# Danielle Macdonald
**Danielle Macdonald** is an Australian actress known for playing determined underdogs in films centered on music and competition, most notably the aspiring New Jersey rapper Patricia "Patti" Dombrowski in *Patti Cake$* (2017) and Willowdean Dickson in Netflix's *Dumplin'* (2018).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Origin | Born and raised in Sydney, Australia; moved to Los Angeles full time at 18 to pursue acting[1](https://www.kinostar.com/filmverleih/en/paradise-hills/?myfID=2) |
| Early screen work | Guest role on *Glee* in 2011; feature film debut in *The East*; lead role in *Every Secret Thing*, which premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival[2](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/danielle-macdonald-young-hollywood-2019) • [1](https://www.kinostar.com/filmverleih/en/paradise-hills/?myfID=2) |
| Breakthrough | *Patti Cake$* (2017), Geremy Jasper's Sundance debut, sold to Fox Searchlight for $9.5 million, the festival's third-biggest deal that year[3](https://www.wmagazine.com/story/patti-cakes-movie-danielle-macdonald) |
| Signature role | Willowdean "Will" Dickson in *Dumplin'* (Netflix, released December 7, 2018), opposite Jennifer Aniston; she was cast without an audition[4](https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a25631550/danielle-macdonald-interview-dumplin-netflix/) |
| Other leading work | *Bird Box* with Sandra Bullock and John Malkovich; *Skin*; the Netflix miniseries *Unbelievable*; *Paradise Hills*; *Falling for Figaro* (2021)[5](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/danielle-macdonald-is-here-to-stay-66510/) • [1](https://www.kinostar.com/filmverleih/en/paradise-hills/?myfID=2) • [6](https://www.salon.com/2021/09/30/danielle-mcdonald-falling-for-figaro/) |
| Real-person role | Rock journalist Lillian Roxon in *I Am Woman*, a biopic of singer Helen Reddy[7](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/danielle-macdonald-i-am-woman-dumplin-bird-box-interview-netflix-b994171.html) |
## Background
Macdonald was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. At the age of 18 she moved to Los Angeles full time to pursue acting[1](https://www.kinostar.com/filmverleih/en/paradise-hills/?myfID=2). Her career began with a guest role on *Glee* in 2011[2](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/danielle-macdonald-young-hollywood-2019). She made her feature film debut in *The East*, starring Ellen Page, Brit Marling, and [Alexander Skarsgård](https://www.edgepedia.org/alexander-skarsgard), before booking a lead role in *Every Secret Thing*, which premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival alongside costars [Diane Lane](https://www.edgepedia.org/diane-lane), Dakota Fanning, and [Elizabeth Banks](https://www.edgepedia.org/elizabeth-banks)[1](https://www.kinostar.com/filmverleih/en/paradise-hills/?myfID=2).
## Breakthrough with Patti Cake$
**Patti Cake$.** Macdonald's first leading role in a feature film was the title character in *Patti Cake$*, the debut feature of writer-director Geremy Jasper. Patti is a white 23-year-old woman in small-town New Jersey, close enough to see the Manhattan skyline, who dreams of hip-hop stardom under the stage name Killa P; her mother, a former aspiring hair-band frontwoman played by [Bridget Everett](https://www.edgepedia.org/bridget-everett), is a persistent voice of self-doubt[3](https://www.wmagazine.com/story/patti-cakes-movie-danielle-macdonald) • [8](https://time.com/4904299/patti-cake-danielle-macdonald-review/). The character has collected nicknames beyond her stage name: Patti Cake$, White Trish, Juicy Luciano, and, from the peers who taunt her since childhood, Dumbo[9](https://www.nylon.com/articles/danielle-macdonald-interview-it-girl) • [10](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jun/15/danielle-macdonald-up-and-coming-australian-to-star-with-jennifer-aniston-in-dumplin).
The part came to Macdonald through the Sundance Labs incubator, and the fit was far from obvious. Jasper approached her about playing Patti just a week before the program started, and Macdonald, who could not rap, initially said she could not do it[3](https://www.wmagazine.com/story/patti-cakes-movie-danielle-macdonald). Jasper coaxed her into the role, and over the two years between the Labs and shooting, which began in mid-2016, she trained herself in hip-hop, educated herself on the form's origins and history, and worked to find Patti's rap voice by trial and error[3](https://www.wmagazine.com/story/patti-cakes-movie-danielle-macdonald). She later described the preparation as the hardest thing she had done for a role: hours of practice, tears, and sleepless nights before she felt confident enough to perform[9](https://www.nylon.com/articles/danielle-macdonald-interview-it-girl). She also learned a strong New Jersey accent for the part[11](https://www.wmagazine.com/story/dumplin-netflix-danielle-macdonald-interview).
