Molly Osborne
Pip Bourdillon
Washington
Breaking Baz: Denzel Washington & Jake Gyllenhaal Task Up-And-Comer Molly Osborne To Make Broadway Debut As Desdemona In ‘Othello’
EXCLUSIVE: Deadline can reveal that Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal will be joined by fast-rising West End actress Molly Osborne, who will play Desdemona opposite them, in the spring 2025 Broadway revival of Shakespeare’s Othello.
Upon seeing Osborne’s audition tape, Washington and others were so impressed that they are said to have expressed a keenness to cast her immediately.
Washington, soon to be seen in Gladiator 2 with Paul Mescal, will play the title character, while Gyllenhaal, currently starring in the Presumed Innocent series on Apple TV+, will take on the part of the manipulative Iago.
Othello producer Brian Anthony Moreland confirmed that both stars had seen Osborne’s reel, and pointedly reasoned that “obviously she wouldn’t be doing it if they hadn’t” seen it and approved her.
Moreland explained that he, director Kenny Leon and casting director Duncan Stewart of ARC Casting searched widely for an artist to perform alongside Washington and Gyllenhaal.
“The role is such a heavy role in the canon of Shakespeare’s work,” Moreland remarked, and he understood that whoever was cast as Othello’s wife would be working with great “beasts,” as he put it, of the stage.
“I call them people who eat the stage, people who you can’t take your eyes off them,” Moreland exclaimed. “They devour every single moment that they’re there. They make multiple notes out of that one note,” he said, adding that on a hunch he decided to look at actors in London.
He started looking at Olivier Award-winning people, and then at who else was in their category and “well, who was their understudy? Who was their standby? Who else, who replaced them?”
Moreland smiled, then said, ”And the name that kept popping up was Molly, Molly, Molly, Molly!”
As Moreland and his colleagues reached out to more of their theatre colleagues in London, he kept hearing the same chants.
Moreland contacted Osborne’s manager, Steven Kavovit at Thruline Entertainment and her longtime London agent Lou Coulson at Lou Coulson Associates.
Osborne, who made her London theatre debut as Tzeitel in an acclaimed revival of Fiddler on the Roof — directed, beautifully, by Trevor Nunn at the Menier Chocolate Factory (it later transferred into the West End’s Playhouse Theatre) — put herself on tape.
Leon watched it, Moreland said. “Kenny immediately called back and said, ‘That’s her!’ And I said, ‘I agree. That’s her.’ Kenny got on a plane, he went over to visit her. And he called as soon as he was done meeting with her and said, ‘That’s our Desdemona.’ That’s how we got her,” said Moreland, who was a producer of the superb 2019 production of Sea Wall/A Life that starred Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge at the Hudson Theatre.
More recently, Moreland produced The Piano Lesson with Samuel L. Jackson, Danielle Brooks and John David Washington, and the current revival of The Wiz at the Marquis Theatre.
In a statement, Leon said, “I am so excited to welcome Molly Osborne to our Broadway cast of Othello as ‘Desdemona.’ Her unique blend of heart and intellect, coupled with a natural vulnerability, makes her a truly captivating actress. I am thrilled to welcome her to our theatre community and eagerly anticipate collaborating with her on her Broadway debut.”
Osborne let out a huge sigh of relief when we met for breakfast on a recent sunny morning at the Dean Street Townhouse in Soho. “I’ve sort of been keeping it under wraps for so long,” she said, smiling brightly.
She told how Kavovit, her manager, contacted her about making an audition tape.
“This one just came through as a tape and as always, these things are so exciting,” but she didn’t expect anything to come of it. “You send the tape, and then forget about it, as lots of people do,” she said, noting that several months prior she had flown to New York to audition in person for something else, which she didn’t get.
For her Othello tape she read from Shakespeare’s As You Like It. “I just focused on the text and the language and on harnessing the poetry,” she said, and she recited a poem and told a funny story, all of which clearly resonated with Moreland and Leon — and Washington and Gyllenhaal.
A few weeks later, Leon was in town and had arranged to meet with Osborne at Coulson’s office.
However, Osborne spotted Leon, per chance, the night before at the West End opening of (Broadway-bound) The Picture of Dorian Gray, which starred the incredible Sarah Snook, where she was helping out the show’s Story House PR press team doing vox pop interviews on the red carpet.
It’s just one of many jobs the hard-working thespian takes on in between acting work.
Leon directed Washington previously in the 2010 Fences produced by Scott Rudin (Washington won the best actor Tony], and they teamed again on the 2014 production of Raisin in the Sun for which Leon took the Tony for best director of a play.
