Zazie Beetz is far from a household name, but her role in the upcoming Deadpool sequel
just might change all that.
In the scant five years that Beetz''s IMDb profile has been active, she's racked up a
respectable number of credits.
Here's why Domino from Deadpool 2 looks so familiar.
Wolves
Zazie started her career like most other up-and-coming actors in their mid-20s - by playing high
school students.
Wolves is the age-old urban tale of a young man named Anthony, who uses his prowess on
the basketball court to escape a far more complicated home life.
Beetz is Victoria, Lee's love interest, whose arc revolves around her desperate desire to
know all the parts of him that he keeps hidden.
Shot during the summer of 2015, Wolves is the project that let Beetz give up her day
job and pursue acting full time.
The film took a one-way ticket to Highbrow Town by premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival
before being picked up for distribution by IFC Films.
​Margot vs. Lily
In 2016, Nike decided that a cute, diverse, and surprisingly well-made web series was
the best way to promote their workout clothes, and Margot vs. Lily was the result.
As part of the "Better For It" Women's campaign, this was Nike's first scripted show, and it
got a nice amount of positive buzz in part because the commercial elements were integrated
well into the narrative.
"Allie!
I think I might be jacked!
Arms so sore, arms like Thor…"
"Wow!
I've never seen you like this in the morning."
Beetz plays Allie, best friend and roommate to Margot, a snarky millennial with a chip
on her shoulder who lives and plots in the shadow of her internet-famous fitness guru
sister Lily.
Easy
This Netflix Original lacks the buzz or prestige of some of their other high profile shows
like Stranger Things or House of Cards, but Easy does have that rambling indie quality
that seems to fit nicely within Beetz's filmography.
This sexy ensemble drama follows a chain of interlinking friends navigating the ups and
downs of their intimate relationships; Beetz plays Noell, a sweet and supportive stoner
who's dating an amateur brewer named Jeff - played by Dave Franco - who has ambitions
of starting an illegal brewery with his more conservative brother.
"Imagine you were pregnant and I didn't tell you about any of this.
What would you do What would you do?"
"I would freak out!"
"Exactly!"
Atlanta
Much ink has been spilled about the groundbreaking Atlanta, Donald Glover's Emmy-winning MC Escher
painting of an urban drama.
Beetz plays Van, a young mother in love with Glover's Earn, the father of her daughter,
who at turns she's completely enamored with and totally frustrated by due to his underachieving,
spacey, charismatic brilliance.
"Uh, you're doing that weird sad boy face you've got sometimes."
"That's just my face."
This role is tailor made to make use of all that Beetz has to offer as an actor, and is
likely the reason she was on the Deadpool creative team's radar to begin with.
Geostorm
Even though her role is small, 2017's Geostorm marks Beetz's first appearance in a high-profile
film.
She plays Dana, a cybersecurity analyst and friend to Max, played by Jim Sturgess.
The disaster flick was unfortunately reamed by critics, but Beetz was still able to inject
some expositional technobabble and moments of levity opposite Sturgess — and when she
appears in Deadpool 2, it won't be her first time at the blockbuster rodeo.
The Boss
If you can make it through this squirmy January 2018 dramatization of a real-life workplace
harassment, you'll see Beetz go from an efficient and helpful professional to confused, then
alarmed, then panicked as her boss proceeds to violate her space completely.
This wasn't just another acting job — it's a PSA executive produced by Beetz' co-star
David Schwimmer.
It's among a series of short films released online designed to raise awareness about RAINN,
the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization.
Deadpool 2
Months before anyone got to see her in action as Domino, Beetz was part of the vast media
machine surrounding the Deadpool sequel.
Her casting was announced via Ryan Reynolds's Twitter with a character poster, and her arrival
quickly generated a ton of buzz.
In the world of comics, Domino, a.k.a. Neena Thurman, debuted in the pages of X-Force #8
in 1992.
Her power to affect the probability of any event within her line of sight is the result
of a government experiment.
She's joined various mercenary bands and also rolled solo throughout her history.
Beetz may seem an odd choice to play the pistol-packing, motorcycle-revving mercenary mutant — but
her fresh take might be just what the role needs.
Thanks for watching!
Click the Looper icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!