Uzo Aduba shares details on new Shonda Rhimes murder-mystery series 'The Residence': 'Every day is a joy'

Uzo Aduba is taking her talents to Shondaland. The Emmy award-winning actress is gearing up for the forthcoming Shonda Rhimes Netflix series The Residence, “a screwball whodunit” about a murder at the White House. The search to uncover the truth leads to 157 suspects and 132 rooms to investigate, according to the show’s description.

Beyond the plot, Aduba is trying to stay mum on further details.

“I’m keeping it a mystery,” she says. “I can tell you that I play Detective Cordelia Cupp and we’ve been brought in to solve the murder... But as far as the murder mystery itself, I plan to keep it mysterious.”

Aduba sat down with Yahoo Entertainment to talk about the show, motherhood and how she’s helping Gen Z build confidence through her partnership with Colgate.

What to know about The Residence

Aduba says her character in The Residence is “a woman who doesn’t miss a beat.”

“She sees everything. And I found that just wonderfully attractive that [Rhimes] had created this really fully rounded, quirky character that gets to step into this world and [is] trying to problem solve,” she says.

Aduba says working with Rhimes, who is the creator of successful TV series like Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder, two primetime hits with Black female leads, attracted her to the project.

“Firstly, when you hear Shondaland, you hear Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers as executive producers on the show, you jump in,” she explains. “I’ve been a long fan of the work that comes out of [Shondaland] and I have deep, deep, massive respect for Shonda and her team: Betsy Beers, Merri Howard and Paul William Davies, who wrote our show. So I was really excited at the prospect of being on a show of that world.”

While the series doesn’t have a release date as of yet (Yahoo Entertainment reached out to Netflix but didn’t receive a response), the cast includes Giancarlo Esposito, Al Franken and Kylie Minogue, according to Netflix.

“Being in a show that has that kind of base and the amazing cast of characters is really exciting. And every day is a joy,” Aduba says.

The actress says the table reads the cast has done together are “magical.”

“You get to see everybody’s ideas of what they’re going to be bringing to the table as far as the characters are concerned,” she explains. “It’s a really exciting time to watch the world that you’ve been reading about for months come to life in front of your eyes.”

Working on the series isn’t the only new role Aduba raves about. The new mom welcomed her first child with husband Robert Sweeting in November 2023.

“The confidence that I’ve gained in being a mother is knowing that I am doing great ... that my best is good enough,” she says. “I have confidence in knowing that the best thing that I could do for my daughter is really try to be my best self as an example for her.”

Aduba gained a similar confidence from her breakout role as Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren on Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black.

“[Crazy Eyes] was so uniquely herself, she didn’t really try to be anything other than who she is. She didn’t try to mold herself into what other people wanted her to be,” she says. “That is something that I embrace ... and I think that also helped me to find a path for my career.”

Aduba wants to help others, especially Gen Z-ers, feel more comfortable in their skin through her new campaign with Colgate called “My Smile Is My Superpower.”

The actress’s smile, with her gap, is something she’s become known for. Growing up, though, she asked her mother for braces to correct it.

Abuda’s mother pushed back. “My mom was really imparting on us that our gap, which was part of our heritage, [she said], ‘Don’t you know that in Nigeria, your gap is a sign of beauty?’”

Aduba, who grew up in Boston, disagreed at the time. “But now I celebrate it, and I want more young people to do the same,” she says.

In partnership with Colgate, she’s helping young adults smile “with confidence and on their own terms.”

“I wanted to try to inspire young people, Gen Z-ers and younger, if possible, anybody in the reach of my voice to know that, hey, guess what, you know, your smile, it actually is a superpower,” she says.