Lidya Jewett

Lidya Jewett was an Ethiopian-American actress who was best known for her roles in the Oscar-nominated "Hidden Figures" (2016) and the superhero film "Black Panther" (2018). Born in Ethiopia, Jewett spent the first few years of her life in an Ethiopian orphanage. Her life trajectory changed, however, in 2011 when she was adopted by a big, loving American family from Florida. Jewett quickly adapted to her new country and within months the 4-year-old was speaking and reading English. A beautiful young girl with a lively personality, Jewett's parents started taking her out on modeling auditions at the age of 6. Before long she was appearing in print ads for various products, as well as in catalogs. With her modeling career on the rise, Jewett naturally gravitated towards commercial work, and soon enough was appearing on TV. Despite being very young, Jewett was fearless and comfortable behind the camera, and found that she enjoyed it. With already a couple of years of professional modeling and commercial acting work under her belt, Jewett decided to take the leap into film and TV acting. She quickly nabbed a bit part on the Nickelodeon show "See Dad Run" (Nick at Nite, 2012-14), as well as a recurring role on "WITS Academy" (Nickelodeon, 2015). Then in 2016 Jewett landed her breakout role when she appeared in the Oscar-nominated historical drama "Hidden Figures." Jewett beat out 3,000 other young actresses for the part in the film, which starred Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae. The success of "Hidden Figures" exposed Jewett to various casting agents in Hollywood. As a result, she quickly expanded her acting credits to include parts in the films "Wonder" (2017), "Black Panther," and "The Darkest Minds" (2018).