Madina Nalwanga

Madina was born in the poor Katwe neighborhood in Kampala, Uganda, and spent her childhood selling corn on the streets.^[5] Nalwanga was discovered by a casting director at a community dance class in the Kabalagala neighborhood of Kampala, Uganda, a slum known for prostitution.^[1][6]

During the filming of Queen of Katwe, David Oyelowo took Nalwanga to see Jurassic World with other kids from the set, and discovered she'd never seen a movie when she asked, "Is that what we are doing?"^[7] When she watched Queen of Katwe, it was only the second time she'd been inside a movie theater.^[8] She has said her young life closely mirrored that of her character Phiona in Queen of Katwe.^[5] At 17 years old, Forbes named her the youngest person on their 2018 "30 Under 30" list.^[9] According to a University of Oxford study from their department of Economics, students in Uganda who watched Queen of Katwe before taking their national exams received better grades than those who didn't.^[10][11]

• Madina Nalwanga at IMDb