The film premiered at the 2017 [Sundance Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/sundance-film-festival) and sold to Fox Searchlight for $9.5 million, the festival's third-biggest deal that year after Netflix's $12.5 million for *Mudbound* and Amazon Studios's $12 million for *The Big Sick*[3](https://www.wmagazine.com/story/patti-cakes-movie-danielle-macdonald). TIME's review credited the film's momentum to "Macdonald's unsentimental charisma"[8](https://time.com/4904299/patti-cake-danielle-macdonald-review/), and *TheWrap* called her "a star in the making," noting that the authenticity of her alienation as an Australian playing a Jersey bartender propels the film[12](https://www.thewrap.com/patti-cakes-review-danielle-mcdonald/). Macdonald called the role her first lead in every scene and said she learned the most from it, seeing every part of the production made[13](https://coveteur.com/actress-danielle-macdonald-talks-numerous-roles).
## Dumplin' and the Netflix run
*Dumplin'*, adapted by Kristin Hahn from [Julie Murphy](https://www.edgepedia.org/julie-murphy-author)'s 2015 young adult novel and directed by Anne Fletcher, stars Macdonald as Willowdean "Will" Dickson, nicknamed "Dumplin'" by her mother Rosie ([Jennifer Aniston](https://www.edgepedia.org/jennifer-aniston)), a former beauty queen who runs the Miss Teen Bluebonnet pageant in small-town Texas[4](https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a25631550/danielle-macdonald-interview-dumplin-netflix/) • [14](https://time.com/5473721/dumplin-netflix-danielle-macdonald/). After the death of her Aunt Lucy, an avid [Dolly Parton](https://www.edgepedia.org/dolly-parton) fan who taught her to love herself, Will enters the pageant her mother runs, partly in her aunt's honor and partly as protest against its narrow beauty standards; fellow entrants follow, and drag queens who dress as Dolly Parton help the group[15](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/12/what-dumplin-and-queen-america-say-about-female-beauty/577951/) • [14](https://time.com/5473721/dumplin-netflix-danielle-macdonald/).
She did not have to audition. After her *Patti Cake$* breakthrough she became a frontrunner for the part and was cast directly[4](https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a25631550/danielle-macdonald-interview-dumplin-netflix/). Macdonald said she had read the novel before the script, spotting the cover in a bookstore, and that the character's insecurities matched her own adolescence; she told TIME she wanted to make the film for her 16-year-old self, since plus-sized teens in film had mostly been made the butt of jokes[14](https://time.com/5473721/dumplin-netflix-danielle-macdonald/). The role required singing on set with Dolly Parton and recording in a studio with Parton and Aniston, an experience she called terrifying and credited to her costars' support for getting her through[4](https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a25631550/danielle-macdonald-interview-dumplin-netflix/) • [11](https://www.wmagazine.com/story/dumplin-netflix-danielle-macdonald-interview). She worked with a dialect coach for the small-town Texas accent and listened to tapes during the *Patti Cake$* press tour[11](https://www.wmagazine.com/story/dumplin-netflix-danielle-macdonald-interview). The film was released on Netflix on December 7, 2018[4](https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a25631550/danielle-macdonald-interview-dumplin-netflix/).
In the same winter Macdonald appeared in a second Netflix feature, the psychological horror film *Bird Box*, alongside [Sandra Bullock](https://www.edgepedia.org/sandra-bullock) and [John Malkovich](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-malkovich)[5](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/danielle-macdonald-is-here-to-stay-66510/). Her other credits in this period include a one-day drop-in role in [Greta Gerwig](https://www.edgepedia.org/greta-gerwig)'s *Lady Bird* and *Skin*, a drama about the redemption of former white supremacist Byron "Pitbull" Widner, in which she played the mother of three Widner falls in love with; she appeared in both the Oscar-winning Fox Searchlight short *Skin* and the A24 feature version with Jamie Bell[3](https://www.wmagazine.com/story/patti-cakes-movie-danielle-macdonald) • [10](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jun/15/danielle-macdonald-up-and-coming-australian-to-star-with-jennifer-aniston-in-dumplin) • [16](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/pdf/2021-12-07-tourist.pdf).
