Danielle Deadwyler playing Elena Cole in Carry-On (Image: NETFLIX)
and it stars Taron Egerton as security agent Ethan, who is threatened by an unnamed traveller. The mysterious character blackmails Ethan into helping a dangerous package pass airport security checks.
As a cat and mouse game between the two characters ensues, Danielle Deadwyler’s character, Elena Cole, is tasked with tracking down and identifying the antagonist. Danielle is a 42-year-old American actress who began her career on stage.
Her screen debut came in the 2012 drama film A Cross to Bear, before going on to star in the primetime soap opera The Haves and the Have Nots. Viewers may also recognise her from P-Valley, Station Eleven and From Scratch.
She was born in Atlanta, Georgia, and has three siblings. The star spoke to The New York Times about her childhood and how she did not initially want to become an actor.
She took her first dance class aged four and later fell in love with theatre in high school, but she could never fathom becoming an actor. “It was just a part of my life since I was a kid,” she said. “It was lifeblood.”
Danielle Deadwyler attends the 2024 Gotham Awards (Image: WireImage)
The star went on to receive critical acclaim for her role as Mamie Till in the biographical film Till.
She auditioned for the role in 2021 over Zoom, while her son Ezra, who was 12 at the time, was playing down the hall.
The audition scene was a tragic and emotional one but the star said her son was not phased by the anguished cries from the other room.
She told Vulture she would always have very open conversations with her son about the world.
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Danielle Deadwyler has a son called Ezra (Image: FilmMagic)
“I’m very, very honest with him,” she explained. “He has been able to witness Buffalo. He’s been able to witness Uvalde. He is like, ‘What the f*** is going on?’, without saying, ‘What the f*** is going on?’”
She said the character of Mamie owed a lot to her upbringing in Southwest Atlanta, where she lived with her parents, an older sister, and two brothers in a 1920s bungalow.
The star would later resettled in Atlanta to be closer to family while raising her son, after spending time in New York and Vancouver.
Carry-On is available to watch on