Ugandan Actress Nikita Pearl Waligwa, who starred in the Disney film “Queen of Katwe,” has died after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. She was 15 years old.
“Queen of Katwe,” released in 2016, was based on the story of a chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi, who learned how to play chess as a young child from a poor neighborhood in Kampala, Uganda, and went on to win tournaments around the world.
Waligwa stars in the film as Mutesi and acts alongside Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo.
“It is with great sadness that I post about the passing of Nikita Waligwa, the sweet, warm, talented girl whom I worked with on the film, Queen Of Katwe,” Nyong’o wrote on Instagram (below). “She played Gloria with such vibrancy. In her real life she had the enormous challenge of battling brain cancer. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and community as they come to terms with having to say goodbye so soon.”
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