop star played by
Lily Rose Depp in HBO's very controversial series,
The Idol. Oh, right. The Idol. Talk about a contrast
for Mahalia Jackson. Total 180. From respected
gospel icon to a sharp, modern manager navigating
the messy pop music world in a really provocative
show. That pairing right there, Rustin and the
Idol, in the same year as the holdovers, just
perfectly encapsulates her range and her fearlessness,
doesn't it? It really does. She's clearly not
interested in playing it safe or sticking to
one lane, even after winning the Oscar. So looking
ahead now, post -Oscar win, what's next on the
horizon? The momentum seems unstoppable. It certainly
looks that way. Her upcoming film slate is packed,
and again, it shows that commitment to variety.
What do we got? Well, first up, probably in 2025,
is an action comedy called Bride Hard. Action
comedy. Yeah, co -starring Rebel Wilson. Divine
plays a character named Lydia, so jumping right
back into comedy, but with an action twist. It
shows she still loves flexing those comedic muscles.
Good for her. What else? There's another action
-oriented film called Shadow Force. She plays
a character listed as Auntie or Marvella. That
sounds like maybe a larger ensemble action piece.
Getting into bigger studio pictures. Seems like
it. And then there's The Gallerist, which is
listed as post -production, maybe for 2026. That
title suggests something potentially more character
-driven, maybe more artistic. Balancing the studio
fare with indie spirit, perhaps? Potentially,
yeah. And there's one other interesting, slightly
unusual project mentioned in the sources. Oh,
yeah. Apparently, she's set to appear in a music
video in 2025 for the Japanese rock star Yoshiki.
Yoshiki from ex -Japan. Yeah, the legendary Yoshiki.
It's for a narrative version of his song Butterfly.
appearing in a high profile international music
video. That's a cool, unexpected move that speaks
to her global recognition now. And it ties back
to her musical roots in a way. That's fascinating.
She's really leveraging this moment to explore
different avenues. Definitely seems that way.
She's refusing to be boxed in. The future looks
incredibly bright and intriguingly unpredictable.
So let's try and wrap this up. If we synthesize
this whole incredible journey, what's the core
narrative here? I think the core narrative is
that Divine Joy Randolph is the absolute embodiment
of talent meeting relentless preparation. This
wasn't overnight success. This was decades of
honing her craft, starting with that incredibly
demanding classical foundation. Right. We saw
the opera training, the Yale intensity leading
directly to that instant Broadway validation
with the Tony nomination. Then using that foundation
to pivot to the screen, navigating everything
from cult sitcoms like Selfie to scene stealing
roles in films like Dolomite, all while becoming
this go -to voice. sector, she mastered every
medium. And all of that culminated in the holdovers.
That performance as Mary Lamb wasn't just great
acting. It was the sum of all that training,
the vocal control, the emotional depth, the physical
stillness. It required everything she'd learned.
It really did. And the result was that historic,
undeniable awards sweep. It felt... inevitable
in retrospect, earned. And her career is just
this incredible case study in artistic range,
isn't it? I mean, think about it. She holds a
Tony nomination for theater, an Emmy nomination
for TV comedy, and an Oscar win for film drama.
That trifecta is exceedingly rare. It proves
complete mastery across platforms, from Broadway
stage presence, to the intimacy of TV comedy
timing, to the profound depth needed for cinematic
drama. She's gone from being a brilliant supporting
player, someone you were always happy to see
pop up, to being... Well, an essential leading
force. Absolutely. An artist who elevates everything
she's in. The industry clearly recognizes that
now. The world is definitely her oyster. So the
question we want to leave you, the listener,
with is this. We know she has these exciting
projects coming up. Bride Hard, Shadow Force,
The Gallerist, maybe others we don't even know
about yet. Which of these, or perhaps something
entirely new, do you think will be the project
that truly cements her status? Not just as an
Oscar -winning supporting actress, but as the
undeniable leading generational star she seems
poised to become. Hmm, that's a great question
to ponder. What's the next definitive Divine
Joy Randolph role?