Who are Amandla Stenberg’s Parents, Tom Stenberg & Karen Brailsford?

Amandla Stenberg’s parents, Karen Brailsford, an African-American spiritual counselor, and Tom Stenberg, of Danish descent, influenced her diverse upbringing.

Amandla’s paternal grandmother, Ena Stenberg, was a Greenlandic Inuit who moved to Denmark during Danish colonial rule. Ena was a singer and radio personality, and she even performed at the World’s Fair in New York in 1964.

In 2013, Amandla appeared in the short film Mercy, playing the daughter of Robin Thicke and Paula Patton, and had a recurring role in the supernatural series Sleepy Hollow. During this time, she also began exploring music, performing on the violin and singing harmonies at Los Angeles venues.

Amandla’s interest in music led her to form the folk-rock duo Honeywater in 2015. That same year, she released a video titled “Don’t Cash Crop My Cornrows,” which addressed cultural appropriation.

In 2016, Amandla appeared in Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade and won the BET YoungStars Award. She also signed with The Society, a modeling agency.

In 2018, she played the lead role of Starr Carter in The Hate U Give, a film about the Black Lives Matter movement. Her performance received widespread acclaim, with Rolling Stone praising her as a “gathering storm that grows in ferocity and feeling with each scene.”