Amandla Stenberg

Biography

Amandla Stenberg is an American TV & Movie actress. She is popular for playing Rue in post apocalyptic science fiction 'The Hunger Games'. She played the lead role of Madeline Whittier in romantic drama- 'Everything, Everything'.

Amandla Stenberg (pronunciation Uh-mand-La; Stenberg is a Swedish name) was born on 23rd October 1998 in Los Angeles, California, United States to Tom Stenberg(father- a Danish citizen) & Karen Brailsford(mother- of African American descent)- a writer and spiritual counselor by profession.

Image: Amandla Stenberg with mother Karen Brailsford

She has two paternal elder sisters-

• Elise Stenberg (a psychology graduate from University of California, Santa Barbara) (check her pic below)
• Angela Myree (check her pic below)

Image: Amandla Stenberg with sisters- Elise Stenberg & Angela Myree

Marriage & Romances

Amandla Stenberg & King Princess

Amandla dated Singer, songwriter King Princess (Mikaela Mullaney Straus) in 2018. It all started in the early 2018 and they were separated by the end of 2018.

Image: Amandla Stenberg with Ex-partner King Princess

Career

• Let My Baby Stay: She released her single in Mac DeMarco's song.
• Beginning of her career: Amandla started modeling for Disney at the age of 4.
• Commercials: She has appeared in commercials with brands/ products like- Boeing, Build the Dream, GMC SUV, Kmart, Marshalls Law, McDonald's, Sutter Health, Walmart.
• Voiceover: She has voice characters in- Falling Skies, Texas Killing Fields.

Amandla Stenberg Filmography

• The Eddy(TV series)- as Julie
• Drunk History (2019) (TV Series)- Elizabeth Eckford
• Where Hands Touch(2018)- Leyna
• The Hate U Give(2018)- Starr Carter
• The Darkest Minds(2018)- Ruby Daly
• Neo Yokio(2017) (TV series)- Helenist
• Everything, Everything(2017)- Maddy Whittier
• As You Are(2016)- Sarah
• Heads Up America(2015) (short)
• Mr. Robinson(2015)- Halle Foster
• Rio 2(2014)- Bia
• Sleepy Hollow(2013-3014) (TV Series)- Macey Irving
• Mercy (2013) (Short)- Sarah
• The Hunger Games(2012)- Rue
• A Taste of Romance(2012) (TV Movie)- Taylor
• Colombiana(2011)- Cat 10

Amandla Stenberg Music videos

• Lemonade(2016)

Some of the commercials she has appeared in, brands she has promoted are:

• Gucci
• Mademe
• X-Girl
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Awards

• BET Awards for YoungStar Award: Amandla's music video Lemonade(2016) won the award in 2016
• Teen Choice Award for Choice Chemistry: Her performance in The Hunger Games(2012) as Rue earned her the award which she shared with Jennifer Lawrence)
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Interesting Facts

