Taylour Paige

As a trained dancer, Taylour Paige (birthname: Taylour Dominique Paige) first appeared in the movies in the background, but she hasn’t stayed there. Her lead performance in Stella Meghie’s writing-directing debut, Jean of the Joneses (2016), with Gloria Reuben, announced a striking actor who could command the screen.

This was more than confirmed four years later when Paige starred as a somewhat unlucky sex worker in Janicza Bravo’s stylish crime comedy, Zola (premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020, theatrically released in 2021), with Riley Keough, Nicholas Braun, and Colman Domingo, earning her the Independent Spirit Award for the best female lead.

In between, Paige appeared in the true-crime drama, White Boy Rick (2018), with Matthew McConaughey, Richie Merritt, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Brian Tyree Henry. Although Paige filmed Zola before her role as Dussie Mae in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Ma Rainey arrived first (on Netflix and limited theatrically), in Paige’s first-period film led by distinguished stage director George C. Wolfe and the stellar cast of Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Glynn Turman, and Domingo.

Taylour Paige’s film activity has greatly accelerated since 2020, with a co-starring role opposite Taylor Takahashi in writer-director Eddie Huang’s debut coming-of-age feature, Boogie (2021), followed by her involvement as co-star and executive producer of Lena Dunham’s Sharp Stick (2022), with Dunham, Jon Bernthal, and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Paige appeared with Diane Keaton and Elizabeth Lail in the Palm Springs-set comedy, Mack and Rita (2022). In a change of pace, Paige co-starred with Peter Dinklage, Kevin Bacon, and Jacob Tremblay in the big-budget version of the original 1984 Troma movie, The Toxic Avenger (date to be announced), written and directed by Macon Blair and produced by Legendary Pictures, with co-producer Guillermo del Toro. In another Legendary production starring Dinklage, Paige is in the comedy (co-written by Toxic director-writer Blair) Brothers (date to be announced), with Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, and Brendan Fraser.

Paige joined the notable ensemble of The Trainer (2023), director Tony Kaye’s first feature in over a decade, starring Steven Dorff, Gina Gershon, Bella Thorne, Julia Fox, Beverly D’Angelo, Steven Van Zandt, director Gus Van Sant, tennis star John McEnroe, surf legend Laird Hamilton, and the inimitable Paris Hilton. Taylour Paige’s resume continued to grow with a co-starring role in writer-director Elijah Bynum’s bodybuilding drama, Magazine Dreams (date to be announced), with Jonathan Majors and Haley Bennett.