5 Facts You Didn’t Know About ‘The Residence’ Actress Uzo Aduba: How She Met Her Husband and More

Closer rounded up five facts fans didn’t know about Emmy-winning actress Uzo Aduba’s amazing life and career.

Uzo Aduba Has a Soft Spot for McDonald’s

The daughter of Nigerian immigrants, Uzo, 44, learned early on that her parents worked hard “to give us everything they could and the American dream,” she told NPR. That included her mom taking a second job at McDonald’s — despite having two master’s degrees. “She wasn’t there for laughs, she was there to support her family. But me as a kid, I would love when we would go through the drive-thru and she would come and meet us. I thought it was the coolest thing.”

Uzo Aduba Almost Gave Up Acting

After a series of rejections, she considered throwing in the towel. “I said to myself, ‘this is it, I’m done,’” Uzo recalled to Deadline. But less than an hour later, she was offered a role that would change her life: Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren in Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black. The part landed her two Emmys.

Uzo Aduba Is No Sleuth – She Only Plays One

She plays detective Cordelia Cupp on the new Netflix series The Residence, but in real life, “I use Find My iPhone for everything,” Uzo told Town & Country. “I wish I could say I am a master detective, but I could set this phone down and two minutes and be looking for it with no idea of where I placed it.”

Uzo Aduba Met Her Husband in New York City

Uzo and Robert Sweeting first laid eyes on each other at a rooftop bar in Midtown Manhattan and tied the knot in 2020. “I never, and still never, doubted that he loved me,” the actress, who welcomed daughter Adaiba in 2023, told People.

Uzo Aduba Loves to Sing

While a student at Boston University, Uzo studied classical voice. “I was actually doing opera there,” she said. “I do sing!”