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Merle Dandridge

American actress, singer (b. 1975)

Field	Value
name	Merle Dandridge
image	Merle Dandridge 2019.png
caption	Dandridge in September 2019
birth_date
birth_place	Okinawa, Japan
citizenship	United States
occupation
years_active	1994–present

Merle Dandridge (born May 31, 1975) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for performing in Broadway musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Spamalot, Rent, and Once on This Island, as well as her video game roles as Alyx Vance in Half-Life 2 and Marlene in The Last of Us franchise. She played the leading role of Grace Greenleaf in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series, Greenleaf (2016–2020). She has had recurring roles on television series such as Sons of Anarchy and The Night Shift and starred as Kim Hammond in the first season of HBO Max comedy-drama series The Flight Attendant in 2020. In 2022, Dandridge began starring as Natasha Seo-Yeon Ross in the ABC action series Station 19. She reprised her role as Marlene in the 2023 television adaptation of The Last of Us.

Early life

Dandridge was born in Okinawa on May 31, 1975. Dandridge's mother is Korean and her father is African-American. She moved back to the U.S. with her parents due to her father's job, and they lived at Beale Air Force Base in California before settling at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, Nebraska, where Dandridge spent the majority of her childhood. She attended Papillion La Vista High School and participated in the play production class and theater department there. She then attended the Theatre Conservatory at Roosevelt University (currently called the Chicago College of Performing Arts).

Career

Dandridge began her career appearing in Chicago theatre productions. She has gained a wider audience as the voice of Alyx Vance in the award-winning action game Half-Life 2 and its sequels, Episode One and Episode Two, and also as Marlene in The Last of Us. In 2006, she was cast as Kala in the original Broadway production of Tarzan. Dandridge earned a BAFTA Award for her voiceover performance in the 2015 game Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. On television, she guest starred on NCIS, 24, Criminal Minds, The Newsroom and Drop Dead Diva. In 2022, she was cast in a series regular role as Chief in the ABC drama series Station 19. Dandridge also had the recurring roles in the FX drama series, Sons of Anarchy as Rita Roosevelt, and short-lived The CW teen soap Star-Crossed in 2014. In 2015, she co-starred in the second season of NBC medical drama, The Night Shift as Gwen Gaskin.

In 2015, Dandridge was cast as the lead character in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series, Greenleaf opposite Lynn Whitfield. She plays the role of Grace Greenleaf, Greenleaf's estranged daughter. Dandridge has received critical acclaim for her first leading screen role.

From November 9, 2017, to January 7, 2018, Dandridge starred as Papa Ge the God of Death in the Broadway musical revival of Once on This Island, at the Circle in the Square Theater. She returned to the role of Papa Ge in a limited run from June 18 to August 19, 2018. Along with cast, she received Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album nomination for cast recording. In 2020, Dandridge was cast in a series regular role in the eight-episode HBO Max thriller drama series The Flight Attendant. In 2021, she was cast to reprise her role as Marlene from the critically acclaimed game The Last of Us, in the HBO series of the same name. On January 9, 2025, it was announced that Dandridge would be taking over the role of Persephone in the Broadway production of Hadestown starting February 18.

Acting credits

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2008	Nothing but the Truth	Celia
2018	Resurrect	Alice	Short film
2022	Block Party	Crystal Maitland

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Angel	Lacey Shepard	Episode: "Home"
2003	The Edge	Agent Angela Wells	Television pilot
2003	NCIS	Marcy Carruthers	Episode: "Seadog"
2005	Third Watch	Nikki	Episode: "Too Little, Too Late"
2005	All My Children	Lois	Recurring role
2005	Guiding Light	Lawyer	Episode: "July 21, 2005"
2007	I'm Paige Wilson	Gloria	Television pilot
2010	The Deep End	Jennifer Hutchins	Episode: "An Innocent Man"
2010	24	Kristen Smith	Episode: "Day 8, 12:00am–1:00am"
2010	Matadors	Brooke Comas	Television pilot
2010	CSI: Miami	Stacy Garrett	Episode: "Sleepless In Miami"
2011	Lie to Me	D.A. Jill Ottinger	Episode: "Saved"
2011	Love Bites	Krista	Episode: "How To..."
2011	Ringer	Dr. Anabel Morris	Episode: "Shut Up and Eat Your Bologna"
2011–2012	Sons of Anarchy	Rita Roosevelt	6 episodes
2012	Criminal Minds	Agent Lynn Brooks	Episode: "A Family Affair"
2012–2013	The Newsroom	Maria Guerrero	2 episodes
2013	Company Town	Louise	Television pilot
2013	Nikita	Zoe	Episode: "Inevitability"
2014	The Mentalist	Lydia Faulk	Episode: "Il Tavolo Bianco"
2014	Star-Crossed	Vega	7 episodes
2014	Drop Dead Diva	Nadine Comer	Episode: "Afterlife"
2014	Stalker	Dean Lisa Miner	Episode: "Pilot"
2014	NCIS: Los Angeles	CIA Officer Nicole Borders	Episode: "Reign Fall"
2015	Perception	Robyn Sherman	Episode: "Meat"
2015	Suits	Leah	Episode: "Intent"
2015	Rosewood	Charlotte	Episode: "Vitamins and Vandals"
2015–2016	The Night Shift	Gwen Gaskin	15 episodes
2016–2020	Greenleaf	Grace Greenleaf	60 episodes
2018	Murphy Brown	Diana Macomber	5 episodes
2020	The Flight Attendant	Kim Hammond	8 episodes
2021	Truth Be Told	Zarina Killebrew	20 episodes
2022–2024	Station 19	Fire Chief Natasha Ross	Recurring (season 5)
Series regular (seasons 6–7)
38 episodes
2023	The Last of Us	Marlene	2 episodes
2023–2024	Alice's Wonderland Bakery	The Silver Queen (voice)	6 episodes
2024	Secret Level	Liz Mutton (voice)	Episode: "Spelunky: Tally"

