Nathalie Emmanuel

 Nathalie Joanne Emmanuel (born 2 March 1989) is an English actress. Emmanuel started her acting career with theatre in late 1990s. Later she was invited to appear in numerous West End productions including The Lion King. She was born in Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England, on March 2nd, 1989. Her mother is Dominican. Her dad is half-Saint Lucian, half English. She has an older sister. Emmanuel remembers her mother's first notification of her interest in acting and her desire to become an actor when she was in school at St Hilda's School. This school closed in 2014 and was replaced by Westcliff High School. In an interview with the New York Daily News, she said "When I was 3, always caused a lot of drama and my mom thought maybe I should channel it in a proper way, so she started me with singing, acting and dancing classes".At the age of 10 she was cast as Young Nala in the West End production of the musical The King. The following year, she was cast as Missandei, Daenerys Targaryen's interpreter on HBO's fantasy series Game of Thrones. She revealed to Jimmy Kimmel that she learned about the character when she was working as an assistant in a clothing store. Emmanuel was made a regular cast member of the show in 2015. Missandei was the only one of color on the show's cast. The scene in which she died while she was in chains was not popular with viewers. Emmanuel later said to The Guardian that the reaction to Missandei’s death was so strong due to her being the only one. I believe that a lot of the people who felt othered or disenfranchised were influenced by her or felt that she represented them particularly women of colour. When she passed away - and the way she died - it was very painful for many because they were like, 'Wait, no! That's what they're going take the one woman of colour