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6 Things to Know About “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Star Dominique Thorne
Getty / Gilbert Flores
Dominique Thorne started her acting career off strong and continues to rise in the Hollywood scene. In 2018, the 25-year-old actor landed her first major film role as Sheila Hunt alongside Denzel Washington and Viola Davis in the Oscar-winning “If Beale Street Could Talk,” but her acting projects haven’t stopped there. Three years later in 2021, Thorne shared the screen with Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield in “Judas and the Black Messiah,” in which she portrayed a fictional Black Panther member named Judy Harmon.
While she was cast in supporting roles in her previous films, Thorne is now shaking up the world as Ironheart in the upcoming “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Outside of being a Marvel fan herself, Throne also admires the complexity of her character, Ironheart/Riri Williams. She explained to Entertainment Weekly, “I love the fact that she is just fully herself . . . She’s definitely not the typical or traditional superhero. She’s very much Riri Williams, the 19-year-old student first, and then there’s this whole Ironheart business that she has to figure out.”
In celebration of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” hitting theaters on Nov. 11, learn more about the film’s shining star with these six facts.
Getty / Frazer Harrison
She’s a Huge Marvel Fan
Some of Thorne’s major acting roles are in Marvel productions, so it would make sense that she is a fan of the superhero universe. She talked about her lifelong love for Marvel and knowledge of Ironheart in a February interview with BlackFilmandTV.com, saying, “I think my mother might disown me if I didn’t. It’s very much a Marvel household. I did know about Ironheart before I was approached with the role. So it was an awe, inspiring moment to think that I would be chosen to portray this woman and to bring her to the screen in this way.”
Getty / Gary Gershoff
Most of Thorne's Family Lives in Trinidad
Thorne is the daughter of immigrant parents, Nerissa and Navie Guy, who are originally from Trinidad. The actor grew up in New York along with her brothers, Ky-Mani and Caleb, while the rest of her family lived in Trinidad. She previously told Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, “Most of my family, actually, is in Trinidad. All my cousins and everything. It’s only just really my immediate family that’s here but at least 90 percent of my family members are still in Trinidad.”
Despite living in the United States her whole life, Thorne is very immersed in Trinidadian culture because of her parents and family. Per her interview with Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, her favorite foods are Trinidadian classics like bake and shark, as well as crab and dumplings.
