Meet Shaunette Wilson, the Guyanese actress who plays a brilliant surgeon

Apr 28, 2019 News

Shaunette Wilson as a member of the Dora Milaje [left], on the hit Marvel film, Black Panthe

Last year, on the eve of the release of Marvel’s Studios Black Panther, Guyanese across the globe beamed with pride as actress, Letitia Wrigh, got ready to light up the big screen in her starring role as Shuri. But many didn’t know that Shaunette Renée Wilson, another Guyanese woman, acted in the movie as well.
She played one of the Dora Milaje, an elite group of female bodyguards and special forces in the fictional African country of Wakanda.
Wright has won the hearts of many – and rightly so – but Wilson is also making waves.
Wilson was born in Guyana but raised in New York from the age of two. She is the daughter of Deberah

Wilson as Dr. Okafor on the medical drama, The Resident

and Wesley Wilson. She attended the Yale School of Drama. Her Yale School of Drama credits include Cardboard Piano, Paradise Lost, The Seagull, and The Children. Shaunette received her BA in Drama and Theater from Queens College.
Wilson acts in the Fox medical drama, The Resident. Though the medical drama has polarised critics, with comparisons to other hospital shows like the everlasting Grey’s Anatomy and The Good Doctor, The Resident is creating its own spark in a flooded television market. Characters like Dr. Okafor makes it enjoyable.
That show is said to routinely terrify its viewers out of wanting to set foot in a hospital. The fictional series focuses on the lives and duties of healthcare professionals at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital, while exploring the bureaucratic practices of the healthcare industry.
Shaunette Renee Wilson plays Dr. Mina Okafor, a Nigerian surgeon. Dr. Okafor’s mother is a famous Nigerian surgeon, Dr. Josephine Okeke, and she has been carrying on her mom’s legacy in America. Wilson’s character does a lot to educate viewers on the experiences women face with workplace sexism, the experiences Black people face with racism, and by extension, the intersection of those systems of oppression on Black women. Despite those struggles, Dr. Okafor maintains her reputation and skill as a brilliant surgeon.
As her co-star, Matt Czuchry, once said, quite candidly, “Dr. Okafor is just a badass”.

Wilson [holding umbrella] who is from Linden, is seen in this photo, on a trip to Guyana

In episode 3 of the show’s first season, Dr. Okafor is sitting in a bar, when a man approaches her and asks what she does for a living.
“I work at the hospital nearby,” she says, nursing her drink.
“Oh, you are nurse.” the man quips, a common assumption about women in healthcare.
“No. I’m a surgeon,” Dr. Okafor corrects, and the man, contemplating the fallout of his assumption, walks away, clearly intimidated.
Her co-star, Manish Dayal said, “Dr. Okafor is an example of someone who has so much strength and restraint.”
Wilson, in an interview said that Dr. Okafor is a perfectionist, “very demanding of herself”.
“She’s about saving lives and ensuring that it’s done the right way, quickly and efficiently.”
But Wilson’s character is in trouble. In this week’s episode of The Resident, Dr. Okafor is getting checked out for a head injury that is now causing mild amnesia. Tune in to see what happens to Dr. Okafor, on Fox.