Nathalie Joanne Emmanuel (born 2 March 1989) is an English actress. Emmanuel began her acting career appearing in theatre in the late 1990s, acquiring roles in various West End productions such as the

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...

''. In 2006, she began her on-screen career by starring as

Sasha Valentine Sasha Valentine is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', played by Nathalie Emmanuel. Sasha first appeared on-screen on 17 July 2006 as part of the newly introduced Valentine family. Sasha has been at the cen ...

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio drama ...

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera '' Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on sister channel E4 a ...

'', after which she appeared in various British television series until her debut film appearance in '' Twenty8k.'' Emmanuel gained international recognition for her role as

Missandei Missandei, also known as Missandei of Naath, is a fictional character in the American television series ''Game of Thrones'' and the fantasy novel series ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' by American author George R. R. Martin. Missandei is a former slave ...

in the HBO fantasy series ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of '' A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the fir ...

'' (2013–2019), and continued her career with supporting roles in '' Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials'' (2015) and its sequel '' Maze Runner: The Death Cure'' (2018), the ''

Fast & Furious ''Fast & Furious'' (also known as ''The Fast and the Furious'') is a media franchise centered on a series of action films that are largely concerned with street racing, heists, spies, and family. The franchise also includes short films, ...

'' films ''

Furious 7 ''Furious 7'' (also known as ''Fast & Furious 7'') is a 2015 American action film directed by James Wan and written by Chris Morgan. It is the sequel to ''Fast & Furious 6'' (2013) and '' The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift'' (2006), and ser ...

'' (2015), ''

The Fate of the Furious ''The Fate of the Furious'' (alternatively known as ''F8'' and titled on-screen as ''Fast & Furious 8'' internationally) is a 2017 American action film directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Chris Morgan. It is the sequel to '' Furious 7'' ...

'' (2017), and '' F9'' (2021), and had a role in ''

Army of Thieves ''Army of Thieves'' is a 2021 heist comedy film directed by Matthias Schweighöfer from a screenplay by Shay Hatten, based on a story he wrote with Zack Snyder. A prequel to ''Army of the Dead'' (2021), it is the second installment in the ' ...

'' (2021).

Early life

Emmanuel was born on 2 March 1989 in

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north ...

, a

seaside resort A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, such as in the Germa ...

town in

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

, England. Her mother is

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographical ...

n, and her father is of half-

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Ameri ...

n and half

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

descent. She has an older sister. Emmanuel recalled that her mother first took notice of her passion and desire to become an actress during Emmanuel's attendance at the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

St Hilda's School , motto_translation = Not for Ourselves Alone , established = , type = Independent single-sex early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school , denomination = Anglicanism , slogan = , principal = Wendy Lauma ...

, which closed in 2014, and later the Westcliff High School for Girls

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

. In an interview with the ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ...

'', she commented, "When I was 3, 'dalways cause drama that my mum decided maybe I should channel it properly—so she started me on acting, singing and dancing classes". At the age of 10, she played Young Nala in the West End production of the musical ''

''.

Career

Nathalie Emmanuel (28016543143) (cropped)

In 2006, she made her television debut, starring as

in the

''. Emmanuel appeared on the show until 2010, her character's storylines included prostitution, and heroin addiction. In January 2012, Emmanuel presented

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

's ''Websex: What's the Harm?'', investigating the online sexual habits of 16–24 year olds in the UK. Later in the same year she made her film debut in the thriller '' Twenty8k''. The following year, she was cast as

Daenerys Targaryen Daenerys Targaryen ( ) is a fictional character in the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' by American author George R. R. Martin. She is a prominent Narrative mode#Third-person view, point of view character, and is one of ...

's interpreter, in HBO's fantasy drama series ''

''. In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel, she confirmed that she received the news about winning the role when she was working in a clothes store as a shop assistant. In 2015, Emmanuel was promoted to a regular cast member on the show. Missandei was the only prominent character that was a woman of colour in the show, and her death scene, which took place whilst she was in chains, was unpopular among fans, being called an example of fridging and evoking an image of slavery. Emmanuel later told ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'': Also in 2015, she played computer hacker Ramsey in the action film ''

'', and Harriet in the science fiction adventure '' Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials''. For the former Emmanuel won the

Screen Nation The Screen Nation Film & TV Awards, formerly the bfm (black filmmaker) Film and TV Awards, was founded in September 2003 by independent film producer Charles Thompson MBE, as a platform to raise the profile of black British and international fil ...

award for Best Female Performance in Film. She played Harriet once again in the movie '' Maze Runner: The Death Cure'' in 2018. In 2017, Emmanuel said that she learnt "the art of subtlety" playing Missandei, and that as she was working on soundstages and with greenscreens when playing Ramsey, that role developed the use of her imagination when acting. She reprised her role of Ramsey in ''

'' in 2017; she played Ramsey again in '' F9'', which was due to be released in May 2020, but was postponed until June 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Emmanuel played Maya, a political speechwriter, in the romantic comedy television series '' Four Weddings and a Funeral'' for Hulu, and was the voice of Deet in '' The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance'' Netflix series, both released in 2019. In July 2020 Emmanuel costarred opposite

Kevin Hart Kevin Darnell Hart (born July 6, 1979) is an American comedian and actor. Originally known as a stand-up comedian, he has since starred in Hollywood films and on TV. He has also released several well-received comedy albums. After winning se ...

and

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He came to public attention during the 1970s, appearing on the television sitcom '' Welcome Back, Kotter'' (1975–1979) and starring in the box office successes '' Carrie'' ( ...

in the

Quibi Quibi ( ) was a short-lived American short-form streaming platform that generated content for viewing on mobile devices. It was founded in Los Angeles in August 2018 as NewTV by Jeffrey Katzenberg and was led by Meg Whitman, its CEO. The serv ...

original action-comedy series ''

Die Hart Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...

''. In May 2022, Emmanuel joined the cast of Francis Ford Coppola's upcoming film, ''

Megalopolis A megalopolis () or a supercity, also called a megaregion, is a group of metropolitan areas which are perceived as a continuous urban area through common systems of transport, economy, resources, ecology, and so on. They are integrated enoug ...

''. In 2022, she starred alongside Thomas Doherty in the supernatural horror film '' The Invitation''.

In the media

FHM ''FHM'' (For Him Magazine) is a British multinational men's lifestyle magazine that was published in several countries. Its master edition contained features such as the ''FHM'' 100 Sexiest Women in the World, which has featured models, actres ...

'' magazine ranked Emmanuel as 99th in their 100 Sexiest Women of 2013, and 75th in their Sexiest Women of 2015. In 2015, she also appeared in the April issue of ''

InStyle ''InStyle'' was an American monthly women's fashion magazine founded in 1994. It was published in the United States by Dotdash Meredith. In February 2022, it was announced that InStyle would cease print publications and move to a digital-only f ...

'' and '' GQ'' magazines.

Personal life

Emmanuel follows a

plant-based diet A plant-based diet is a diet consisting mostly or entirely of plant-based foods. Plant-based diets encompass a wide range of dietary patterns that contain low amounts of animal products and high amounts of plant products such as vegetables, fru ...

for health reasons, and told ''Glamour'' magazine in 2017 that "I don't trust the food industry, I don't trust what they put in our belly – it makes me feel sick actually."

Filmography

Film

Television

Radio

Recognition and awards

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Emmanuel, Nathalie 21st-century English actresses 1989 births Actresses from Essex English musical theatre actresses English people of Dominica descent English people of Saint Lucian descent English soap opera actresses English television actresses Living people People educated at Westcliff High School for Girls People from Southend-on-Sea