Over Zoom, Danielle Deadwyler, known for resonant dramatic performances — like her portrayal of the real-life mother who fought for justice for her son’s murder in Till — shows off her sillier side by playing an imaginary bass to describe her new role as a poetry professor on the HBO college-campus comedy Rooster.
The often-deadpan character of Dylan Shepherd, who is navigating the obstacles of professional and personal success opposite Steve Carell’s slightly out-of-touch yet well-intentioned teacher-in-residence Greg Russo, is the latest in a recent string of comedic roles for Deadwyler, who, earlier this television season, had viewers in stitches as Chantel, the multitasking friend and hairstylist of Ayo Edebiri’s Sydney on the The Bear.
“She has a different stroke,” Deadwyler says about Dylan, mid-mime. “It’s a bit slower. It’s a bit more bassed-out.” As for her on-the-spot musical ability to convey this point, she jokes: “Yeah, I’m multilingual.”
Since the 2010s, Deadwyler has taken on one challenging role after another with seeming ease: Cuffee, the queer Black outlaw in Jeymes Samuels’ The Harder They Fall; Hailey Freeman, the prickly matriarch of farmers in a decimated future, in 40 Acres; and Berniece Charles, a widow fiercely trying to protect her family’s legacy during the Great Depression, in the Netflix adaptation of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson.
