Who Is Danielle Brooks, “Orange Is The New Black” Star? What Are Her Efforts In the Film & Fashion Industry?

Nowadays, realness has become a hot commodity that is hard to find; people don’t accept their real identity and just try to prove themselves better than others, whether it’s about beauty, fame, knowledge, education, or whatever.

They don’t focus on self-love and self-acceptance. 

However, in this article, we will discuss “Danielle Brooks,” the black beauty who is a famous American“Producer,” “Actress,” “Singer,” and also a well-known famous “Clothing Designer.”

Danielle Brooks is popular because of her character as Tasha “Taystee” Jefferson in the famous comedy-drama series “Orange is the New Black.”

Danielle is the lady who loves to be real and educate people through her posts that accept yourself in the way you are and try to be real in every step of your life. 

So let’s start the discussion to learn more about this black beauty without any delay!

Early Life Of Danielle Brooks

Danielle was born on the “17th of September, 1989” in “Augusta, Georgia, United States.”  Now she is 32 years old. Danielle’s full name is “Danielle Brittany Brooks,” and her nickname is “Danielle.”

The black beauty grew up in “Greenville, South Carolina.” Danielle was belong to a “Christian family.”  The Black beauty has been identified as an American; her Zodiac is “Virgo.”

When Danielle was six, she began her acting career; she acted as a kid in a nativity play by her church.

 For the last two years of high school, she got admission to “South Carolina Governor’s High School For Arts And Humanities,” which was particularly famous for its arts. Then, she shifted to “Juilliard School (BFA)” to study drama and graduated in 2011. 

Her Physical Appearance 

However, Danielle Brooks looks ugly, but she is such a confident and multi-talented lady; she is also a “Body Positive Activist.”  

She provides awareness of self-love among women suffering from anxieties due to body shaming. Danielle Brooks’s own body is like an apple. 

Her body weight is approximately 75 kg or 165 lbs. Danielle is 5 feet and 4 inches (1.62m) tall; her waist size is 33 inches, and her hips size is about 44 inches. 

However, she has attractive dark brown eye color and black hair color.

Her Professional Career

When Danielle graduated from Juilliard, she won the characters in two theater productions. One was “Shakespeare Company Theater Servant Of Two Masters,” and the other was “Blacken the Bubble.” 

Danielle left both the productions house in 2013 and joined the cast of the Netflix-produced comedy television series “Orange is the New Black.” 

This famous comedy series was about a ladies’ prison and was based on the “Pipers Kerman’s” history. Danielle Brooks played the character of Piper Kerman as Tasha “Taystee” Jefferson.

Her role in the series as Taystee basically deliberated to be highlighted for just two episodes but finished up being mentioned into the rest of the earliest season. 

In the series, on-screen, Taystee’s best friend role is by “Samira Wiley.”. She is also the best friend of Danielle in reality. They both met at Juilliard for the first and studied together. 

Danielle’s performance in Orange is the New black drama is mind-blowing and has been really praised by her fans.  

The “Daily Beast” writer also praised her character and called her “the breakout actress” of the series. He said that Danielle was the most talented and refreshing actress in 2013. 

Danielle Brooks became more popular when she was cast for the 2nd season of the regular show. 

The black beauty was also seen in the “Modern Love” movie in 2012 and the “Black Girls Rock” movie in 2013. 

In September 2013, Danielle got cast in HBO Series “Girls.” In that series, she played the role of a black woman.

In 2014, Danielle played the role of “Laura” in the “Females Only” series. 

In 2015, on the 27th of May, Danielle made her Broadway debut in the betterment of “The Color Purple” and played the character of “Sofia.”

The black beauty is also featured in the Indian Tv series, “Master Of Sons,” where she played the role of “Shanon.” Danielle voices “Comet” & “Lasso” in the “Pilot Series.” 

