Thuso Mbedu

Biography

Thuso Mbedu is a South African actress born on July 8, 1991, in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. She studied Physical Theatre and Performing Arts Management at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and also trained at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York.

Mbedu began her professional career with appearances in South African television productions, including Isibaya, Scandal!, Saints and Sinners, and Shuga. She achieved her breakthrough with the teen drama Is'Thunzi, for which she received consecutive International Emmy Award nominations in 2017 and 2018. She also won a South African Film and Television Award for her performance.

Her international breakthrough came in 2021 when she starred as Cora Randall in Barry Jenkins' Amazon limited series The Underground Railroad, based on Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Her performance earned her several honors, including the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series, a Gotham Award, and a Hollywood Critics Association Award.

Mbedu made her feature-film debut in The Woman King (2022), starring opposite Viola Davis as Nawi, a young woman who joins the Agojie, the all-female warrior unit of the Kingdom of Dahomey. The role brought her further international recognition and earned her a Black Reel Award for Breakthrough Performance.

She later voiced Annette in the animated Netflix series Castlevania: Nocturne and Junia in Mufasa: The Lion King (2024). In 2025, she starred as Aleah Clinton in the HBO crime drama Task. Her upcoming projects include the fantasy film Children of Blood and Bone, in which she is set to play Zélie.

With a career spanning South African television, American drama, historical cinema, animation, and international productions, Thuso Mbedu has established herself as one of the most prominent South African actresses working internationally. Her best-known performances include Is'Thunzi, The Underground Railroad, The Woman King, Castlevania: Nocturne, and Task.