Zazie Beetz is a German-American actress known for the role of Vanessa "Van" Kiefer on Atlanta. In 2016, she appeared in the Netflix anthology series Easy, and in 2018, played Marvel Comics character Neena Thurman / Domino in Deadpool 2. Beetz was born at the Charité in Mitte, Berlin, Germany. Her German father is a cabinet maker and her African-American mother is a social worker. Performing in community theaters and local stages since childhood, Zazie found her joy in grade school and grew up acting as a girl. Beetz attended kindergarten and elementary school in Berlin, but she was raised in uptown Manhattan as well, speaking both German and English with her family at home. One of her first student jobs was at Alexa Einkaufszentrum working at H&M. She received training from Muscota New School, the Harlem School of the Arts and LaGuardia Arts High school. She attended Skidmore College where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in French.