About

Danusia Samal is an actress, writer and jazz singer. She has played a diverse range of roles at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Hampstead Theatre, Royal Court, Globe, Soho Theatre, and Manchester Royal Exchange. Click here for gallery. Her screen credits include Ru’A in Fox’s ‘Tyrant’, Ladriya in Paramount’s live action remake of cult classic ‘Ghost in the Shell‘ and Lady Svenska in ‘The Great‘ by Tony McNamara (The Favourite) on Hulu.

Danusia is represented by Maddie & Sian at Hamilton Hodell. US Rep is Jill Kaplan at Authentic Management. Click here for full acting CV.

In 2018, Danusia wrote and performed Busking It, a gig-theatre show inspired by her experiences as a London Underground busker. The show toured to critical acclaim. Since then, Danusia has gone on to win the Theatre503 International Playwriting Award and be shortlisted for the George Devine Award for her play Out of Sorts, exploring a woman’s struggle with dual identity as a second generation migrant. In 2022, her musical play Bangers (a co-production with Soho Theatre and Cardboard Citizens in which Danusia also starred) toured hostels and community centres before a 3-week run in Soho Theatre, where it sold out and gained 5 star reviews.

Danusia is an alumnus of the BBC TV Drama Writers Programme. Theatre plays include Bangers (Soho Theatre/ Cardboard Citizens); Key Worker Cycles (Almeida Theatre); Conditionally (Oxford School of Drama/ Soho Theatre); and Busking It. TV includes Bodies (Netflix) and Gangs of London (Sky). Danusia also has original work under commission with Little Door, BBC and Temple Hill films. She is represented by Alex Rusher at Independent Talent. Click here for Danusia’s writing page.

As a musician, Danusia writes her own songs and collaborates with other artists. (Click here to check out some tracks!) Her EP ‘Let’s Do It’ (buy here) is a modern take on jazz classics with guitarist and comedian Ed Gaughan. Bangers also featured songs co-written by Danusia. Listen here. Danusia collaborates with various music artists and is always interested in collaboration. In 2020, she launched the Virtual Collaborators network and help bring together hundreds of artists to collaborate and create work remotely in lockdown. The project ran for 6 months and was supported by The Guardian, The Arts Council and Waltham Forest Council.

Danusia performs regularly as a jazz/soul singer and is a grade 8 singer and fully qualified vocal tutor.

Follow Danusia on Twitter and Instagram.

Photo Credit: Helen Maybanks.