Supporting actress, 'The Visitor'
Gurira’s unique background has served her well onstage and onscreen. Born in the U.S. and raised in Zimbabwe, Gurira has won multiple honors for her stage work in New York, including the Helen Hayes Award for best actress in a play for “In the Continuum,” a look at women with HIV that she co-wrote. Small roles on “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and “Ghost Story,” however, gave no indication of the quietly powerful performance she delivers as an illegal Senegalese immigrant helpless to aid her detained Syrian boyfriend in “The Visitor.”
