[3][4][2] During her Golden Globe acceptance speech for The Iron Lady, Meryl Streep mentioned some of her favorite performances of the year, highlighting Oduye in Pariah.

[6][7] In 2013, Oduye co-starred alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor in Steve McQueen's historical drama 12 Years a Slave, winner of the 2014 Academy Award for Best Picture.

[10] In 2014, she made her directorial debut with Breaking In, a short film about a young black man's first time being stopped and frisked by the NYPD, based on her brother's early experience.

After several lead roles in regional theater productions, including Eclipsed and The Bluest Eye, Oduye made her Broadway debut opposite Cicely Tyson in Horton Foote's The Trip To Bountiful.

[12][13] In 2015, Oduye co-starred with Steve Carell in Adam McKay's comedy-drama The Big Short, which won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.