Da’Vine Joy Randolph is finally getting her due this awards season, but fans know she’s been delivering Oscar-caliber performances since her breakout in 2019's Dolemite Is My Name. The Philly native and Yale School of Drama alum started out in theater, earning a Tony nomination for her Broadway debut in Ghost: the Musical. Since then, she's built an impressive roster of scene-stealing roles, which has included projects like High Fidelity, The Idol, Rustin, and Only Murders in the Building. Her latest role, as grieving mother Mary Lamb in Alexander Payne’s heartwarming drama The Holdovers, has already earned her praise from critics’ associations nationwide and catapulted her to the top of the Oscars race.
While describing how she developed the character of Lamb, a cafeteria manager and head cook at a 1970 New England boarding school who’s facing the first holiday season following the death of her son in Vietnam, Randolph makes clear why she deserves every one of her accolades. The 37-year-old actress is meticulous about her craft, from choosing unique roles that challenge her to visualizing real-life fashion and beauty inspo for each of her characters. Each answer she gives throughout a wide-ranging interview is generous and ruminative; she isn’t taking any second of the present moment lightly. “I take it as a deep privilege and an honor to do this as a career, and to be doing it at this level, because it's like Russian roulette. It feels like a one in a million chance,” she says. “To be performing at this level, to have this visibility, means the world to me.”
