Oscar nominee Da’Vine Joy Randolph makes an immediate impact whether she’s on the stage, the small screen, or the big screen. In 2012, she received a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for playing Oda Mae Brown in the adaptation of 1990 film Ghost on Broadway. She’s also appeared in some of the most beloved comedy and drama series in recent years, including Veep, This is Us, and Empire. Her portrayal of grieving mother Mary Lamb in Alexander Payne’s 2023 film The Holdovers won Randolph a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, and she’s widely considered to be the frontrunner in the same category at next month’s Academy Awards.
Randolph tells The Treatment about her intentionality in selecting the wardrobe for her Holdovers character. She describes her process for making her characters relatable to anyone watching, regardless of race or gender. And she reveals the important lesson she learned from a Ghost performance where she gave less than 100 percent.
More: Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor on ‘Sideways’ (The Treatment, 2004)