Zazie Olivia Beetz ( ; ; born June 1, 1991) is a American actress. She stars in the FX comedy-drama series ''

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

'' (2016–22), for which she received a nomination for the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series This is a list of winners and nominees of the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. In early Primetime Emmy Award ceremonies, the supporting categories were not always genre-, or even gender-, specific. Begin ...

. She also appeared in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

anthology series '' Easy'' (2016–19) and voices Amber Bennett in

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

's animated superhero action series ''

Invincible Invincible may refer to: Film and television * ''Invincible'' (2001 drama film), a drama by Werner Herzog about Jewish cabaret during the rise of Nazism * ''Invincible'' (2001 TV film), a fantasy / martial arts TV movie starring Billy Zane ...

''. In film, Beetz has appeared in the disaster film ''

Geostorm ''Geostorm'' is a 2017 American science fiction disaster film directed, co-written, and co-produced by Dean Devlin (in his feature directorial debut). The film stars Gerard Butler, Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish, Ed Harris, and Andy García. It fol ...

'' (2017) and has played the

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character

Domino Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also ca ...

in the superhero film ''

Deadpool 2 ''Deadpool 2'' is a 2018 American superhero comedy film based on the Marvel Comics character Deadpool. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, it is the sequel to ''Deadpool'' (2016) and the eleventh installment overall in the ''X-Men'' film series. T ...

'' (2018) and Arthur Fleck/Joker's neighbor Sophie in the psychological thriller '' Joker'' (2019).

Early life and career

Zazie Olivia Beetz was born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

in 1991. Her father is a German cabinet maker who immigrated to the United States in 1990 after the

fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (german: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain and one of the series of eve ...

, and her mother is an African-American social worker from New York. Her parents separated when she was very young. Beetz was named after the title character in the

Raymond Queneau Raymond Queneau (; 21 February 1903 – 25 October 1976) was a French novelist, poet, critic, editor and co-founder and president of Oulipo ('' Ouvroir de littérature potentielle''), notable for his wit and cynical humour. Biography Queneau wa ...

novel '' Zazie in the Metro''. The pronunciation, with , follows the German-dubbed version of the 1960 film adaptation of the novel. She has a younger brother named Justin. Beetz attended pre-school in Berlin and kindergarten in New York City before moving with her family there more permanently at the age of eight, speaking both German and English with her family at home. Her mixed-race identity was a source of discomfort for her during her youth. Growing up in New York's Washington Heights neighborhood, she became interested in acting while attending Muscota New School and performed in community theaters and on local stages. She graduated from the LaGuardia Arts High School in 2009, and attended

Skidmore College Skidmore College is a private liberal arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York. Approximately 2,650 students are enrolled at Skidmore pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in one of more than 60 areas of study. History Sk ...

, graduating in 2013 with a bachelor's degree in French. She spent a year living in Paris. After Beetz graduated from college, she spent a year "broke and waiting tables" before she was cast in ''Atlanta''.

Personal life

Beetz is engaged to David Rysdahl, an actor and writer. They met during an acting workshop and have been together since 2014.

Awards

Beetz received a 2018

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series, for FX's ''

''.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beetz, Zazie 1991 births Living people 21st-century American actresses 21st-century German actresses Actresses from Berlin Actresses from New York City American film actresses American television actresses American voice actresses African-American actresses Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni German emigrants to the United States German film actresses German people of African-American descent German television actresses Skidmore College alumni 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people