Amandla Stenberg Biography

At first glance, Amandla Stenberg's first name may look like a spelling error, but Amandla is actually a Zulu word meaning "power." Born to an African America mother and a Danish father, Amandla is extremely accomplished in a variety of areas. She plays guitar, violin and drums and was a 2008 Violin Scholarship Winner from the Los Angeles City Elementary Schools Music Association. She also played guitar for the winning band in the RockSTAR 2007 and 2008 Music Education Battle of the Bands.

Amandla began her professional career at the age of four as a print model for Disney and soon moved into runway modeling and television commercials for products such as KFC, Walmart, Kmart, Safeway and Kraft Lunchables.

In 2011, she made her big screen debut playing Zoe Saldana's character as a child in Luc Besson's Colombia. Her television debut in the Hallmark Channel's TV movie A Taste of Romance was filmed in March 2011, but her biggest break came when she was cast in April 2011 as Rue in the big screen blockbuster The Hunger Games (2012).

In addition, she's done voiceover work for a variety of movies and TV productions and has appeared in various school and community theater camp plays.

Her latest credits include four episodes of the series Sleepy Hollow (2013 to 2014), voice work on Rio 2 (2014), six episodes of the comedy series Mr. Robinson (2015), the romance drama Everything, Everything (2017) with Anika Noni Rose and the teen sci-fi action/adventure The Darkest Minds (2018).

Amandla returned to theaters in The Hate U Give(2018), the film adapation of the novel by Angie Thomas. She stars as Starr Carter, a teenager who witnesses the murder of her friend at the hands of a cop and must decide if she will testify against the officer. Amandla also appeared in the historical romantic drama Where Hands Touch(2018).

In the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen (2021), Amandla played Alana Beck.

Currently, she's starring in the dual role of twin sisters Mae and Osha on the Disney+ series Star Wars: The Acolyte (2024).

Amandla, who's also adept at gymnastics and has training in a variety of dance styles, including hip hop, tap and ballet, enjoys knitting in her spare time.

Filmography:

Star Wars: The Acolyte (2024)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)
My Animal (2023)
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
Dear Evan Hansen (2021)
Where Hands Touch (2018)
The Hate U Give (2018)
The Darkest Minds (2018)
Everything, Everything (2017)
As You Are (2016)
Rio 2 (2014)
The Hunger Games (2012)
Colombiana (2011)