Merle Dandridge

Biography:

Merle Dandridge  is an American actress and singer, recognized for her performances in Broadway musicals like Jesus Christ Superstar, Spamalot, Rent, and Once on This Island. She is also known for her video game roles as Alyx Vance in Half-Life 2 and Marlene in The Last of Us series. Dandridge played the lead role of Grace Greenleaf in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama Greenleaf (2016–2020) and has had recurring roles in television series such as Sons of Anarchy and The Night Shift. She starred as Kim Hammond in the first season of HBO Max’s The Flight Attendant (2020) and began starring as Natasha Seo-Yeon Ross in the ABC action series Station 19 in 2022. In 2023, she reprised her role as Marlene in the television adaptation of The Last of Us.

Born in Okinawa on May 31, 1975, Dandridge is of Korean and African-American descent. She moved to the U.S. with her parents, living first at Beale Air Force Base in California before settling in Bellevue, Nebraska, where she spent most of her childhood. She attended Papillion La Vista High School, where she was involved in the theater department. Dandridge later studied at the Theatre Conservatory at Roosevelt University (now the Chicago College of Performing Arts).

Dandridge’s career began with Chicago theatre productions, and she gained broader recognition as the voice of Alyx Vance in Half-Life 2 and its sequels, as well as Marlene in The Last of Us. In 2006, she was cast as Kala in the original Broadway production of Tarzan. She won a BAFTA Award for her voiceover work in the 2015 game Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture. On television, Dandridge guest-starred on shows like NCIS, 24, Criminal Minds, The Newsroom, and Drop Dead Diva. She was also cast as Chief in the ABC drama Station 19 in 2022, and had recurring roles in Sons of Anarchy as Rita Roosevelt and Star-Crossed in 2014. In 2015, she co-starred in The Night Shift as Gwen Gaskin.

In 2015, Dandridge was cast as the lead in the Oprah Winfrey Network series Greenleaf, playing Grace Greenleaf, the estranged daughter of the main character. Her performance was widely praised. Dandridge also starred as Papa Ge in the 2017 Broadway revival of Once on This Island and received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Musical Theater Album for the cast recording. In 2018, she had a recurring role on Murphy Brown as a network boss. Dandridge joined the cast of The Flight Attendant in 2020 and reprised her role as Marlene in the The Last of Us HBO series in 2021. In 2025, Dandridge will take over the role of Persephone in the Broadway production of Hadestown starting February 18.