Acolyte: Who is Amandla Stenberg, the interpreter of the main character of the Star Wars series?

It’s a dual performance that doesn’t go unnoticed. Starting June 5th, Amanda Stenberg lends her features to twins Osha and Mai Aniseya in a new Star Wars series called The Acolyte. A new stage in the career of the 25-year-old performer, who in 2016 decided to adopt neutral pronouns due to his non-binary speech.

It starts at a young age in the cinema

Born to an African-American mother and a Danish father, Amanda Stenberg started in the limelight very early. They have a series of modeling contracts and participate in many advertising campaigns.

At the age of 13, they were noticed by the team of the film Columbiana, in which they played the younger version of Catalea (Zoe Saldana). After all, the performer is joined by the blockbuster Hunger Games: they will be Rue, a female tribute from the eleventh district, who is friends with Katniss.

After her excellent performance (critics praised her chemistry with Jennifer Lawrence), which moved fans, and at the age of twelve, Amanda is waiting for only one thing: to be offered challenging and non-stereotypical roles. They don’t hesitate to step away from filming for a while, knowing that their careers will be long-term, one project after another.

A choice of roles that leaves nothing to chance

Amandla Stenberg is taking advantage of this absence to continue her studies. In 2015, they posted a video on their Tumblr titled “Don’t Cash Crop On My Cornrows” that they made in a history class about the appropriation of African-American culture. A presentation that has been viewed more than two million times on YouTube and that is fueling public debate. It’s enough to put Stenberg back in the spotlight.

The following year, they appeared in the independent film As You Are, about two teenagers’ forbidden love. They also voice the character of Bia in Rio 2. It was also during this period that they formed their rock band, Honeywater, and released their first EP. At only 18 years old, the performer showed remarkable maturity: he turned down a role in the successful Marvel film Black Panther.

In an interview with CBC Arts, Amanda Stenberg explains that they wanted to give the role to another actor: “There are so many black actors playing Africans that it would be weird for me as a mixed race person to speak with a Nigerian accent and have the same skin color as everyone else.”

That year we found the performer in the romantic comedy Everything, Everything, where he gave a moving performance as a sick teenager who can’t leave his house.

The most famous saga actor in the galaxy!

In 2015, Time magazine named the performer among the 30 most influential teenagers of the year. In addition, the Women’s Foundation named the actress as the feminist of the year. Amanda does not hesitate to be African-American and representative of the LGBTQ community (they also came out as lesbian in June 2018).

And his choice of films reflects that. They appear on the poster for The Hate U Give – adapted from the book of the same name and inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement – where his character witnesses the death of one of his friends, unarmed, by a police officer.

In 2018, Amandla Stenberg headlined the blockbuster Darkest Minds: Uprising, a sci-fi film from the producers of Stranger Things and First Contact. book adaptation (Rebels) for Youngsters, where he plays a teenager with mind control. Accompanied by other powerful youths, he will lead the rebellion…

Among his starring roles in The Eddy, the Netflix series Damien Chazelle, the American actor returns to television in 2024 with the lead role in Acolyte, a new Star Wars production. In this case, Amanda Stenberg plays two twin sisters, including a former Jedi apprentice who strayed to the light side of the Force.

Episodes of The Acolyte can be seen every Wednesday exclusively on Disney+.

Discover the list of series currently available on the platform!