biography of Nathalie Emmanuel

Nathalie Joanne Emmanuel

 (born 2 March 1989) is a British actress. Emmanuel began her acting career appearing in theatre in the late 1990s, acquiring roles in various West End productions such as the musical The Lion King.  In 2006, she began her on-screen career by starring as Sasha Valentine in soap opera Hollyoaks, after which she appeared in various British television series until her debut film appearance in Twenty8k (2012).

Emmanuel gained wider recognition for her role as Missandei in the HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones (2013–2019), and continued her career with supporting roles in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) and its sequel Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018), the Fast & Furious films Furious 7 (2015), The Fate of the Furious (2017), F9 (2021), and Fast X (2023). She has since taken on lead roles in Army of Thieves (2021) and Megalopolis (2024).

Emmanuel was born on 2 March 1989 in Southend-on-Sea, a city in Essex, England.  Her mother is Dominican, and her father is of half-Saint Lucian and half English descent. She has an older sister.  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.  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" At the age of 10, she played Young Nala in the West End production of the musical The Lion King.

Career

n 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 

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.  Later in the same year she made her film debut in the thriller Twenty8k. 

The following year, she was cast as Missandei, Daenerys Targaryen's interpreter, in HBO's fantasy drama series Game of Thrones.  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  In 2015, Emmanuel was promoted to a regular cast member on the show.  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. Emmanuel later told The Guardian: 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 feltrepresented 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, and Harriet in the science fiction adventure Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials For the former Emmanuel won the Screen Nation award for Best Female Performance in Film. She played Harriet once again in the movie Maze Runner: The Death Cure in 2018.

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