Charmaine Bingwa (born 13 November 1985) is an Australian actress. She is known for her role as Carmen Moyo in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

series ''

The Good Fight ''The Good Fight'' is an American legal drama television series produced for CBS's streaming service CBS All Access (later Paramount+). It was the platform's first original scripted series. The series, created by Robert King, Michelle King ...

'' (2021–2022). She has appeared in films including ''

Black Box In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...

'' (2020) and ''

Emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure Economic, social and cultural rights, economic and social rights, civil and political rights, po ...

'', alongside

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and film producer. Known for his work in both Will Smith filmography, the screen and Will Smith discography, music industries, List of awards and nominations re ...

. Bingwa won the 2018 Heath Ledger Scholarship award.

Life and career

Bingwa was born in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia. She is the daughter of Zimbabwean immigrants to Australia. She attended school at Santa Maria College. After attaining a business degree, Bingwa worked in the corporate world. Bingwa returned to university to pursue a

Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...

at the

Australian Institute of Music The Australian Institute of Music (AIM) is an Australian private tertiary education provider, with campuses in Sydney, New South Wales and Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1968, AIM delivers education for careers in the Australian music, enter ...

in Sydney. She took acting as one of her final electives. She completed the acting course in addition to her music degree and signed with an acting agent soon after graduating. She won critical acclaim for her performance in the stage play '' Doubt: A Parable'', starring as Mrs. Muller, for which she received a

Sydney Theatre Awards The Sydney Theatre Awards are annual awards to recognise the strength, quality and diversity of professional theatre in Sydney, Australia. They were established in 2005 by a group of major Sydney theatre critics. The awards recognise mainstage and ...

nomination. In 2018, Bingwa won the Australian

Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) is the Australian trade union and professional organisation which covers the media, entertainment, sports and arts industries. Its Musicians section consists of the SOMA (Symphony Orchestra Musi ...

Scholarship to study at the

Atlantic Theater Company The Atlantic Theater Company is an Off-Broadway non-profit theater company based in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1985 by playwright David Mamet, actor William H. Macy, and a group of acting students, the compan ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and then won the Heath Ledger Scholarship, becoming the first woman of colour and openly gay recipient. Bingwa starred, wrote, produced and co-directed the series ''Little Sista'', which won the Best Screenplay at the LGBT Toronto Film Festival. She has also starred in the 2020 science fiction horror film ''Black Box'' as Miranda Brooks, part of

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

's ''

Welcome to the Blumhouse ''Welcome to the Blumhouse'' is a film series consisting of theme-related anthological horror stories, developed and produced by Blumhouse Productions Blumhouse Productions, LLC, doing business as Blumhouse (; also known as BH Productions ...

'' anthology film series. She voiced Felicia Cox in both seasons of

QCode QCode (sometimes stylized as QCODE) is a podcast network and audio production studio based in Los Angeles, California. The company was founded by Rob Herting in 2018 as a partnership between the production company Automatik and the management fir ...

's podcast, ''The Burned Photo''. Her role as Carmen Moyo in the legal drama ''

'' was acclaimed as a "gust of chilly Chicago wind, quickly letting you know who's boss here"; she "made a splash upon joining Reddick & Associates", the fictional Chicago law firm in which she plays a talented, quick-witted, cool, gay, and morally complex junior lawyer. Many labelled Bingwa as "the season’s standout performer" in ''The Good Fight'' Season 6. She starred in

Antoine Fuqua Antoine Fuqua (; born May 30, 1965) is an American film director known for his work in the action and thriller genres. He was originally known as a director of music videos, and made his film debut in 1998 with '' The Replacement Killers''. His ...

's film ''

'' (2022) as Dodienne, wife of Peter (

). She received critical praise for being “unflinching as the film’s emotional pillar" and "incredibly moving," many even hoped "the

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

won’t overlook such a breakout talent." Bingwa was to have starred as Isisa, a warrior in

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

's ''King Shaka'', also executive produced by Fuqua, but the series was dropped by the network in April 2023 due to a programming overhaul.

Filmography

* 2018: ''

Nekrotronic ''Nekrotronic'' (formerly ''Nekromancer'') is a 2018 Australian comedy science-fiction horror film. It was co-written and directed by Kiah Roache-Turner, and stars Ben O'Toole and Monica Bellucci. It tells the story of demons that steal people's ...

'' * 2018: ''Hello Au Revoir'' * 2018 ''Stille Nacht'' (short film) (writer) * 2018: ''Little Sista'' (TV series, 7 episodes, also writer, producer and director) * 2019: ''In the Shadows'' (short film) (writer, director, and actor) * 2020: ''Black Box'' * 2021: ''The Pitch'' * 2021: ''

'' (TV series) * 2022: ''Emancipation'' * 2022: ''

Trees of Peace ''Trees of Peace'' is a 2022 film which was written and directed by Alanna Brown in her directorial debut. It stars Eliane Umuhire, Charmaine Bingwa, Bola Koleosho and Ella Cannon as four women (two Tutsi, one a Hutu moderate, and one America ...

'' * 2022: ''KAPŌ''

Awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bingwa, Charmaine Living people 21st-century Australian LGBTQ people 1985 births Actresses from Perth, Western Australia Australian actors of African descent Australian film actresses Australian Institute of Music alumni Australian lesbian actresses Australian people of Zimbabwean descent