Nathalie Emmanuel

 Nathalie Joanne Emmanuel (born 2 March 1989), is an English actress. Emmanuel started her career in acting appearing in theatre in the late 1990s as she was offered roles in various West End productions such as the musical The Lion King. In 2006, she began her screen career in the role of Sasha Valentine in soap opera Hollyoaks following which she made appearances in several British television shows, until her first appearance in a film in Twenty8k.Emmanuel gained international recognition for her character Missandei in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones (2013-2019) and then continued her acting career as a supporting actress in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) and its sequel Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) and the Fast & Furious films Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), as well as F9 (2021) also had a role in Army of Thieves (2021).Emmanuel was born on the 2nd of March, 1989 in Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England. Her mother is Dominican and her father is of half-Saint Lucian and half English descent. She has an older sibling. Emmanuel recalls her mother's initial notice of her passion for acting and her dream to become an actor when she was a student at St Hilda's School. This school closed in 2014 and it was renamed the Westcliff High School. In an interview with the New York Daily News, she stated "When I was just three years old, I always caused a lot of drama and my mom thought maybe I should channel my energy properly, and so she began me taking singing, acting and dancing classes".At the age of 10 she was cast as Young Nala in the West End production of the musical The Lion King. The following year, she was selected as Missandei Daenerys Targaryen's interpreter, in HBO's fantasy drama series Game of Thrones. She revealed to Jimmy Kimmel that she learned about the character in her job as an assistant in a clothing store. Emmanuel was promoted to a regular actor on the show in the year 2015. Missandei was the only notable character that was a woman from a different race in the show. In addition, her death scene, which took place while she was in chains was unpopular with fans who viewed it as an instance of fridging , and also evoked an image of slavery.Emmanuel then told The Guardian: The reaction to her death was big because she was the only person. I'm convinced that many who felt excluded or marginalized loved Missandei and felt represented by her. It was extremely difficult to be able to let people see her leave, especially when it was done in the manner that she did. That's how they're going to make the sole woman of color.