‘Ghosts’ Star Danielle Pinnock Manifested Her Way Into ‘The Whoopi Monologues’ — Then Booked It With One Bold DM [EXCLUSIVE]

Long before she was commanding CBS’s Thursday night lineup or walking away with an NAACP Image Award, Danielle Pinnock was a self-described “Black Matilda.” She was a teenager navigating New York transit with thick bifocals, a library card, and a dream that felt too large for the rooms she was offered. It was during this time that she first discovered the blueprint of Whoopi Goldberg’s historic 1984 one-woman Broadway show. Watching an uninhibited Black woman torch the rulebook of solo performance, Pinnock would foreshadow her own destiny.

Now, more than two decades later, she has come full circle. Pinnock is stepping directly into the text. Joining a powerhouse ensemble that includes Kerry Washington, Kara Young, Dominique Fishback, and Kecia Lewis, Pinnock is taking her place in the highly anticipated off-Broadway revival of The Whoopi Monologues. Directed by the visionary Whitney White, the production adapts Goldberg’s groundbreaking solo work into a multi-actor masterclass running through the end of August at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.

MadameNoire recently caught up with Danielle to discuss her deeply personal connection to Whoopi Goldberg’s legacy, the art of stepping into a theatrical blueprint, and how her viral success online has fueled her rise to becoming one of the most exciting multi-hyphenates in Hollywood.

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