Amandla Stenberg is an American actress. She was born on October 23, 1998 in Los Angeles, California to Karen Brailsford, an African-American spiritual counselor and writer, and Tom Stenberg, who is Danish.
Stenberg began acting as a child in the film Colombiana (2011). She had her breakthrough playing Rue in the action film The Hunger Games (2012), and went on to play Macey Irving in the supernatural series Sleepy Hollow (2013–2014) and Halle Foster in the sitcom Mr. Robinson (2015). As an adult, her roles as Maddy Whittier in the romance film Everything, Everything (2017) and Starr Carter in the drama film The Hate U Give (2018) helped her rise to prominence. She has played Ruby in the science fiction film The Darkest Minds (2018), Alana Beck in the musical film Dear Evan Hansen (2021), Sophie in the comedy horror film Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022), and voiced Margo Kess / Spider-Byte in the animated film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023). She also plays the lead roles of Mae and Osha Aniseya in the Star Wars series The Acolyte (2024).
Stenberg was included in Time's list of Most Influential Teens in both 2015 and 2016, and has received several accolades, including a Teen Choice Award, an NAACP Image Award, and nominations for four Black Reel Awards and a Critics' Choice Award.
In March 2016, Stenberg came out as non-binary, and uses she/her and they/them pronouns. She has been recognized for her outspoken views, particularly towards her activism for LGBT youth, which has received significant media coverage. She made her musical debut as part of the folk rock duo Honeywater, formed in 2015, and performed the song "Let My Baby Stay" for Everything, Everything.