Danielle started her musical career in 2015 on the 10th of December. She worked with Bernard B.Jacobs on a music video and got a lot of praise from her fans. 

Her Family Background

Danielle’s mother’s name was “Larita Brooks,” a deacon, and her father’s name was “Dunnel Brooks, ” a famous minister. However, her parents are no more in this world. Danielle has only one brother, whose name is “Donnie Brooks.” 

Danielle Brooks is a married woman. She married “Dennis Gelin” on the 13th of January, 2018. And now she is the mother of a baby girl.

The black beauty announced her pregnancy on 2nd July 2019 and gave birth to a baby girl on the 16th of November 2019. Her daughter’s name is “Freeya Carel Gelin,” who’s now three years old. 

Danielle Love & Married Life 

Danielle Brooks and Gelin met in 2017 when Danielle was hosting a game night show with her friend, and both people became close that night to each other.

The black couple got engaged at the end of 2017 and married in 2018. Then in 2019, Danielle and Gelin welcomed their first child, a girl, and gave her “Freeya Carel Feline” name. 

Her Social Media Accounts 

Danielle Brooks uses Instagram and Twitter and always entertains her fans with her posts, stories, and tweets. 

The black beauty’s Instagram identity is @daniebb3, where she has 2.4 Million followers and has posted 414 posts on Instagram till now. Danielle follows 392 people on Instagram. 

Her Twitter identity is @thedanieb, where she has gained 395.3k followers, and Danielle follows 458 people on Twitter; posted 10.8k tweets. 

Her Net Worth

The black beauty is a multi-talented lady. She’s an independent woman who’s an actor, singer, producer, and designer. Danielle’s actual net worth is $1 million approximately, from her professions. 

Danielle Brooks Awards & Nominations

In 2013, the black beauty won the “Young Hollywood Award” in the category of “Breakthrough Actress” for the “Orange is the New Black” series. 

In 2015, Danielle again won the “Screen Actors Guild Award” for “Orange is the New Black”  in the category of “Outstanding acting by an Ensemble” in a comedy series.

In 2016, the star lady got nominated for “The Tony Award”  in the category of “Best Featured Actress in a Musical Video”  for “The Purple Colors” series. 

In 2016, Danielle Brooks again got nominated for “The Drama Desk Award”  in the category of “Outstanding featured actress in a Musical Video”  for “The Purple Color” series. 

Again in 2016, the talented lady got nominated for “Outer Critics Circle Award”  in the category of “Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical video”  for “The Purple Color” series. 

In 2017, the black lady won the “Grammy Award”  in the category of “Best Musical Theater Album”  for “The Color Purple” series. 

In 2020, Danielle got nominated for the “Drama League Award” in the category of “Distinguished Performance” for the “Much Ado About Nothing”  series. 

In 2021, the confident and talented lady got nominated for the “Primetime Emmy Award” in the category of “Outstanding Television Movie”  for the “Robin Roberts Presents Mahalia” series. 

Danielle Still Struggles To Accept Her Post-Baby Figure

The black beauty Danielle Brooks said in an interview with shape magazine that, after giving birth to a baby, she’s still doing a struggle to overcome her post-body. 

Danielle tried to accept her new figure, but people spread negativity on social media about her new figure, from which she faced mental illness. She also stated, 

Society puts a lot of pressure on women to return to their previous physical appearance, but that is not quite easy; after giving birth to a child, it’s quite difficult to return to the same position, and people need to realize this.

Her Dream Wardrobe

The Grammy winner Danielle Brooks said in an interview, “What I have to wear, nobody designed that attire.” 

Working with an online luxury retailer, “11 Honore,” on s capsule of collections, where the black lady got the chance to make her dream Wardrobe. Danielle wanted to make dresses for plus-sized people 12-26. 

Once Danielle said that,

I feel like I have good taste in fashion, and being overweight, I used to wear plus-size dresses since when I was 5. I have already spent enough time in shapewear and Spanx to make anything work. I always wanted to design clothes that every woman would like, and it’s my dream. 