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Theatre
1994	Once on This Island	Performer	Chicago
1994	The Robber Bridegroom	Rosamund	Roosevelt University, Chicago
1994	As You Like It	Rosalind	Roosevelt University, Chicago
1996	Passion		Pegasus Players, Chicago
1997	Balm in Gilead	Ann	Gilead Theatre, Chicago
1997	The Kentucky Cycle	Performer	Pegasus Players, Chicago
1997	Company	Kathy	Pegasus Players, Chicago
1997	Sweet and Hot	Performer	Theatre Building, Chicago
1998	Heart and Soul	Andrea	Chicago
1998	Richard II	Performer	Gilead Theatre Company, Chicago
1998	Ain't Misbehavin'	Charlaine	European tour
1998	Smokey Joe's Cafe	Swing	National tour
2000	Jesus Christ Superstar	Mary Magdalene	Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Broadway
2001	Aida	Nehebka	National tour
2002	Aida	Aida (Replacement)	Palace Theatre, Broadway
2002–2008	Rent	Joanne Jefferson (replacement)	Nederlander Theatre, Broadway
2003	Showtune: Celebrating the Words & Music of Jerry Herman	Woman 2	Pasadena Playhouse, Pasadena
2006–2007	Tarzan	Kala	Richard Rodgers Theatre, Broadway
2007	Atlanta	Cleo	Geffen Playhouse
2008	Spamalot	The Lady of the Lake	Shubert Theatre, Broadway
2009–2010	Rent	Joanne	U.S. tour
2012	By the Way, Meet Vera Stark	Anna Mae/Afua Assata Ejobo	Geffen Playhouse
2015	Spamalot	The Lady of the Lake	Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles
2017–2018	Once on This Island	Papa Ge	Circle in the Square Theatre, Broadway
2020	Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat	Pharaoh	David Geffen Hall
2023	A Little Night Music	Desirée Armfeldt	Pasadena Playhouse, Pasadena
2025	Hadestown	Persephone	Walter Kerr Theater, Broadway

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Half-Life 2	Alyx Vance
2006	Half-Life 2: Episode One
2007	Half-Life 2: Episode Two
2007	The Orange Box
2013	The Last of Us	Marlene	Also provided motion capture
2013	Dota 2	Legion Commander / Winter Wyvern
2015	Everybody's Gone to the Rapture	Kate Collins	WonBAFTA for Best Performer
2016	Uncharted 4: A Thief's End	Evelyn / Sister Catherine
2020	The Last of Us Part II	Marlene
2021	Hitman 3	Civilian Female 03
2023	Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical	Aphrodite

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Ref.
2016	British Academy Games Awards	Performer	Everybody's Gone to the Rapture
2019	Grammy Awards	Best Musical Theater Album	Once on This Island	url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/61st-annual-grammy-awards	title=61st Annual Grammy Awards	date=December 6, 2018	publisher=National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences	language=en	access-date=February 10, 2019	archive-date=December 7, 2018	archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181207153109/https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/61st-annual-grammy-awards	url-status=live }}
2021	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series	The Flight Attendant

References

"Merle Dandridge". [[The Broadway League]].
CAAM. (June 20, 2016). "Merle Dandridge on "Blasian" Identity and Oprah Winfrey Network's new summer original series "Greenleaf"".
Gans, Andrew. (October 3, 2008). "DIVA TALK: Chatting with Spamalot's Merle Dandridge Plus Betty Buckley at Birdland". Playbill.
"Merle Dandridge Lands Role on NBC Pilot Chicago Fire".
Gelman, Vlada. (November 7, 2014). "'The Night Shift' Season 2 Cast — Merle Dandridge as Jordan's Best Friend". TVLine.
Petski, Denise. (August 24, 2015). "Lynn Whitfield, Merle Dandridge & Desiree Ross Join 'Greenleaf'". Deadline Hollywood.
Obenson, Tambay A.. (August 24, 2015). "Shadow and Act: Lynn Whitfield, Merle Dandridge and Desiree Ross Cast in OWN's Church Drama, 'Greenleaf'". IndieWire.
Ryan, Maureen. (June 17, 2016). "TV Review: 'Greenleaf'".
Terrero, Nina. (June 21, 2016). "Meet Merle Dandridge, the 'Greenleaf' leading lady picked by Oprah".
Fisher, Luchina. (June 21, 2016). "5 Reasons to Watch Oprah Winfrey's New Series 'Greenleaf'".
Hetrick, Adam. (January 8, 2018). "Norm Lewis and Tamyra Gray Join Cast of Broadway's Once on This Island January 8".
"Cast and Creative".
"Once On This Island – Cast".
Hetrick, Adam. (June 18, 2018). "Merle Dandridge Returns to Broadway's Once On This Island".
Petski, Denise. (October 11, 2018). "'Murphy Brown': Merle Dandridge Joins Season 1 Of CBS Revival".
Petski, Denise. (November 4, 2019). "'The Flight Attendant': Merle Dandridge Joins Kaley Cuoco's HBO Max Series".
Goldberg, Lesley. (May 27, 2021). "'Last of Us' Game Star to Reprise Role in HBO Series (Exclusive)".
"aniel Breaker & Merle Dandridge Will Join HADESTOWN on Broadway".
Nunneley, Stephany. (April 7, 2016). "Fallout 4 wins Best Game at 2016 BAFTA Game Awards".
(December 6, 2018). "61st Annual Grammy Awards". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
(February 4, 2021). "2021 SAG Awards: The Complete Nominations List".

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