In Netflix’s The Residence, Uzo Aduba dazzles as Cordelia Cupp, a detective whose wit is as sharp as her sleuthing skills. With a blend of mystery and laughs, Aduba’s shift from drama to comedy not only steals the show but offers a masterclass for actors everywhere.
Let’s explore how Aduba’s commanding performance in Netflix’s latest hit provides key insights for the craft of acting.
Insights: Notes from Uzo Aduba
- Embrace uniqueness to stand out in casting.
- Expand acting range to include both drama and comedy.
- Develop strong non-verbal communication skills for silent acting.
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The Snapshot: Uzo Aduba’s Role in The Residence in a Nutshell
In Netflix’s new comedic mystery series The Residence, Uzo Aduba plays Cordelia Cupp, the world’s greatest detective, as she attempts to solve a murder that took place inside the White House.
The Performance
There’s nothing like a good detective story. When the mystery is engaging and the investigator is an interesting and enjoyable character, it’s catnip for an audience. Why do you think Sherlock Holmes has been so popular for so long? If you can inject a little comedy into it, all the better. Offering some laughs along with the constant guessing about whodunit only adds to the fun.
However, a good mystery lives or dies by the quality of the detective. The interesting and enjoyable character is at the center of it all. If you don’t have that, no matter how good the mystery is, you ain’t got nothing.
This is why it’s such a delight sitting through The Residence. Uzo Aduba’s lead character — a consulting detective with the Washington D.C. Metro Police — is such a blast to watch. A devoted birder who would rather be looking for a falcon on the White House lawn than talking to suspects, Cordelia Cupp is a mystery all her own, one that the other characters are constantly trying to unravel.
Cupp arrives after the White House Chief Usher A.B. Wynter (Giancarlo Esposito) turns up dead, in what is originally thought to be a suicide, but is nothing of the kind. As the character is written, and as Aduba plays her, she’s inscrutable, but has a sense of humor and an unerring sense of timing. Cupp knows that she’s in control and thus won’t be rushed, even if the President of the United States or the Prime Minister of Australia are awaiting her. She is also fully aware of how good she is at her job — stating this for others to hear — and revels in it.
Aduba came out of nowhere to become an instant star thanks to her work on Orange is the New Black (more about that below). Over the last dozen years, she has only built on the Emmy-winning work she did on that show. But nothing she’s done before now could have prepared anyone for this. The actress enters any role with a certain level of gravitas she has earned from all the dramatic turns she’s done, so when she cuts loose a bit and shows her sense of humor and mischief, it’s almost jarring. Almost, because in this case, it’s so entertaining, it comes as a welcome change.
Anyone who knows will tell you that comedy is far harder than drama because making someone laugh is more difficult than making them cry. Anyone can do tragedy, but succeeding in comedy has a far higher degree of difficulty. After years of top-notch dramatic work, to see Aduba so deftly display a comedic touch makes her even more impressive than she was before. Considering she’s won three Emmys for her dramatic work, that’s saying something.
Part of the show’s kick is seeing how she frustrates the other characters by saying as little as possible, and displaying her extreme intelligence and enormous skill, often without saying a word. Show creator Paul William Davies, who wrote all eight episodes himself, allows long stretches where Cupp doesn’t speak. This allows Aduba to do a lot of silent acting and show off her unique expressiveness. Those scenes, in which Cupp elicits information from interview subjects who are deeply uncomfortable with her silence, are often hilarious and always fascinating.
The show itself is worthwhile as a standard whodunit. The story, writing and performances are all top-notch. What elevates it to the next level is Aduba. Thanks to a structure that relies heavily on flashbacks to explain things, she is on screen for less than half the show’s running time, but there is no doubt who is the lead, or how much better it is when she’s front and center.
The number of actors who can single-handedly make anything they do appointment viewing is far too short, but there is no question that Uzo Aduba’s name is on it. If you doubt it, watch The Residence, and all such doubt will be obliterated.
The Career of Uzo Aduba
The story goes that Uzo Aduba was so fed up with acting that she decided to quit, then 45 minutes later, heard that she was cast as Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on Orange Is the New Black, which changed her life. It’s not hard to imagine tha,t as talented as she is, Aduba might have had a hard time getting traction as an actor. She doesn’t easily fit into any specific type, and sadly, that often means that some great actors never get their due.
Thankfully, Orange Is the New Black creator Jenji Kohan saw something in Aduba that other decision-makers hadn’t, and that’s a reward for everyone. Since her explosive arrival on the scene in the summer of 2013, Aduba continues to knock us out with powerful performances. Her work as Crazy Eyes won her a pair of Emmys in the show’s first two seasons. That led to her first starring role in the 2019 drama Miss Virginia, in which she played a struggling inner-city mother who strives to make a better life for her son.
Three other performances are worth noting. The first was in the Hulu limited series Mrs. America, in which she played the late great Shirley Chisholm opposite Cate Blanchett’s Phyllis Schlafly, Rose Byrne as Gloria Steinem, and a murderer’s row of talent, including Elizabeth Banks, Melanie Lynskey, Margo Martindale, Sarah Paulson and Tracey Ullman. Among all those phenomenal actresses, though, Aduba was the only one to walk away with an Emmy, with Blanchett, Martindale and Ullman also nominated.
A year later, she was nominated again for In Treatment, though she didn’t win this time, and then there’s her voice work in the Pixar movie Lightyear, opposite Chris Evans.
In each instance, Aduba brought power, grace and gravitas to the role. Now that she’s added humor, two things are certain. The first is that she should hear her name nominated for Best Actress in a Movie or Limited Series this summer when Emmy nominations come out. The other is that, from now on, there’s no stopping her.
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