• Meaning of her name: Her first name means 'strength' in the South African languages IsiXhosa, Zulu. It wa sinspired by Miles Davis' 1989 album-Amandla. Amandla Awethu(Power to the People) a slogan shouted at South Africa anti-apartheid rallies.
• Ethnicity: She is of multi-ethnic background. She is of Danish, African American, Greenlandic Inuit ancestral background.
• Singing: Amandla performed singing & violin at Los Angeles in 2013.
• Dazed magazine: The British magazine named her an incendiary voice of her generation' in their 2015 cover.
• Times' List: she featured in the most influential teens list of 2015 and 2016.
• Cultural appropriation: She criticized model & tv presenter Kylie Jenner for using the hairstyle that culturally appropriated others' culture.
• Don't Cash Crop My Cornrows: A video Song by Amandla Stenberg about white people culturally appropriating cornrows historically identified with black people.
• Niobe: She is Life- A comic book co-written by Amandla Stenberg with the comic writer Sebastian Jones in 2015, they have released the second book of the trilogy by the name- Niobe: She is Death in 2007.
• Intersectional feminist: She considers herself a Intersectional feminist.
• Feminist of the Year: She was awarded Feminist of the Year award by- Ms. Foundation for Women in 2015.
• Sexuality: she is a bisexual, she considers herself non-binary (which doesn't exclude transgenders), also sometimes as pansexual. She identified herself as gay in 2018 (Wonderland magazine interview)
• You Are Here: A relaxation, spiritual video narrated, created by Amandla for Teen Vogue.
• NoKidHungry: She participates in the movement which is aimed towards feeding the poor children in the United States. She is also the Youth Ambassador for No Kid Hungry.
• She paid tributes to the victims of Birmingham church bombing.
• She owns a Violin owned previously by her grandfather-Tage. Her grandmother Ena is from Greenland.
• Ubuntu Education Fund: She supports the organization.
• From cradle to career: She supports the organization which is aimed at nurturing the children of South Africa.
• The Goodyear Blimp: She went on a airship tour of Goodyear blimps.
• Breakout Kid Actor: Entertainment Weekly named her the Number 1 breakout kid actor.
• She comes from a very musical family, she started playing music when she was in elementary school.
• Black Girls Rock presented her Young, Gifted + Black award.
• Most Beautiful: People Magazine listed in the World's most beautiful list in 2017.
• 30 Under 30 in Hollywood: Forbes listed her in their list of 30 under 30 stars of Hollywood.
• Awards: She is either the recipient/ nominee of- NAACP Image Award, BET Awards YoungStars Award, Teen Choice Award, Black Reel Awards among others.
• She has attended events like- TeenNick Halo Awards, The BAFTA Britannia Awards, Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, 
• She has appeared on TV in- KTLA Morning News, Extra, E! News, The Wendy Williams Show.
• She was prom date of Jaden Smith.
• She was a very active kid, she liked climbing trees as a kid.
• Audio book: She voiced the book- Bird by Crystal Chan in 2014
• She has acted in dramas such as- Love and Communication, Fiddler on the Roof, Urinetown, Twelfth Night, Alice in Wonderland, Hairspray, Grease
• Accents- she can do Spanish, British and Southern accents
• Some of the charities she is involved with are- Share Our Strength , National Memorial , MLK Memorial Foundation.
• She was on the cover page of Elle September 2016 UK issue
• She has 2 older paternal half-siblings.
• Smartphone: In July 2017, in an interview given to 'Bust' Amandla stated that she has stopped using smartphone because of its effects on human mental health
• Meditation video: She wrote and directed a meditation video for her second Teen Vogue appearance
• Next Generation Leader honoree: Time magazine featured her on their cover page for 2018
• Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences: She has been a member of the Academy since 2018.
• She follows Rihanna's beauty tips on Rihanna's youtube beauty channel
• She loves doing makeup. Especially on herself
• She loves cats and has a cute grey cat.
• She featured on the cover page of ESSENCE in January 2019
• Amandla "sponsored": She is a witty, funny person. She changed her instagram handle to "amandlasponsored" to joke how brands are using social media these days for promotion.
• SuperSoul : She recorded a Session for Oprah
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Quotes

• I definitely feel more confident as I'm growing up knowing more of myself.
• I realize that putting up a facade is more detrimental to who I am authentically myself.
• Bisexual implies a dichotomy that doesn't take into account transgender people. So maybe pansexual is more accurate for me.
• Oftentimes when we play black women, we have to play either the pain or the comedy, Just now are we starting to have three-dimensional, nuanced black characters.
• What if America loved Black people as much as black culture?
• Black women need better representation In Hollywood.
• My mom reminds me that all things are possible.
• When I'm myself, most authentically myself, free of self-hatred, free of self-judgment, then I'm also my most revolutionary.
• I love all kinds of art. I mean, I love sketching and acting and music.
• One of my favorite ways to express myself is through my clothes
• I hope I always make work that is reflective of what I believe in, If art isn’t personal, then it doesn’t speak to me
• I’m not tied to the idea that everything I say has to be given so much weight. But I hope that it makes people feel less alone.
• When social media first started popping up, it was really exciting because for the first time, we weren’t dependent on white institutions to afford us platforms of representation, A few years later, you see the effects in Hollywood, in the diversity that’s finally being portrayed onscreen
• I’m still figuring out what box I would like to be defined by, But hopefully, I’ll never be defined by any box
• I accidentally became an activist, and that’s still not necessarily a word that I self-label. I protest for sure, but I’m not out there on the front lines
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Sources

• Amandla Stenberg Wiki
• Time Magazine interview *
• Vanityfair interview *