The director talked with Osborne at Coulson’s office the following day.
“We had a really nice chat and we said goodbye,” Osborne recalled.
It was several weeks before she heard from her manager who informed her that there might be a chemistry test with Washington and Gyllenhaal. When she didn’t hear back about that, she was resigned to thinking that it wasn’t to be.
Weeks went by until one day, when she was in Coulson’s office, she heard that Leon and Moreland had cast her as Desdemona.
She was in a daze for two days “before I then burst into tears,” Osborne said.
It’s a breathtaking moment for an actor who has never had her name up in lights before. And it’s hard to recall the last time a promising Brit was catapulted across the Atlantic to star in play opposite not one but two enormous Hollywood stars, who, by the way, are as at home on stage as they are on the big screen, often more so.
To be sure though, to paraphrase Presidential hopeful Vice President Kamala Harris, Osborne earned it before she won it.
Osborne, a native of Wivenhoe in north-eastern Essex, near Colchester, had a love for performing at a young age. With her parents’ encouragement, she moved to London at the age of 18 to study musical theater at the celebrated Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.
Her first role after graduating was in Nunn’s superb production of Fiddler on the Roof. The famed director, a former artistic chief of the Royal Shakespeare Company, makes his actors rigorously investigate the text as thoroughly as if they would a play by Shakespeare.
She later returned to the Menier Chocolate Factory to play Chana in Paula Vogel’s Indecent directed by Rebecca Taichman. Recently she has appeared in the world premiere musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button directed by Jethro Compton at the Southwark Playhouse.
She has also appeared in PBS’ Call the Midwife and she has a role in the Prime Video series Anansi Boys, based on a Neil Gaiman graphic novel.
Her parents are artistic, she described her father as being “musical,” but they never went into the business. And her 94-year-old grandfather “still enjoys singing along to Frank Sinatra.”
At school Osborne would do plays, and she was lucky enough to have a bunch of singing lessons. “My parents would drive me back from rehearsals and they really encouraged my passion,” she said.
I’m lucky to have seen several of her stage performances and she has always stood out. When I first saw her in Fiddler on the Roof, I remember writing down her name and made a point of keeping up with her career, as I do with scores of other future stars.
Osborne’s prepping, whenever she gets the opportunity, for her Broadway debut next year. She has read and re-read Othello to help her get inside Desdemona’s head and she has explored the psychology of love, jealousy, evil and race, the themes Shakespeare explored in the tragedy. She also visited the Imperial War Museum to help her try and understand men of war who are at war with themselves.
A video call is being planned when all the roles have been cast (some exciting names are being talked about) for the company to “meet” ahead of rehearsals early in the new year.
“I’ve been told to be ready to be in New York from January. I can’t wait to meet them and dive into it,” Osborne enthused.
“We’re delighted to have Molly,” Moreland said.
Othello will open at a yet to be announced Shubert theater in the spring.
Washington
Man shot by Chicago police in Washington Park charged with assault, unlawful possession of a firearm
A man shot by Chicago police earlier this week in the Washington Park neighborhood has been charged with aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability said two officers in an unmarked squad car spotted 26-year-old Anthony Nelson leaving a liquor store near 57th and Michigan on Tuesday morning. Police said the officers believed Nelson had a gun, and he ran off when they tried to question him.
Cook County prosecutors said, as he was running away, Nelson dropped the gun he was carrying, and then picked it up again, despite orders not to touch it. Police said that’s when an officer shot Nelson.
Nelson suffered a graze wound to the abdomen and the right arm and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in good condition, police said.
On Thursday, Nelson was charged with one felony count of aggravated assault of a police officer and one felony count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
The officer who fired the shot was also taken to an area hospital. A gun was recovered at the scene, police said.
At Nelson’s first court appearance on Thursday, a judge ordered him held at Cook County Jail while he awaits trial.
“Ain’t nobody perfect out here. We’ve done things and we’ve made mistakes,” Nelson’s mother, Shalene Foster, said after her son’s hearing.
Thursday was Nelson’s birthday.
“He got to go through this on today of him making 26 years old,” Foster said. “It’s like an empty space in my heart right now. … There’s a lot of mothers that’s tired too. We’re tired. We’re tired of this.”
Nelson has an extensive criminal history that began when he was 19. He has been convicted twice before of felony weapons charges, and was on patrol at the time of his arrest, according to court records.
He is due back in court on Nov. 26.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability was investigating the shooting, and the officer who shot Nelson has been placed on administrative duty for 30 days, which is typical protocol for COPA investigations.
