Thuso Mbedu makes the New York Times’s top 10 best actors of 2022 list

Thuso Mbedu makes the New York Times’s top 10 best actors of 2022 list

The New York Times named Thuso Mbedu one of the top ten best actors.

She’s had a fantastic year. She’s done it all, from appearing with Viola Davis in The Woman King to collecting accolades and gracing renowned magazine covers.

The New York Times named actress Thuso Mbedu one of the best actors of the year.

Her work as Nawi on The Woman King earned her a spot on the list.

Among others on the list were Danielle Kaluya, Keke Palmer, and Michelle Yeoh.

“The movie’s comedy — some of it, anyway — comes from watching Davis subdue her awe at Nawi’s relentlessness. It must have been some of the hardest acting this great actor has had to do, because Mbedu is awesome. The part needs stamina: There’s lots of running, jumping, ducking, impaling. But Mbedu ensures that every thwack, knock and stabbing packs an emotional wallop. She doesn’t appear to be acting the battles,” writes Wesley Morris.

The author also admitted to having seen Thuso’s outstanding performance in The Underground Railroad.

“The Woman King is a spa day by comparison. Mbedu gets to be teary, tough, terse, and sometimes, in her steeliness, a riot. (There’s a climactic moment when she has to do battle in some frilly colonial pantaloons, and she manages to make her face as hard as the fabric is delicate.) What an audience responds to is her urgency, her volcanic desire to matter, to shine.

Thuso was delighted with the recognition. “We’re in good company.”