CELEBRITY PROFILE Florence Kasumba

The name Florence Kasumba might sound new to most Ugandans, but it is big in Hollywood. After starring in blockbusters like Black Panther, Wonder Woman, The Lion King remake, and the Marvel film The Avengers – Infinity War, Kasumba has become a most sought-after actress. Florence Kasumba was born on 26 October 1976 to Henry Kasumba and his wife, Namapa, a nurse, in Kampala. She is best known for her portrayal of Ayo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), as Senator Acantha in Wonder Woman (2017), and as Shenzi in The Lion King (2019). In 2016, she reprised her role as ‘Ayo’ in yet another superhero flick Black Panther, for which she won the ‘International Rising Star Award’ at the ‘Black Entertainment Film Fashion Television & Arts Awards’. Kasumba has also appeared in the American television series The Quest, and has played the Wicked Witch of the East in NBC’s Emerald City (2017).

Kasumba’s family moved to Germany when she was a little girl, and she spent her childhood in Essen, where she attended elementary school and high school. She initially had her heart set on a different career path. As a youngstar, she wanted to become a tax consultant and sent her application documents out, hoping that she could start with the apprenticeship as soon as she finished year 12 in school. Her mother, however, kept her from pursuing that dream further, and Kasumba has often said she is very grateful to her.

After watching the musical Starlight Express at the young age of 12, her eyes were set on becoming an actress. She earned her degree in acting, singing, and dancing from Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Tilburg, in the Netherlands. While still at university, she landed her first professional film role in a Dutch movie, called Ik ook van Jou. Soon after, she became a successful musical performer and was part of Mamma Mia, Chicago, The Lion King, Cats, West Side Story, Evita, and Beauty and the Beast. Kasumba even travelled to New York for a casting for Elton John’s international hit musical Aida, after which she got the title role in Germany’s premier production.

After gaining enough experience through musicals, Kasumba decided to return to celluloid. She took up roles in several German films, including Age of Cannibals and The Stoning. In 2006, she made her television debut in the longest-running German drama, Tatort, and was part of the famous show for 10 consecutive years. From 2006 until 2012, Kasumba focused only on her television career and appeared in a number of German TV series. Her Hollywood breakthrough came in 2014, when she appeared as ‘Talmuh’ in ABC’s reality competition series, The Quest. It made her a celebrity in the United States.

Following her first appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Kasumba reinforced her international next-big-thing reputation by playing Senator Acantha, in 2017’s Wonder Woman, and reprising her security-chief role in Black Panther, which also stars another Ugandan, Daniel Kaluuya. In Black Panther she played Ayo, a core member of the Dora Milaje, an army of bodyguards meant to protect Wakanda and its king, T’Challa. Alongside Lupita Nyong’o and Danai Gurira, she showed off her acting and fighting skills, very often at the same time, striking a blow for women of colour along the way.

With Wonder Woman, she entered an elite list of actors who have appeared in both Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Comics films. She joined the likes of Halle Berry, Zoe Saldana, Natalie Portman, Ryan Reynolds, and Ben Affleck. And when, in 2019, she landed the character of Shenzi (the female leader of the hyena pack) in the computer animated remake, The Lion King (2019) directed by Jon Favreau, she played alongside another set of elite movie stars like James Earl Jones, Beyonce, Chiwetel

Ejiofor, Donald Glover, and Seth Rogen. Kasumba’s vocal portrayal as Shenzi is a standout in this movie as she captivates with every word, embodies strength, and captures the audience’s attention.

Although she has played in famous international productions, she says her favourite role so far was East, the witch of the East in Emerald City. As a child, she watched The Wizard of Oz and would have never thought that she would get chosen for this role. Probably one of her most distinctive roles was Ayo, T’Challa’s bodyguard in Captain America – Civil War. With a single sentence (“Move or you will be moved”) she enchanted the entire audience back then. “What I like about Ayo is that I’m able to embody a superheroine. For this role, my private look (black, bald head, athletic figure) was pivotal for the casting. I train in Chinese martial arts regularly and simply love the fact that I’m able to exert my passion in my job and especially in this role,” Kasumba has said. Fluent in three languages, she can do sweet as well as scary, funny as well as feisty. And she can perform her own stunts. According to her, Marvel movies and series offer action, excitement and humour. Actors like Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and many others that have slipped into the comic figures’ roles are worldwide public favourites. The Avengers films go down especially well, in which multiple heroes collectively fight for the good. After all, comic figures have always been role models. And who hasn’t dreamed of saving the world as a superhero as a child? For many, going to the cinema to watch a Marvel movie is always an unforgettable experience. Florence Kasumba has achieved what many actors and actresses dream of: the international breakthrough. Her international background, her distinctive looks and the fact that she speaks German, English and Dutch fluently definitely helped her with this endeavor. Kasumba has famously said that her recipe for success includes the common ingredients: discipline, respect, patience and especially the love for the job. It is this very combination that has catapulted her straight into the Hollywood A-list. Apart from the blockbusters

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In Black Panther, Kasumba was a core member of the Dora Milaje, an army of bodyguards meant to protect Wakanda and its king, T’Challa mentioned above, her list of top class releases also includes Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Netflix film Mute by Duncan Jones, the German film Arthur & Claire, and Amazon Prime’s Deutschland 86.

Kasumba has already achieved quite a lot in her young life, and has said her ultimate dream is to visit the Shaolin temple in Henan, in the middle of China, where she would love to train with the monks there and gain insight into their everyday lives.

In 2016, she was nominated for the Black Entertainment Film Fashion Television & Arts Award for International Rising Star in 2016, against Lupita Nyong’o, John Boyega and Lisa Awuku. She won the award. In 2019, she won Germany’s Coolest Detective Award, and in 2020, she won Best National Actress at the Jupiter Awards.

Kasumba has three sisters and a brother, and is a very private person who has managed to keep her personal life away from the tabloids. She currently resides in Berlin.