While maturing in Simpsonville, South Carolina, the black beauty developed her fad of fashion. Danielle turned to hats, shoes, and accessories to make her attire unique, and all enough options were available for her at that time. 

In Broadway film, the black lady became obsessed with the reality that for plus-sized ladies, there are eventually choices that weren’t like “Walmart & Cato.”

Still, Danielle observed that it was not easy for her to discover designers to design Danielle dresses that were not custom. She said, 

If I’m fighting for the success level that I’m at, I’m also feeling the same for my sisters, who are focusing on finding something fancy and casual to wear. 

Danielle was searching for a partner who could design attires for those ladies who didn’t have an approach to custom designer outfits when Danielle’s team advised she reach “11 Honore,”  where Danielle gave the idea to make sizes 12 and up. 

However, Danielle tried to persuade all these famous designers to make sizes 12 and up, where customers will invest the money. 

But Danielle thought that she was wasting her energy in trying to work with those designers who didn’t have the desire to work with her. Then Danielle started finding those designers who wanted to work and cater to any size. 

Folks were also big fans of Danielle Brooks’ attire. However, finally, in 2017, Danielle launched her collection. The founder “Patrick Hering” said about her that,

I praised Danielle’s work and her Fearlessness with fashion.

Danielle worked with the famous designer “Danielle Williams Eke” to make affordable attires, which were established on the affordable side of “11 Honore.” But still, they faced plenty of specialness. Because of their costly clothes, many women still cannot purchase them. 

Danielle said that, 

“We’re working on it to make prices affordable for every woman without compromising the quality of the attire.”

Danielle Two Remarkable Wedding Dresses 

Danielle Brooks, the actress of “Orange is the New Black,” married “Dennis Gelin.” 

Danielle wore two fabulous beautiful dresses during the wedding, an “Alonuko” attire with a sheer bodice and a stunning Three-In-One “Christian Siriano design” dress. 

In an interview with “Vogue,” the black beauty stated that she always wanted to wear two dresses on her big day. 

Danielle shared many photos of her wedding day with two different attires on Instagram. Her first wedding Alonuka dress had long sleeves and a sheer gown made from nude net and with embroidered white beautiful flowers. 

On the other hand, the skirt of the Alonuko dress was full white in color and also covered with the same embroidered design. 

Danielle’s first wedding dress was custom-made by London-based “Alonuko Fashion House,” Her photo shoot in this Alonuko dress was captured by “Reem Photography.”

With Danielle’s first wedding dress, she extremely wanted to ” Promote the Black designer” because Danielle felt like these black designers did not highlight properly in the modern wedding industry. 

According to the famous brand’s website, Alonuko began her career as a designer in 2013, founded by the famous fashion designer “Gbemi Okunlola.” He was the one who taught Alonuko how to design when she was just 11 years old. 

Danielle Brooks told Vogue that, 

Anoluka designed the same dress that I have ever dreamed of. She traveled all the way from London to ensure that the dress arrived on time.  I told Anoluka to make a custom flesh-toned net gown with beautiful embroidery and a large huge skirt. Her beautiful attire made me want to marry again and again. I liked it so much.

Danielle completed her whole look with a pair of gold earrings from Chanel, which was gifted to her by “Kelly Augustine,” her stylist. 

The black beauty wore her second attire, which was designed for her reception. The designer of her reception dress was “Christian Siriano,” who has been Danielle’s friend since the beginning of her career. 

Her reception dress had lacework on leashes, an elegant corset bodice, and a full brimful skirt that swaddled all over her hips. 

As stated by the vogue, Danielle’s reception attire was a three-in-one dress that could also be converted into a figure-con attire and a pant glance. 

The designer of Danielle’s second attire shared another glance of her Instagram story, exposing that the skirt gown extended layers into a lace all around its tulle.