Black Panther's Letitia Wright Named BAFTA 2019 Rising Star

Actor Letitia Wright has received the Rising Star BAFTA award in this evening's ceremony, having been up against fellow nominees Barry Keoghan, Cynthia Erivo, Jessie Buckley and Lakeith Stanfield.

Wright has been widely praised for her performance as Shuri, the sister of Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa, in last year's hit Marvel film Black Panther - which has picked up the Best Visual Effects BAFTA, as well - but also recently starred in 'Black Museum', an episode of Charlie Brooker series Black Mirror, superhero blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War and Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One.

The a Guyanese-born British actor has other credits in Channel 4 programmes Humans, Top Boy, Cucumber and Banana, among others.

But her performance as Shuri in Black Panther is the one that's had tongues wagging recently - including ones wondering if she could see Shuri becoming the titular super hero one day?

Wright has admitted that, while she's not trying to steal Boseman's role, she'd be up for taking it on if it came her way.

During a Q&A session at this year's MCM London Comic-Con, she said: "If the opportunity came about, then why not? It would be comic book accurate. Yeah, that would be amazing.

"It means more training, more learning and it would really be an amazing adventure. Shuri becomes a savage in the comic books.

"From going to comedic and fun and like a kid - to then just pulling out some claws. I'm excited."

via GIPHY

She also spoke about the online debate discussing whether or not Shuri is technically a Disney Princess, adding: "I was like, 'what's this Disney Princess pressure? Do I have to be perfect?'.

"Then I realised that everyone's just so geeked about having a different kind of female character in the Marvel universe and the Disney universe. And there's going to be much, much more - I'm not the only Disney Princess to come to the surface and claim that title.

"I'm so honoured, seriously. I grew up on the Disney movies and grew up with the Disney Princesses and they didn't really look like me. But now, you can go buy action figures and say 'this is a Disney Princess' - right on!"

Congratulations to Letitia Wright, who I'm sure we'll be seeing A LOT more of in the future!

Featured Image Credit: PA

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected].

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