Get to Know Danielle Brooks as She Hosts 2026 Oscar Nominees Reveal

On January 22, Danielle Brooks will be joining Lewis Pullman to announce the nominees for the 2026 Academy Awards. Brooks herself was nominated for an Oscar back in 2024, and now she’ll be revealing the latest crop of nominees.

Since having her career breakout as an actress in 2013, Brooks has gone on to star in films, television, and even on Broadway. She also got married and started a family with her husband and learned that she’s related to two familiar celebrity faces.

Scroll down to learn more about Brooks ahead of her presenting gig!

What is Danielle Brooks known for?

Brooks’ breakout role was in Orange is the New Black. She played “Taystee” on the Netflix series from 2013 to 2019, beginning as a recurring cast member in Season 1 before getting upped to main cast in Season 2.

In 2015, Brooks starred in the revival of The Color Purple on Broadway, earning a nomination at the Tony Awards in 2016 and winning a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in 2017. The actress then reprised her role as Sofia in the movie adaptation of the show in 2023. She was nominated for an Oscar and Golden Globe Award.

Additionally, Brooks starred in three episodes of Master of None, an episode of Girls, and had a main role in Peacemaker from 2022 to 2025. She starred in and executive produced the TV film Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia, for which she earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in the Outstanding Television Movie category. Brooks was also nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Daytime Program Host in 2023 after hosting Netflix’s Instant Dream Home.

In 2022, she returned to Broadway to star as Berniece in The Piano Lesson.

How are Niecy Nash and Danielle Brooks related?

Danielle Brooks is cousins with Niecy Nash and Sterling K. Brown. They learned of the family ties on Finding Your Roots, a show hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

“We had no idea,” Brooks said on Live With Kelly and Mark in August 2025. “They take our DNA when we do the testing. [Nash and Brown] had already been on the show, so they had theirs. They figured it out that we were cousins. I can’t remember who’s on what side. They’re not on both sides. One’s on my mom’s and one’s on my dad’s, but I’m the connective tissue. We are family.”

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She also explained that she already knew Nash and Brown “for a while” before finding out they were related. “I knew Sterling from the theater scene and Niecy really took me in at one point and just kind of mentored me through the industry,” Brooks explained. “It just feels right.”

Nash gushed about the family connection in a 2024 Instagram post while celebrating Brooks and Brown’s Oscar nominations. “Both of my COUSINS are OSCAR NOMINATED ‼️‼️ Yes! We are blood related!” Nash wrote, alongside a photo of herself with Brooks and Brown. “REAL cousins! I’m so proud of my fam!”

Is Danielle Brooks married?

Yes, Brooks married her husband, Dennis Gelin, in January 2022, just over a year after they got engaged at the end of 2020. For the most part, they have kept their relationship private and out of the spotlight.

The pair’s romance started when Brooks hosted a game night with a friend, she told Vogue. The friend invited “some good-looking prospects she had met while working [at a gym] to play some Mafia and Taboo.” Gelin got his invite through a friend of a friend who also worked at the gym.

After spending the night chatting with Gelin, Brooks was taken by him asking if she needed help taking out the trash. On his way home, Gelin “accidentally butt-dialed” the Netflix star, which he called “an act of divine intervention.” They “talked for hours” on that phone call.

How many children does Danielle Brooks have?

Brooks and Gelin share one child. Their daughter, Freeya, was born in November 2019, one month before Gelin proposed.

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

In August 2025, Brooks revealed on the Pregnant Pause podcast that she was pregnant with Gelin’s child while she was appearing in The Color Purple on Broadway. At the time, she was taking Accutane to clear up her acne. “When you’re on Accutane, you’re not supposed to get pregnant,” she explained. “It’s a requirement. You actually have to sign something saying that you will have an abortion if you get pregnant.”

When Brooks took the positive pregnancy test, she “broke down” because it was the first moment when she realized that she wanted to be a mom, despite previously thinking she would prefer to focus on her career, rather than having kids.

“As soon as I went through that experience, it was really hard, very, very difficult to actually have an abortion,” she admitted. “It was not what I wanted. But there was no way around it.”

2026 Academy Awards, Sunday, March 15, 7/6c, ABC