--- name: "Samira Wiley" canonical: "https://film.one/person/samira-wiley" roles: ["Actor"] born: "15 April 1987" reviewed_on_fi1m: 2 average_fi1m_score: 77 updated: "2026-09-17T02:18:21.809281+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Samira Wiley Actor. Born 15 April 1987 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 15 April 1987, Washington, District of Columbia, USA - **Active:** 2013–2017 - **Also known as:** Samira Denise Wiley ## Fi1m on Samira Wiley > Samira Wiley plays women who keep their warmth in places built to take it away. In two long-running series she has been the friend the plot did not need and the audience did, and she is better than either show's later seasons. The best room in *Orange Is the New Black* (2013) is the prison library, and the best thing in it is Samira Wiley talking. Poussey Washington and Danielle Brooks's Taystee argue about books, trade contraband and do a two-hander impression of white women that we have not stopped quoting, and Wiley plays all of it as conversation rather than performance. Nobody wrote the friendship a plot; the two of them made it the truest thing in the series. It moved us more than anything the show did on purpose, because Wiley listens the way people listen to a friend they have already forgiven, and the camera catches her doing it while Brooks has the line. She is good in the moments a lesser actor would wait through. She trained at Juilliard and did a season on the New York stage in 2011, with a small part in *The Sitter* (2011) the same year. *Orange Is the New Black* took her from a recurring role to a main one, and she was among the reasons a comedy about a well-off blonde behind bars turned into an ensemble piece about the women around her. When it ended in 2019 she was already two years into *The Handmaid's Tale* (2017), where she plays Moira Strand until the series closed in 2025. Between the two came films we have not reviewed, *Nerve* (2016) and *Detroit* (2017), and returns to the stage, including at the National Theatre. Moira is a smaller part than Poussey and a harder one. She is June's friend from before, and for much of six seasons she carries the flashbacks, so that Julian Clarke and Wendy Hallam Martin can cut from a grey bedroom to a bright city where women jog and buy coffee. The cuts hurt every time, and they hurt because of what Wiley does in the bright half: she plays the past as ordinary, and the ordinariness is what Gilead has taken. In the seasons that keep hurting June and letting her up again, Moira is left watching, and Wiley is asked to react more than she is asked to act. She does it well. We would rather she had been given more to do. Both parts are queer Black women inside institutions built to punish them, and the two are not alike on screen. Poussey talks; Moira watches. Poussey is quick and hopeful; Moira is angry and careful and has stopped expecting to be surprised. Of the first she has said, "She gave me my life. She gave me a career." Watch the first two seasons of *Orange Is the New Black* for the library and the first ten episodes of *The Handmaid's Tale* for the flashbacks. Then notice that in twelve years across two long series she has been the friend in both. Somebody should give her the line. ## Biography Samira Wiley is an American actress. She trained at the Juilliard School, graduating in 2010, and began her career with theatre work before her first major screen role as Tina in the 2011 film *The Sitter*. Wiley is best known for playing Poussey Washington in the series *Orange Is the New Black* (2013–2019) and Moira Strand in *The Handmaid's Tale* (2017–2025). For the latter she received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. She has also appeared in films including *Nerve* (2016) and *Detroit* (2017). She is married to writer Lauren Morelli, whom she met while working on *Orange Is the New Black*. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (2) - *The Handmaid's Tale* (2017), Fi1m 75, as Moira Strand — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-handmaids-tale.md) - *Orange Is the New Black* (2013), Fi1m 79, as Poussey Washington — [page](https://film.one/tv/orange-is-the-new-black.md) ## Also known for - *Nerve* (2016), Azhar - *Law & Order: Special Victims Unit* (1999), Michelle Thompson - *Love, Death & Robots* (2019), Lt. Colby (voice) - *Detroit* (2017), Vanessa - *The Sitter* (2011), Tina - *Unforgettable* (2011), Gina - *Being Flynn* (2012), Asha - *Rob the Mob* (2014), Agent Annie Bell --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/samira-wiley