Letitia Wright

Letitia Wright (birthname: Letitia Michelle Wright) is known worldwide for her role as Shuri in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Her rapid rise to stardom began after supporting roles in minor British crime dramas (Victim in 2011, My Brother the Devil in 2012) when Wright had her first starring role in Urban Hymn (2015), directed by Michael Caton-Jones and with a supporting cast including Shirley Henderson, Ian Hart, and Steven Mackintosh, and premiering at the Toronto Film Festival.

Wright enjoyed a remarkable breakout year in 2018, starting with a supporting role in the Jaume Collet-Serra-directed thriller, The Commuter (2018), starring Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Jonathan Banks, and Sam Neill, earning $119 million globally. In rapid succession, Wright was visible everywhere in the three studio blockbusters, initiated with Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi adaptation of Ready Player One (2018), starring Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, and Mark Rylance and grossing $583 million worldwide or nearly four times costs.

Letitia Wright then appeared as Shuri in two mega-blockbusters: Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther (2018), starring the late Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Angela Bassett, and Forest Whitaker, earning a phenomenal six times-plus its estimated $200 million budget ($1.35 billion); and then in what was the highest grossing film of all time until March 2021—the MCU megahit, Avengers: Endgame (2019), starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Bradley Cooper, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Josh Brolin, earning an unheard-of global box office of just under $2.05 billion.

In twelve months and only three years after her first meaningful role in cinema, Wright co-starred in four movies that grossed a combined $4 billion. If one adds the linked MCU blockbuster, Avengers: Endgame (2019), in which Wright continued her role as Shuri, that box office number grows to $7 billion since the Avengers epic grossed a record-breaking $2.8 billion worldwide.

Letitia Wright took a departure from her MCU marathon as a voice actor in Illumination’s smash hit sequel, Sing 2 (2021), with a voice cast of Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton, Nick Kroll, Nick Offerman, and Bono, earning nearly five times costs ($409 million) and the spot as a top-grossing animated film of 2021.

Wright joined the ensemble of director Kenneth Branagh’s second Hercule Poirot mystery, Death on the Nile (2022), starring Branagh, Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, and Sophie Okonedo; receiving mixed reviews, the movie barely exceeded its $90 price tag with a global take of just over $137 million.

Letitia Wright expanded into the role of producer and co-star for the international co-production (U.K-Poland-U.S.) of the Agnieszka Smoczyńska-directed drama, The Silent Twins (2022), co-starring Tamara Lawrance, and released domestically by Focus Features. Marking her return to Anglo-centric filmmaking after seven years, Wright co-starred with Josh O’Connor in writer-director Frank Berry’s Irish-British drama Aisha (2022), which premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival.

Wright returned in an elevated starring role as Shuri in Coogler’s anticipated sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), with Lupita Nyong-o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Martin Freeman, and Angela Bassett. In a striking change of pace, Wright starred as a woman disguised as a Buffalo Soldier in the western co-produced by MGM and released by United Artists, Surrounded (2023), starring Jamie Bell, Jeffrey Donovan, and the late Michael K. Williams in his final screen role.