PITTSBURGH — When Darnell Washington moves through the Steelers locker room, his 6-foot-7 frame sways with every lumbering step. With rare athleticism for a man with those imposing physical dimensions, he is one of the NFL’s most unique players. Put him in a three-point stance and he looks like an offensive lineman capable of grappling with the AFC North’s best edge rushers. Line him up wide and he can back down smaller defensive backs like a power forward, or bully them after the catch.
Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith thinks of the third-year tight end as a wildcard in his offense, a create-a-player from the Madden video game — but in real life.
In that locker room a few weeks ago, a reporter posed a question that many have wondered:
How much do you really weigh?
A gentle giant with an easy smile and good sense of humor, Washington laughed off the question. The Steelers list him at a — clearly erroneous — 264 pounds.
Come on, the scale is right here. Just step on — real quick.
Again, the only response was a hearty chuckle.
Many tried, but getting an answer to that question proved more difficult than trying to tackle Washington in the open field. That 264 pounds was his weight at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine.
Why not update it?
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Washington said. “I’m just like you. I see it, just keep on about my day and laugh at it.”
Well, how close to 264 are you?
“How close? Honestly, I don’t know.”
The first indication that Washington is even bigger than his listed dimensions came last year. Tight ends coach Alfredo Roberts was detailing all the ways his tight end could be used in the offense when he accidentally let it slip.
“He gives you that added dimension because he is athletic,” Roberts said. “You don’t expect a guy to be 6-7 and 300-plus — oh, I said that out loud.”
Sorry Darnell Washington, your coach misspoke about your size #Steelers pic.twitter.com/0UlKpr47ps
— 93.7 The Fan (@937theFan) October 30, 2024
During the Steelers’ Week 7 Thursday night game against the Bengals, the Amazon broadcast listed him as “300+” pounds. But if you were looking for an exact number, well, that information was guarded as tightly as a weekly gameplan.
“It’s no secret,” Washington said. “I truly just don’t know.”
Or does he?
When Washington was coming out of Georgia, the Steelers weren’t necessarily in the market for a tight end. Intrigued by his potential, the team hosted him for a pre-draft visit, the only tight end in that cycle to visit. When Washington slipped to the third round, the Steelers took him; the hope was that he would help slow Myles Garrett and the other dominant 4-3 defensive ends in the division.
From the moment Washington entered the league, he’s been the dominant in-line blocker the team imagined. During his first training camp, Washington proved himself by holding his own against T.J. Watt in one-on-one reps. This year during the ‘backs-on-‘backers drill, Washington stood up another edge rusher.
“Not bad for a tackle,” one teammate chirped.
“Pay me like it then,” Washington quipped back.
The Steelers have highlighted Washington’s physicality even more so this season by lining him up next to extra offensive lineman Spencer Anderson in their jumbo packages. When a tackle (like Broderick Jones on the left side, or Troy Fautanu on the right), Washington and Anderson line up shoulder-to-shoulder, the Steelers have three 300-plus pound humans on the same side of the formation.
“I think it was a George Young quote about the Franco Harris debate that’s in Chuck Noll’s book,” Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said. “He said, this was settled 2000 years ago when Alexander the Great came riding in on elephants. That’s kind of what it looks like. You put the tackle over, you’ve got 1,000 pounds over there.”
This season, Aaron Rodgers has helped unlock another dimension. The veteran quarterback was immediately intrigued by Washington’s physical dimensions; he often likened Washington to former teammate Mercedes Lewis, who was listed a 6-foot-6 and 265 pounds. With Rodgers behind center and Smith calling the plays, Washington has caught 18 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown. With seven games to go, he already has more receiving yards than last season, and he’s one reception short of last year’s total.
D.J. Turner II was one of three Bengals defenders to feel the brunt of Darnell Washington during the tight end’s 31-yard catch-and-run on Sunday. (Justin K. Aller / Getty Images)
If he looks at times like a grown man playing against children, that’s exactly how he feels, too. When he was a kid growing up in the Las Vegas area, Washington and his friends used to play a game called “Three Flags Up.” The rules are simple: One person throws the ball into the air. Everyone else jumps to try to catch it. First person to catch the ball three times wins.
“Honestly, it just takes me back to the childhood days playing three flags up,” Washington said. “I see someone out there a lot smaller than me, I know what’s coming. I feel like everybody knows what’s coming.”
Knowing what’s coming and stopping it are two different things. During Sunday’s win over the Bengals, Cincinnati’s defense felt the full weight of Washington. One play sums it up best: Washington caught a shallow cross, stiff-armed 231-pound linebacker Barrett Carter to the ground, ran through the arms of 210-pound safety Geno Stone and then finished the play with an exclamation point, bulldozing 185-pound DJ Turner II, knocking the cornerback off his feet.
