This story about “The Woman King” star Thuso Mbedu first appeared in the awards preview issue of awards magazine TheWrap.
From an early age, thuso Mbedu knew he wanted to be an engine for change. He knew acting was his way, but he didn’t always know how it would happen. And sometimes it was so difficult that he considered giving up, or worse, ending his own life.
Now, as she stands at the center of a transformative film for Hollywood and beyond, “The Woman King,” she feels poised to be that driving force that brings progress to others. Playing Nawi, the young warrior-in-training who follows Viola Davis’ General Nanisca leading an all-female army in 19th-century Africa, she discovers that she has touched people in unexpected ways.
“People come up to me and say the movie changed them,” Mbedu said in a conversation filled with red carpet appearances and photo shoots during awards season. “They say they feel seen for the first time. Not just black women, (but) Caucasian women as well. We have parents come in and say they have shared the story with their children. Let them feel that nothing is impossible for them in the future.”
To play the role, South African Mbedu, 31, had to learn spear fighting, hand-to-hand combat and inhabiting the skin of a virginal soldier (the Agojie take a vow of celibacy). And although “Woman King” is his first feature film, it was not his first project to break barriers and require intense sacrifice. In 2021, Mbedu starred in “The Underground Railroad,” Barry Jenkins’ series about American slavery. The first African to star in an American series of its kind, she credits that role and “The Woman King” as pivotal moments in her career.
In a way, it still amazes her that she was able to make it to this place. “When you come into this industry, you think you can be anything,” she said. “But then you find, ‘Oh, I’m black. Oh, I’m a woman. I’m locked in a corner and there’s nothing I can do about it. But with “The Woman King,” an all-female ensemble led by a dark-skinned black woman, it’s something different.”
Her journey from the South African city of Pietermaritzburg to a leading role in a Hollywood studio film is something else, too. Mbedu lost her mother to a brain tumor at age 4 and she was raised by her grandmother in modest circumstances. When Mbedu was a teenager, her grandmother also died, leaving her an orphan with no immediate family other than her sister.
“In high school, sometimes I would ask a friend to bring me lunch because we didn’t have enough food,” she said, fighting back tears as she decided to be honest about her childhood, something she doesn’t do often. “Not many people knew that our grandmother raised us.”
She felt that acting was her calling, but when she finished high school and began a professional career in South Africa, Mbedu struggled to get roles. “In 2016, I felt like I hit rock bottom,” she said. “I am in this industry because it is my purpose, what I was created for. At that time I had not worked for six months. That’s devastating when you see no other option than what you could do.”
He spiraled into a dark place: “Should I go back to school? Do I find something else to do? I contemplated taking my life. One, I didn’t want to do it because it would hurt my sister. But two, if I gave up on myself, I gave up not just myself, but the generations I might have impacted.
“Deep down I knew it was not an option,” he concluded. “I went through a depression that I am still recovering from. Part of my brain lives in fear of being in that space again.”
Somehow, she got out of that deep hole and moved to the United States, a bold gamble for a young woman on her own. And now, just a few years later, Mbedu has created challenging and meaningful performances that pave the way for other actors. “My reason for being in this industry was to bring healing through my craft,” she said. “To use my craft as a tool for social change, and one day use my influence in a way that will empower other people. What I can do is do my best to make life better for the next person.”
But also, she’s relishing the prospect of paying the rent and inviting her sister to join her for the holidays. “I want to enjoy the moment,” she said. “I have been living in survival mode most of my life. Only now can I remind myself that I need to enjoy this life. I don’t know what that looks like.”
Learn more about the awards preview here.
