Merle Dandridge

Merle Dandridge (born May 31, 1975) is an American actress and singer who performed in a number of stage productions, including Broadway musicals Jesus Christ Superstar, Spamalot, and Rent. She is widely known for her role as Alyx Vance in the Half Life 2 game. Dandridge is also known for her recurring role on television series such as Sons of Anarchy and The Night Shift. In 2016, she began starring as Grace Greenleaf in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series, Greenleaf. She was the actor for Papa Ge in the 2017 revival of Once on this Island, until January 8, 2018, so she could shoot her television show Greenleaf.

Early life
Dandridge was born in Okinawa, Japan. Her mother was a local Okinawan of Korean descent and her father was an African American U.S. serviceman from Memphis. As well as Okinawa, Dandridge has lived outside of Wheatland, California, at Beale Air Force Base and later at Offutt Air Force Base (home to the then-Strategic Air Command) in Bellevue, Nebraska, where she spent the majority of her childhood. She attended Papillion La Vista High School and participated in the play production class and theater department there. She then attended the Theatre Conservatory at Roosevelt University (currently called the Chicago College of Performing Arts).

Career
Dandridge began her career appearing in Chicago theatre productions. She has gained a wider audience as the voice of Alyx Vance in the award-winning action game Half-Life 2 and its sequels, Episode One and Episode Two, and also as Marlene in The Last of Us. Dandridge earned a BAFTA Award for her voiceover performance in the 2015 game Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. On television, she guest starred on NCIS, 24, Criminal Minds, The Newsroom and Drop Dead Diva. In 2012, she was cast in a series regular role as Chief in the NBC drama series Chicago Fire,. Dandridge also had the recurring roles in the FX drama series, Sons of Anarchy as Rita Roosevelt, and short-lived The CW teen soap Star-Crossed in 2014. In 2015, she co-starred in the second season of NBC medical drama, The Night Shift as Gwen Gaskin.

In 2015, Dandridge was cast as lead character in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series, Greenleaf opposite Lynn Whitfield. She plays the role of Grace Greenleaf, Greenleaf's estranged daughter. Dandridge has received critical acclaim for her first leading screen role.

Dandridge starred as Papa Ge the God of death in the Broadway musical revival of Once on This Island, at the Circle in the Square Theater from Nov 9th 2017 to Jan 7th, 2018. She returned to the role of Papa Ge in a limited run from June 18 to August 19, 2018.