# Samira Wiley
**Samira Wiley** (born 1987) is an American actress and model best known for playing [Poussey Washington](https://www.edgepedia.org/poussey-washington) in the Netflix series *Orange Is the New Black* and Moira in the Hulu series *The Handmaid's Tale*, a role that won her a Primetime Emmy Award.[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/samira-wiley)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1987, Washington, D.C.; birth name Samira Denise Wiley[2](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/Samira-Wiley/) |
| Training | Duke Ellington School of the Arts; drama degree from The Juilliard School, 2010[3](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/samira-wiley/) |
| Breakout role | Poussey Washington on *Orange Is the New Black*, 2013–2019, 52 episodes[4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4148126/) |
| Signature role | Moira on *The Handmaid's Tale*, 2017–2025, 46 episodes[4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4148126/) |
| Emmy record | One win (Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, 2018) and three further nominations, all for *The Handmaid's Tale*[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/samira-wiley) |
| Other honors | SAG Award for the *Orange Is the New Black* ensemble; four SAG Award nominations and an NAACP Image Award nomination for *The Handmaid's Tale*[5](https://press.hulu.com/bios/samira-wiley/) |
| Stage work | Headlined *Blues for an Alabama Sky* at the National Theatre, London, 2022; announced for the first Broadway revival of *Proof* in 2026 but withdrew before it opened[5](https://press.hulu.com/bios/samira-wiley/) • [6](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Samira-Wiley/) |
## Early life and training
Wiley was born in Washington, D.C., in 1987 and grew up in a religious household; her parents were co-pastors of a local Baptist church, though they have since retired.[2](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/Samira-Wiley/) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/sep/11/actor-samira-wiley-interview-the-handmaids-tale-im-black-im-gay-im-a-woman-my-country-hates-me) She has connected her performing instincts to watching them preach, describing a sermon as "getting up there and telling a story."[7](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/sep/11/actor-samira-wiley-interview-the-handmaids-tale-im-black-im-gay-im-a-woman-my-country-hates-me) At the age of nine she heard a radio advertisement for a theater summer camp, attended it, and returned every year for the next decade.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/sep/11/actor-samira-wiley-interview-the-handmaids-tale-im-black-im-gay-im-a-woman-my-country-hates-me)
She attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington before earning a drama degree from The Juilliard School in 2010.[3](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/samira-wiley/) After graduating she worked mainly in theater, including an Off Broadway turn as Maria in Shakespeare's *Love's Labour's Lost* in 2011.[2](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/Samira-Wiley/)
## Television career
**Orange Is the New Black.** A friend at Juilliard told Wiley about an open audition for the Netflix comedy-drama created by [Jenji Kohan](https://www.edgepedia.org/jenji-kohan), and she won the role of Poussey Washington, an inmate at the fictional Litchfield Penitentiary.[8](https://hollywoodlife.com/celeb/samira-wiley/) The character became a fan favorite across 52 episodes from 2013 to 2019.[4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4148126/) Her performance was part of the show's Screen Actors Guild Award-winning comedy ensemble, recognized in 2015 and 2017.[9](https://www.actorawards.org/files/sagawards/nominee_histories.pdf) The character's death at the end of Season 4, killed by a guard, drew significant viewer backlash; *Time* noted that showrunner Jenji Kohan received criticism for the storyline, with many fans reading it as another Black character sacrificed for a plot twist.[10](https://time.com/5631804/orange-is-the-new-black-season-7-legacy/)
**The Handmaid's Tale.** After her *Orange Is the New Black* run ended in 2016, Wiley joined the Hulu adaptation of [Margaret Atwood](https://www.edgepedia.org/margaret-atwood)'s novel as Moira, an activist who becomes a handmaid and later an activist again.[11](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/samira_wiley) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/sep/11/actor-samira-wiley-interview-the-handmaids-tale-im-black-im-gay-im-a-woman-my-country-hates-me) She played the role across 46 episodes from 2017 to 2025, through the series' final season.[4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4148126/) The Television Academy record shows four nominations for the role: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2017, 2020, and 2021, and a win as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2018 for the episode "After."[1](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/samira-wiley) The role also brought an NAACP Image Award nomination and four SAG Award nominations, including drama ensemble nods in 2018 and 2020.[5](https://press.hulu.com/bios/samira-wiley/) • [9](https://www.actorawards.org/files/sagawards/nominee_histories.pdf)
**Other screen work.