GET OUTTA HIS WAY‼️ @_Dwfootball11
📺 #CINvsPIT on @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/Egz2vCb7BE
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 16, 2025
“They’re getting scared of him, for sure,” Rodgers said with a smile. “They should be.”
On Wednesday, Washington proved a little less elusive. Appearing on St. Brown Podcast, hosted by Detroit Lions wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown and his brother, former NFL wideout Equanimeous St. Brown.
How much do you weigh?
“I ain’t finna cap to y’all. I ain’t weighed myself in a minute, but I know—”
Bro, what do you mean, you got weigh-ins every week!
“Look, there’s no weigh-ins—”
Washington then, literally, ducked off-camera.
Look, he trying to get away!
“O.K., O.K. yeah, I’m gonna keep it a buck. I’m 311.”
Amon-Ra St. Brown (left) and Equanimeous St. Brown (right) finally wore down Darnell Washington (middle) on Wednesday. (via YouTube)
While Washington’s emerging presence in the pass game is new, it’s not necessarily unexpected.
“Some of the freakish things that you see him do in the stadium I saw on Georgia tape,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “Some of the freakish things that I’ve seen him do this year, I saw him do last year. He had a unique run after (catch) certainly the other day that kind of ignited our collective offensively and defensively, but he had a similar-type play, I remember, in Indianapolis last year, when we were kind of running in place offensively, and he made a play, and it kind of ignited us.”
“He’s a special athlete. He has unique talents. He’s certainly a tough guy to deal with in one-on-one tackle circumstances. It makes him a force to be reckoned with.”
All 311 pounds of him.
Washington
Washington Spirit players Croix Bethune, Kate Wiesner called up year’s final USWNT matches – WTOP News
Washington Spirit midfielder Croix Bethune and defender Kate Wiesner have been called up to the U.S. Women’s National Team for the side’s upcoming friendlies.
Defender Naomi Girma was named to the United States roster on Wednesday for a pair of upcoming matches against Italy after returning from a calf injury.
Girma had been sidelined since the start of the season with Chelsea but recently returned to the starting lineup. She has not played for the U.S. national team since a 3-0 victory over Canada on July 2.
The United States will play Italy for its final two matches of the year on Nov. 28 at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando and on Dec. 1 at Chase Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale.
U.S. coach Emma Hayes named 26 players to the camp roster and 23 players will be available for each match.
Forward Trinity Rodman was left off the roster as she continues to recover from a knee injury. She appeared as a late substitute in the Washington Spirit’s 2-0 semifinal victory over the Portland Thorns this weekend and nearly scored in the sixth minute of stoppage time but her shot went just wide.
The Spirit play Gotham FC on Saturday in the National Women’s Soccer League championship game at PayPal Park in San Jose, California.
Goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce was also left off the U.S. roster while she recovers from a fractured eye socket sustained during a game with Manchester United last week.
“It’s been an exciting and important year for our group, and we’ve accomplished a lot of goals, expanded the player pool and made strides in our game model, so this camp will be an extension of that, but it will also set the groundwork for 2026, which will be our World Cup qualifying year,” Hayes said in a statement released by the team. “Games against top European teams are so valuable as they give us an honest assessment of where we are in our growth as a team, so I know our players with embrace that challenge.”
Two players have been called up to the national team for the first time: Bay FC goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz and Chicago Stars forward Jameese Joseph. Washington Spirit defender Kate Wiesner earned a second call-up after being named as a training player for a camp last year.
The roster with club affiliation:
Goalkeepers: Claudia Dickey (Seattle Reign), Mandy McGlynn (Utah Royals), Silkowitz (Bay FC).
Defenders: Jordyn Bugg (Seattle Reign), Emily Fox (Arsenal), Girma (Chelsea), Avery Patterson (Houston Dash), Lilly Reale (Gotham), Izzy Rodriguez (Kansas City Current), Emily Sams (Orlando Pride), Emily Sonnett (Gotham), Kennedy Wesley (San Diego Wave), Kate Wiesner (Washington Spirit).
Midfielders: Croix Bethune (Washington Spirit), Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns), Lindsey Heaps (Lyon), Jaelin Howell (Gotham), Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current), Rose Lavelle (Gotham), Lily Yohannes (Lyon).
Forwards: Joseph (Chicago Stars), Catarina Macario (Chelsea), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville), Jaedyn Shaw (Gotham FC), Alyssa Thompson (Chelsea).
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
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