Danah Williams
- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Danah Davis Williams was born in Detroit, Michigan where she lived with her mother and grandmother until the age of six. Davis then moved to San Diego, California, to live with her aunt, where she fell in love with acting at a young age. Many of her fondest and most formative memories as a child are of watching movies and television shows with her mother. "Early on, I developed the ability to entertain my mom by reenacting scenes and mimicking our favorite characters," she says.
In elementary school, a traveling children's theater troupe captured Davis's imagination, and she asked her teachers how to apply to their performing arts academy. Despite facing a formidable and exhaustive enrollment process, she triumphed, earning her place among the accepted. "I was the only female student of color in the entire school," Davis says. "That was my first formal deep dive into visual and performing arts."
Today, Davis Williams successfully balances careers as both an actor, a licensed psychotherapist and popular podcast host.
Her highest profile film role to date is in the gripping faith-based drama "The Encounter," where she plays Catherine, an unhappily married woman who finds herself stranded at a mysterious roadside diner with a small group of strangers. Davis is one of the principal leads in this provocative ensemble feature.
More recently, Davis starred as Dr. Summerholt, a psychologist who uses an experimental treatment on a disturbed patient in the 2020 sci-fi short "Repressed." Initially brought on to the project as a mental health consultant, Davis's wealth of acting experience and her real-life career as a psychotherapist made her the ideal choice to play one of the leads in the film.
Showing off her funny side, Davis portrayed a news reporter in the charming romantic short "Magnet," which was an official selection of the 2018 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. She also had supporting roles in the independent comedy "One Night Many Moments," the family movie "Why Things Change," and the faith-based film "The Sea of Dreams."
She will appear next in the dramatic feature "A House Divided," playing the lead role of a mother who attempts to reunite her family when her son returns home from the military.
Davis brings her passion for acting and her work as an empathetic therapist together in "Reel Psychology," the popular web series she co-created and co-hosts with filmmaker Jon Lee Brody. An insightful show about the mental health of fictional characters in movies and on TV, "Reel Psychology" is a natural evolution of Davis's work as a psychological creative consultant for Hollywood. "As a licensed psychotherapist, I'm often hired to consult with filmmakers to help ensure that mental health symptoms and psychotherapy are portrayed accurately and authentically on screen," Davis says.
She recently consulted on the MGM blockbuster "Creed III," working with the movie's star and director, Michael B. Jordan, as well as co-star Tessa Thompson and several of the film's producers. Other studios she's consulted for include CBS, FX, Disney, ABC, Freeform, and FX.
Davis happily acknowledges that she's done much of her best acting work since becoming a therapist, and she credits that to the shared skills both professions require. "Becoming a therapist helped open me up in a way that allows me to be much more attuned to by scene partners, present in the given circumstances of the script, and emotionally vulnerable, illuminating the truth and human experience in the storytelling," she says, "and that's what I bring to every project I'm cast in."
In elementary school, a traveling children's theater troupe captured Davis's imagination, and she asked her teachers how to apply to their performing arts academy. Despite facing a formidable and exhaustive enrollment process, she triumphed, earning her place among the accepted. "I was the only female student of color in the entire school," Davis says. "That was my first formal deep dive into visual and performing arts."
Today, Davis Williams successfully balances careers as both an actor, a licensed psychotherapist and popular podcast host.
Her highest profile film role to date is in the gripping faith-based drama "The Encounter," where she plays Catherine, an unhappily married woman who finds herself stranded at a mysterious roadside diner with a small group of strangers. Davis is one of the principal leads in this provocative ensemble feature.
More recently, Davis starred as Dr. Summerholt, a psychologist who uses an experimental treatment on a disturbed patient in the 2020 sci-fi short "Repressed." Initially brought on to the project as a mental health consultant, Davis's wealth of acting experience and her real-life career as a psychotherapist made her the ideal choice to play one of the leads in the film.
Showing off her funny side, Davis portrayed a news reporter in the charming romantic short "Magnet," which was an official selection of the 2018 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. She also had supporting roles in the independent comedy "One Night Many Moments," the family movie "Why Things Change," and the faith-based film "The Sea of Dreams."
She will appear next in the dramatic feature "A House Divided," playing the lead role of a mother who attempts to reunite her family when her son returns home from the military.
Davis brings her passion for acting and her work as an empathetic therapist together in "Reel Psychology," the popular web series she co-created and co-hosts with filmmaker Jon Lee Brody. An insightful show about the mental health of fictional characters in movies and on TV, "Reel Psychology" is a natural evolution of Davis's work as a psychological creative consultant for Hollywood. "As a licensed psychotherapist, I'm often hired to consult with filmmakers to help ensure that mental health symptoms and psychotherapy are portrayed accurately and authentically on screen," Davis says.
She recently consulted on the MGM blockbuster "Creed III," working with the movie's star and director, Michael B. Jordan, as well as co-star Tessa Thompson and several of the film's producers. Other studios she's consulted for include CBS, FX, Disney, ABC, Freeform, and FX.
Davis happily acknowledges that she's done much of her best acting work since becoming a therapist, and she credits that to the shared skills both professions require. "Becoming a therapist helped open me up in a way that allows me to be much more attuned to by scene partners, present in the given circumstances of the script, and emotionally vulnerable, illuminating the truth and human experience in the storytelling," she says, "and that's what I bring to every project I'm cast in."