** Her first screen appearances were guest roles on the CBS crime drama *Unforgettable* and *Person of Interest*, followed by a supporting part in the 2011 comedy *The Sitter*.[2](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/Samira-Wiley/) • [3](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/samira-wiley/) Film credits include *Nerve* (2016), *Detroit* (2017), *Rob the Mob* (2014), *Vault* (2019), and *[Breaking News in Yuba County](https://www.edgepedia.org/breaking-news-in-yuba-county)* (2021).[5](https://press.hulu.com/bios/samira-wiley/) • [3](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/samira-wiley/) She has also done voice work, voicing the title character in the video game *The Walking Dead: Michonne* (2016), Officer Davis in *[Blade Runner](https://www.edgepedia.org/blade-runner-franchise): Black Lotus* (2021–2022), and roles in *Love, Death & Robots* and the podcast series *The Two Princes*.[4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4148126/) She starred in the [HBO Max](https://www.edgepedia.org/hbo-max) docuseries *Equal* (2020) about LGBTQ+ history and appeared in the action series *Atomic* for Sky, filmed in Morocco.[3](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/samira-wiley/) • [5](https://press.hulu.com/bios/samira-wiley/)
## Theater
Wiley has kept an active stage career alongside television. She starred in the Off Broadway play *Daphne's Dive*, performed in multiple productions with Molière in the Park in Brooklyn, and appeared in the Theatre of War production of *Antigone in Ferguson*; she also co-produced the Broadway play *Thoughts of a Colored Man*.[5](https://press.hulu.com/bios/samira-wiley/) In 2022 she made her British stage debut at the National Theatre in London, playing Angel, a showgirl in Depression-era 1930s Harlem, in the revival of *Blues for an Alabama Sky*.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/sep/11/actor-samira-wiley-interview-the-handmaids-tale-im-black-im-gay-im-a-woman-my-country-hates-me) She was announced for the role of Claire in the first Broadway revival of David Auburn's *Proof*, opening in April 2026, but withdrew in March 2026 due to what the production described as "a treatable medical condition," and two-time Tony winner [Kara Young](https://www.edgepedia.org/kara-young) replaced her.[6](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Samira-Wiley/) • [12](https://www.imdb.com/news/ni65754728/)
## Personal life
Wiley met screenwriter [Lauren Morelli](https://www.edgepedia.org/lauren-morelli), a writer on *Orange Is the New Black*, while working on the series; their relationship became public in September 2014.[11](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/samira_wiley) They married on March 25, 2017, in Palm Springs, and their daughter George Elizabeth was born in 2021.[11](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/samira_wiley) • [3](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/samira-wiley/) IMDb records a divorce filing dated January 30, 2026.[4](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4148126/)
Wiley is openly gay and has described advocacy as part of her public role, saying she feels a responsibility "to be a voice for all of my different communities" as a Black, gay woman.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/sep/11/actor-samira-wiley-interview-the-handmaids-tale-im-black-im-gay-im-a-woman-my-country-hates-me) She serves on the board of Molière in the Park, a New York nonprofit that stages free theater productions in Brooklyn to expand access to the art form.[7](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/sep/11/actor-samira-wiley-interview-the-handmaids-tale-im-black-im-gay-im-a-woman-my-country-hates-me)
## References
1. [Samira Wiley, Emmy Awards and Nominations, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/samira-wiley)
2. [Samira Wiley, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/Samira-Wiley/)
3. [Samira Wiley, Us Weekly](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/samira-wiley/)
4. [Samira Wiley, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4148126/)
5. [Samira Wiley, Hulu Press](https://press.hulu.com/bios/samira-wiley/)
6. [Samira Wiley, BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Samira-Wiley/)
7. [Samira Wiley interview, The Guardian (2022)](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/sep/11/actor-samira-wiley-interview-the-handmaids-tale-im-black-im-gay-im-a-woman-my-country-hates-me)
8. [Samira Wiley, HollywoodLife](https://hollywoodlife.com/celeb/samira-wiley/)
9. [SAG Awards nominee histories](https://www.actorawards.org/files/sagawards/nominee_histories.pdf)
10. [Orange Is the New Black legacy, Time (2019)](https://time.com/5631804/orange-is-the-new-black-season-7-legacy/)
11. [Samira Wiley, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/samira_wiley)
12. [Kara Young Joins Broadway Cast Of 'Proof'; Samira Wiley Steps Aside, Deadline via IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/news/ni65754728/)
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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 › American actors: 2000s onward › Surnames Wh to W*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license