Daniel Kaluuya

Daniel Kaluuya (born February 24, 1989, London, England) is a British actor who is known for the arresting authenticity of his performances in a variety of roles.

Kaluuya was born in London to Ugandan parents, and he grew up in a council estate (public housing project) in Camden living with his mother. He wrote a play when he was nine years old and soon began taking classes in improvisational acting at the Anna Scher Theatre. He later also became involved in the Hampstead Theatre’s youth program. As a teen, Kaluuya was cast in the controversial BBC movie Shoot the Messenger (2006), about a Black teacher accused of anti-Black racism. The following year he began writing for and acting in Skins (2007–10, 2013), a popular TV series about a group of young teenagers; he played the part of Posh Kenneth. In 2008 he appeared in the stage comedy Oxford Street at London’s Royal Court Theatre.

Kaluuya’s work in Skins led to guest roles in numerous popular series, including sketch comedy shows. He was a cast member in the sitcom FM (2009) and in the horror comedy Psychoville (2009–11). In addition, he returned to the Royal Court, where he won rave reviews for his performance as a young boxer in the play Sucker Punch (2010). In 2011 Kaluuya had a prominent role in the miniseries The Fades and starred in an episode of the dystopian sci-fi anthology series Black Mirror. His attempts at breaking into movies yielded small parts in the crime drama Welcome to the Punch and the crime comedy Kick-Ass 2 (both 2013).

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Feeling stymied in his attempts to advance his career, Kaluuya began focusing on the American film industry. He was cast in a major role as an FBI agent in the well-received drama Sicario (2015), about the drug war. It was his performance in Black Mirror, nonetheless, that led to his breakthrough role in the groundbreaking horror film Get Out (2017). Filmmaker Jordan Peele cited Kaluuya’s work in Black Mirror as the reason that he cast Kaluuya in the starring role as a young Black man meeting his white girlfriend’s parents for the first time. The character discovers that his growing unease is due not only to racism but also to a horrifying plot. Kaluuya’s nuanced performance as the plot’s intended victim earned him an Academy Award nomination. In 2018 Kaluuya portrayed a sociopathic villain in Steve McQueen’s heist film Widows and played T’Challa’s traitorous best friend W’Kabi in Ryan Coogler’s blockbuster superhero movie Black Panther. He then gave a moving performance as one of the title characters in the acclaimed fugitive story Queen & Slim (2019). For his riveting portrayal of Chicago Black Panther leader Fred Hampton in Judas and the Black Messiah (2021), Kaluuya won both an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award for best supporting actor.

Kaluuya reunited with Peele for Nope (2022). The genre-blending film centers on a brother and sister who are struggling to save the family ranch when strange things begin to happen.