## Later work
Macdonald played the crazed superfan in *[American Horror Story: Roanoke](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-horror-story-roanoke)* and a rape survivor in the Netflix miniseries *Unbelievable*[7](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/danielle-macdonald-i-am-woman-dumplin-bird-box-interview-netflix-b994171.html). She starred as Chloe in *[Paradise Hills](https://www.edgepedia.org/paradise-hills-film)*, Alice Waddington's dystopian science fiction film about a reformatory for young women[1](https://www.kinostar.com/filmverleih/en/paradise-hills/?myfID=2). In *[Falling for Figaro](https://www.edgepedia.org/falling-for-figaro)* (2021), an opera comedy from IFC Films, she played Millie, an American who pursues opera singing in Scotland; it continued her run of competition stories[6](https://www.salon.com/2021/09/30/danielle-mcdonald-falling-for-figaro/).
In *I Am Woman*, an Australian biopic of the 1970s singer [Helen Reddy](https://www.edgepedia.org/helen-reddy), she played the rock journalist Lillian Roxon, her first time playing a real person. She described the prospect as intimidating, knowing people who knew Roxon would see the film[7](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/danielle-macdonald-i-am-woman-dumplin-bird-box-interview-netflix-b994171.html).
## Type of roles
Macdonald has said she is drawn to roles different from one another and to stories that matter to society, alongside lighter films made for pure escape[13](https://coveteur.com/actress-danielle-macdonald-talks-numerous-roles). She has described her characters as "real women—flawed, strong, independent women," with the aim of making ignored people feel heard[9](https://www.nylon.com/articles/danielle-macdonald-interview-it-girl). She sees her difference from Hollywood's typical leading woman as an asset: it brings her roles she would not otherwise get, though she notes the industry has typecast plus-size actors in big-funny-best-friend parts, a pattern she did not follow[5](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/danielle-macdonald-is-here-to-stay-66510/).
Acting itself, she has said, remains the frightening part: performing is terrifying to her, which is why she keeps taking films with music in them, since fear signals growth. She has also said she never had a Plan B; if she could not act, she would have been involved in making films in some other way[6](https://www.salon.com/2021/09/30/danielle-mcdonald-falling-for-figaro/).
## References
1. [Danielle Macdonald biography, Kinostar Filmverleih (Paradise Hills press materials)](https://www.kinostar.com/filmverleih/en/paradise-hills/?myfID=2)
2. [Danielle Macdonald's Young Hollywood 2019 Interview, Teen Vogue](https://www.teenvogue.com/story/danielle-macdonald-young-hollywood-2019)
3. [How Patti Cake$ Turned Danielle Macdonald Into a Battle-Rapping Underdog Hero, W Magazine](https://www.wmagazine.com/story/patti-cakes-movie-danielle-macdonald)
4. [Danielle Macdonald Did Dumplin' for Her Teen Self, ELLE](https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a25631550/danielle-macdonald-interview-dumplin-netflix/)
5. [Danielle Macdonald Is Here to Stay, Backstage](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/danielle-macdonald-is-here-to-stay-66510/)
6. [Danielle Macdonald on new opera comedy & pursuing her dreams, Salon](https://www.salon.com/2021/09/30/danielle-mcdonald-falling-for-figaro/)
7. [Danielle Macdonald interview on I Am Woman, The Independent](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/danielle-macdonald-i-am-woman-dumplin-bird-box-interview-netflix-b994171.html)
8. [A Jersey Girl Dreams Big, TIME](https://time.com/4904299/patti-cake-danielle-macdonald-review/)
9. [It Girl: Danielle Macdonald, Nylon](https://www.nylon.com/articles/danielle-macdonald-interview-it-girl)
10. [Danielle Macdonald: up-and-coming Australian to star with Jennifer Aniston in Dumplin', The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jun/15/danielle-macdonald-up-and-coming-australian-to-star-with-jennifer-aniston-in-dumplin)
11. [Dumplin' Star Danielle Macdonald Explains the Terror of Beauty Pageants, W Magazine](https://www.wmagazine.com/story/dumplin-netflix-danielle-macdonald-interview)
12. ['Patti Cake$' Review, TheWrap](https://www.thewrap.com/patti-cakes-review-danielle-mcdonald/)
13. [Danielle Macdonald Is On the Rise, Coveteur](https://coveteur.com/actress-danielle-macdonald-talks-numerous-roles)
14. [Netflix's Dumplin' Is a Salve for Misfit Teens, TIME](https://time.com/5473721/dumplin-netflix-danielle-macdonald/)
15. [What Dumplin' and Queen America Say About Female Beauty, The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/12/what-dumplin-and-queen-america-say-about-female-beauty/577951/)
16. [Q&A with actors, Tourist (BFI data preservation)](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/pdf/2021-12-07-tourist.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › Australian actors › Surnames L to N*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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