Amandla Stenberg

Amandla Stenberg
Born (1998-10-23) October 23, 1998
Los Angeles, California, United States
Occupation Actress and activist
Years active 2011–present
Website www.amandlastenberg.com

Amandla Stenberg (born October 23, 1998)[1] is an American actress. She is best known for her portrayal of young Cataleya in Colombiana and Rue in The Hunger Games.

Early life

Stenberg was born in Los Angeles, California, the child of Karen Brailsford and Tom Stenberg. Her mother is African American,[2] her father is Danish,[3][4] and her paternal grandmother had Greenlandic Inuit ancestry.[5] Her name means "power" or "strength" in Zulu.[6]

Career

At the age of four, Stenberg started doing catalog modeling shoots for Disney. She has appeared in commercials for clients such as Boeing.[7][8] In 2011, she appeared in her first feature film, Colombiana, as a younger version of Zoe Saldana's character.[9] Her career breakthrough came when she was cast as Rue in the 2012 film The Hunger Games.[10] She voiced Bia in the 2014 animated film Rio 2.[11] Stenberg had a recurring role on season one of Sleepy Hollow. In the summer of 2015, she played series regular Halle Foster on Mr. Robinson.

In 2016 Stenberg signed on to play the lead in Amma Asante's World War II drama Where Hands Touch.[12] She also landed the lead in Everything, Everything directed by Stella Meghie,[13] which began filming on September 7.[14]

In 2013, Stenberg began performing on the violin and singing harmonies at LA venues with singer/songwriter Zander Hawley. The folk-rock duo known as Honeywater released their first EP in August 2015.

The British publication Dazed magazine named Stenberg "one of the most incendiary voices of her generation" when it featured her on its Autumn 2015 cover.[15] Stenberg has spoken publicly on social media about cultural appropriation, including her video "Don't Cash Crop My Cornrows" and admonishing Kylie Jenner for her hairstyle.[16]

Stenberg is the co-author, with Stranger Comics' Sebastian Jones, of the comic book "Niobe: She is Life", the first issue of which was published in November 2015.[17]

Personal life

Stenberg identifies as non-binary,[18][19] and as an intersectional feminist.[17][20] She was named "Feminist of the Year" in 2015 by the Ms. Foundation for Women.[21][22] She has previously identified as bisexual;[16][23][24][25] however in an interview for Elle's September 2016 issue she was quoted as saying in part, "Bisexual is a word I am not too attached to [...] it implies a dichotomy that doesn't take into account trans people. So maybe pansexual is more accurate for me."[26]

She has two older half sisters on her father's side.[27][28]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2011 Colombiana Young Cataleya
2012 The Hunger Games Rue Won – Teen Choice Award for Choice Chemistry (shared with Jennifer Lawrence)
Nominated – Black Reel Award for Best Breakthrough Performance
Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
2012 The World is Watching: Making the Hunger Games Herself Documentary
2013 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Rue Appears in "archive footage" of the story of the first film
2014 Rio 2 Bia Voice
2016 As You Are Sarah
2016 Lemonade Herself BET Awards for YoungStar Award
2017 Everything, Everything Maddy Main role; filming
TBD The Darkest Minds Ruby

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2012 A Taste of Romance Taylor TV film
2013–2014 Sleepy Hollow Macey Irving 4 episodes
2015 Mr. Robinson Halle Foster 6 episodes

References

  1. "Biography- Amandla Stenberg". amandlastenberg.com. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  2. "Colombiana in Mexico City". amandlastenberg.com. September 29, 2011.
  3. "Amandla Stenberg: "So excited to be playing Rue in The Hunger Games"". Hunger Games Network. Retrieved March 28, 2012.
  4. Martin, Michel (April 3, 2012). "Should Kids See 'The Hunger Games'". NPR. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  5. "Svensk Hungerspelen Fansida". Hungergamesweden.blogg.se. Retrieved March 4, 2012.
  6. "Amandla Means". Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  7. "Up Close with Rue!". People March 28.2-12/
  8. "Amandla's resume". amandlastenberg.com. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  9. Jevon Phillips (September 23, 2011). "'Hunger Games' star on 'Colombiana' and life on the set". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  10. "'The Hunger Games' Pulls In Rue and Thresh". The Film Stage. April 18, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
  11. 20th Century Fox Film (February 22, 2013). "Twentieth Century Fox Animation Announces RIO 2 Casting". Business Wire.
  12. Tartaglione, Nancy. "Amandla Stenberg In Talks For Amma Asante's 'Where Hands Touch'". Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  13. Kit, Borys; Ford, Rebecca. "Amandla Stenberg, Nick Robinson to Star in 'Everything Everything' (Exclusive)". Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  14. https://twitter.com/amandlastenberg/status/773357836814344192
  15. "Young, Gifted, and Black". BET. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  16. 1 2 Grinberg, Emanuella (11 January 2016). "'Hunger Games' star uses coming out as bisexual to promote #BlackGirlMagic". CNN. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  17. 1 2 Sanghani, Radhika (2 September 2015). "Hunger Games actress Amandla Stenberg making 'badass' black feminist comic". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  18. Morgan, Joe (4 March 2016). "Hunger Games actress says she 'doesn't feel like a woman all the time'". Gay Star New. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  19. Stenberg, Amandla. "hi folks,". Tumblr. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  20. Amandla Stenberg (4 March 2016). "@dazedfields and I are organizing a workshop on feminism". Tumblr. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  21. Gupta, Prachi (16 December 2015). "Amandla Stenberg and Rowan Blanchard Named Feminist Celebrities of the Year". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  22. Gray, Emma (17 December 2015). "Amandla Stenberg & Rowan Blanchard Were Named Feminists Of The Year. Hell Yeah.". Huffington Post. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  23. "so I took over the teen vogue snapchat today". Tumblr. January 8, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  24. Guglielmi, Jodi (8 January 2016). "Hunger Games Star Amandla Stenberg Comes Out as Bisexual: 'It's Deeply Bruising to Fight Against Your Identity'". People (magazine). Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  25. McCluskey, Megan (8 January 2016). "Hunger Games Actress Amandla Stenberg Comes Out As Bisexual on Snapchat". Time. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  26. Jeffs, Lotte (2016-07-11). "Cover Star Amandla Stenberg Is Born To Rule". Elleuk.com. Retrieved 2016-08-11.
  27. "Instagram". Instagram. 2014-04-11. Retrieved 2016-05-06.
  28. "Rookie » It's a New Wave: An Interview With Amandla Stenberg". Rookiemag.com. 2013-07-24. Retrieved 2016-05-06.

External links

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