Quvenzhané Wallis: A New Chapter in 2023

Quvenzhané Wallis put her name down as the youngest Academy Awards Best Actress nominee in history for her role in Beasts of the Southern Wild. Using her big screen debut as her launching pad, the young actress went on to star in the big screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Annie (in 2014). She also made appearances in several standout films including 12 Years a Slave.

Fast forward to 2023, and the adorable young girl is now all grown up. However, the Louisiana native is still making huge waves in the entertainment world with parts in a popular TV show and upcoming movie, Swagger and Breathe respectively.

Without further delay, here’s a breakdown of Quvenzhané’s new chapter in showbiz.

In 2021, Apple TV+’s highly anticipated show Swagger gave Quvenzhané the perfect platform to show how much she had changed from her Annie days.

The life of Kevin Durant, the Brooklyn Nets forward inspired the series, which follows the lives of coaches, families, and players in the youth basketball system. Quvenzhané is joined on the show by other notable names including, Caleel Harris, Isaiah Hill, and O’Shea Jackson Jr.

In the show, the budding actress plays the role of a talented and hard-working young female basketball player (Crystal) giving some of the best male players in the city a run for their money. When describing the character, Quvenzhané had this to say when talking to Essence, “Crystal is a powerhouse. She’s a powerful young Black woman.”

When asked what had changed since she was a little girl rocking curly hair, Quvenzhané said when she was younger, “It was different because I was on set dancing and cutting cartwheels.” While she wasn’t doing cartwheels on the new show’s set, the young actress seemed to have brought all the ingredients that made her a child star all those years ago.

About her new role, Quvenzhané said that even though she had played basketball with her brothers since she was a child, there was no comparison to what she had to learn and do to master Crystal’s character.

Her character Crystal featured prominently in the two seasons that Swagger ran before it was canceled.

The popular Beasts of The Southern Wild actress will return to the movie screen in her new role in the upcoming movie Breathe – a highly anticipated action thriller. The movie follows the events that occur after the Earth becomes uninhabitable due to the lack of oxygen. This forces survivors to live underground, only venturing to the surface using special oxygen suits.

The young Black star is joined by other big names in the industry, including Common (Suicide Squad), Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) and Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil).

In the movie, Quvenzhané plays the character of Zora, the daughter of Maya (played by JHud) and her husband Darius (played by Common) – who is presumed to be dead. Things get interesting when Maya agrees to allow a mysterious couple, claiming to know her husband, into their underground bunker.

We can’t wait to watch Quvenzhané in action!