Her portrayal of Mamie Till in Till and a troubled mother in The Piano Lesson earned her several accolades, including a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for the former and Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations for both.

[3][8] Deadwyler began her career appearing on stage productions, including Charlotte's Web, The Real Tweenagers of Atlanta, and most notable playing the role of Lady in Yellow in For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf at the True Colors Theater in Atlanta in 2009.

[12] Deadwyler made her film debut playing the leading role of a homeless, alcoholic mother in the 2012 drama A Cross to Bear directed by Tandria Potts.

Eventually, Deadwyler had secondary roles in the films Gifted and The Leisure Seeker, and appeared in the television series Greenleaf, Atlanta and Watchmen.

[18][19][20] Cath Clarke from The Guardian wrote in her review: "Deadwyler’s soulful performance really grounds The Devil to Pay even as it cranks into revenge-movie mode.

That same year, Deadwyler guest-starred on FBI: Most Wanted and had a recurring role as Yoli in the series P-Valley.

[34][3][35][36] Manohla Dargis in The New York Times: "With fixed intensity and supple quicksilver emotional changes, Deadwyler rises to the occasion as Mamie, delivering a quiet, centralizing performance that works contrapuntally with the story’s heaviness, its profundity and violence.

[38] In 2024, Deadwyler played the leading role in the science fiction thriller film Parallel directed by Kourosh Ahari, a remake of Lei Zheng's feature of the same name.

[41][42] Deadwyler also starred in The Piano Lesson, an adaptation of the August Wilson play,[43] and in the Canadian post-apocalyptic thriller film 40 Acres.