Nathalie Emmanuel

Emmanuel was born on 2 March 1989 in Southend-on-Sea, a city in Essex, England.^[1][2] Her mother is Dominican, and her father is of half-Saint Lucian and half English descent. She has an older sister.^[3][4] Emmanuel recalled that her mother first took notice of her passion and desire to become an actress during Emmanuel's attendance at the private St Hilda's School, which closed in 2014, and later the Westcliff High School for Girls grammar school.^[5][6] In an interview with the New York Daily News, she commented, "When I was 3, [I'd] always cause drama that my mum decided maybe I should channel it properly—so she started me on acting, singing and dancing classes".^[7] At the age of 10, she played Young Nala in the West End production of the musical The Lion King.^[7]

In 2006, she made her television debut, starring as Sasha Valentine in the soap opera Hollyoaks. Emmanuel appeared on the show until 2010, her character's storylines included prostitution, and heroin addiction.^[8][9][10]

In January 2012, Emmanuel presented BBC Three's Websex: What's the Harm?, investigating the online sexual habits of 16–24 year olds in the UK.^[11] Later in the same year she made her film debut in the thriller Twenty8k.^[12][13]

The following year, she was cast as Missandei, Daenerys Targaryen's interpreter, in HBO's fantasy drama series Game of Thrones.^[10] 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.^[14] In 2015, Emmanuel was promoted to a regular cast member on the show.^[15] 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.^[16][17] Emmanuel later told The Guardian:^[18]

The reaction to Missandei's death was so big because she was the only one. I think a lot of the people who felt othered or disenfranchised had connected with her, or felt represented by her, especially women of colour. When she died – and in the way that she did – it was so painful for people because they were like, ‘Wait, no! That's how they’re going to do the only woman of colour?’

Also in 2015, she played computer hacker Ramsey in the action film Furious 7,^[19] and Harriet in the science fiction adventure Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials.^[20][21] For the former Emmanuel won the Screen Nation award for Best Female Performance in Film.^[22] 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.^[23] She reprised her role of Ramsey in The Fate of the Furious in 2017;^[24] 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.^[25][26]

Emmanuel played Maya, a political speechwriter, in the romantic comedy television series Four Weddings and a Funeral for Hulu,^[27][18] and was the voice of Deet in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Netflix series, both released in 2019.^[28]

In July 2020, Emmanuel costarred opposite Kevin Hart and John Travolta in the Quibi original action-comedy series Die Hart.^[29]

In May 2022, Emmanuel joined the cast of Francis Ford Coppola's film, Megalopolis.^[30]

In 2022, she starred alongside Thomas Doherty in the supernatural horror film The Invitation.^[31]

FHM magazine ranked Emmanuel as 99th in their 100 Sexiest Women of 2013, and 75th in their Sexiest Women of 2015.^[32][33] In 2015, she also appeared in the April issue of InStyle and GQ magazines.^[34][35]

Emmanuel follows a plant-based diet 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."^[36]