Earlier this month, Dujonna Gift was heading into the eye of the storm — quite literally. The day we’re scheduled to talk, the actor — who recently delighted audiences in Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) in the West End — was getting on a flight to Florida, just as Hurricane Milton was wreaking havoc in the area.
When we speak the next day, she is safe and reveals the trip wasn’t even for an acting gig — this was in her other role as a designer of costumes at the Notting Hill Carnival. She was heading to the US to pick up materials (yes, preparations do start that early). “This is the passion project I started before Covid,” the 27-year-old says.
Gift grew up in Streatham and always loved performing. Early on she took inspiration from her cousin Oritsé Williams, who was in boyband JLS. Watching them on The X Factor made her think that a role in the arts could be possible.
She went first to the Brit School and then Bird College, though she left the latter to appear in Motown: The Musical. “I was 18, I had no business being on a West End stage, but at that time I knew I just wanted to perform,” she says. “I was always a kid who was never scared of failing.”
The next job was on a whole new level — in Hamilton, in the ensemble but also covering all three of the Schuyler sisters. She made her debut as Eliza in the first week before she had properly learnt the part. “If I hadn’t done that I wouldn’t have been as ready to take on so many challenges in this industry,” she says.
Last year she landed the lead in Two Strangers opposite Sam Tutty, “and it changed my trajectory in a way that I hadn’t expected”. It lives on through the cast album, which now has more than 5 million streams.
Next year she will hit the big screen for the first time in a major adaptation of Snow White, alongside Rachel Zegler as the titular heroine and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen. Gift plays a character called Maple, although she is cagey about the details.
Before that there is a concert show this week called Little Piece of You: An Atypical Musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, with Mica Paris. It combines raw family drama with a rock and pop score.
As we finish up she reveals the story behind her name. “If you watch cricket, there was a West Indian wicket-keeper called Jeffrey Dujon and that’s who I was named after,” she says, adding: “My dad was very into cricket.” There is no doubt she will be bowling audiences over for a long time to come.
Little Piece of You: An Atypical Musical is at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane tonight. Visit lwtheatres.co.uk
