Da'Vine Mt. Airy native stars in 'Best Picture' nominee

Posted 1/29/20

by Len Lear Da’Vine Joy Randolph (right) co-stars with Eddie Murphy in “Dolemite is My Name,” a current Netflix production that recently received a “Best Comedy or Musical Film” nomination …

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Da'Vine Mt. Airy native stars in 'Best Picture' nominee

Posted

by Len Lear

Da’Vine Joy Randolph (right) co-stars with Eddie Murphy in “Dolemite is My Name,” a current Netflix production that recently received a “Best Comedy or Musical Film” nomination from the Golden Globes.
DOLEMITE IS MY NAME, from left: Craig Robinson, Mike Epps, Tituss Burgess, Eddie Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, 2019. ph: Francois Duhamel / © Netflix / courtesy Everett Collection

Growing up in Germantown and then Fayette Street in East Mt. Airy, Da'Vine Joy Randolph always knew she would have a career in show business, no matter the odds. She attended the legendary Interlochen Arts Camp in northern Michigan, studying theater with talented young people from around the world. When she was in middle school, her family moved to Hershey, Pennsylvania. “I'd wake up in the morning in Hershey, and it smelled like chocolate,” Randolph said in a recent interview. “I had a crush on a kid named Andy, who was very popular because his dad invented 'Nurds' (the candy, not the people). I tried them and gave them a thumbs up!”

Da'Vine proceeded to attend Temple University to focus on vocal performance, but in her junior year she switched concentrations to musical theater. After graduating from Temple, she went to the Yale School of Drama, Meryl Streep's alma mater, graduating from Yale in 2011 with her master's degree. She then moved to New York and auditioned for Broadway shows while working a “hustle job” as a nanny for a family on the Upper West Side.

And Randolph, now 33, has soared since then. Up until recently she was best known for her role as Oda Mae Brown in the original Broadway production of “Ghost the Musical,” for which she was nominated for the 2012 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. (The role was originated by Whoopi Goldberg in the 1990 smash hit movie, “Ghost,” with Patrick Swayze.)

Randolph had auditioned for an understudy role in the Broadway transfer of “Ghost the Musical" (which was playing in London's West End at the time), but she was so impressive that the producers decided to cast her in the principal role of Oda Mae Brown.

Randolph then played Charmonique in ABC's situation comedy series, “Selfie,” which premiered on Sept. 30, 2014, and she is the voice of Christine in the Netflix original series “The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show.” But Randolph's latest role, a major breakthrough, is that of standup comic Lady Reed, who co-stars with Eddie Murphy in “Dolemite is My Name,” a current Netflix production that recently received a “Best Comedy or Musical Film” nomination from Golden Globes and a “Best Actor” nomination for Eddie Murphy. It also received an approval rating of 97 percent of the nation's film critics, as can be seen on RottenTomatoes.com.

In the movie, based on real-life events, Murphy plays Rudy Ray Moore, a foul-mouthed standup comic (1927-2008), singer, actor and “guerrilla” film producer who created the character Dolemite for the 1975 film “Dolemite” and its sequels, “The Human Tornado” and “The Return of Dolemite." The persona was developed during Moore's early comedy records.

The recordings often featured Moore delivering profanity-filled rhyming poetry in the black American oral tradition of folk poetry, which later earned Moore the nickname "the Godfather of Rap." Eddie Murphy said recently on the Stephen Colbert late night talk show that Moore was a “major inspiration” to him as a budding young comic.

“Eddie Murphy has been such a major star for so long,” Da'Vine said in a recent interview, “that we feel like we know him, so I was prepared for him to be over there, and I'm over here, but that could not be further from the truth. He was one of the most generous, kindest people I have ever met...

“One thing I learned is to trust your gift, what it is that makes you special, and don't hide or shy away from it … Even in the audition process, to observe his (Murphy's) work ethic and see how he navigates was an invaluable gift I will always have. To see someone that accomplished to have pure joy (in his work) was a phenomenal gift for me.”

Da'Vine said that before she met Eddie Murphy, she was told that he had gotten bigger recently, “so I thought he was gonna look like Sherman in 'The Nutty Professor,' but it turned out that he had just gotten a little bigger in the role with a beer belly. I guess he ate a lot of pancakes.”

Da'Vine is a very large black woman, and she has said in interviews that this is definitely an issue in the movie industry. “Size in this industry has a lot to do with (decisions that are made). For a black woman of size to be shown on the big screen is a big deal … Within our (black) culture there are so many unsung heroes ... Shopping for clothes is very difficult. To be fashionable on top of that, forget it!”

Randolph's Twitter account is @DaVineJoy. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com