Meet Wunmi Mosaku: The Nigerian movie star in Hollywood’s trending ‘Sinners’
Esther Emoekpere
From the moment you start watching Sinners, there’s something about it that feels intimate. Yes, it is a supernatural tale set in the 1930s Mississippi Delta, filled with spells, spirits, and hidden truths, but at the core of the mystery lies a quiet, pulsing essence. That essence is Annie.
She is not flashy or loud. A Hoodoo priestess with a complex background, Annie embodies the emotional weight of the film like a carefully held thread, steady, taut, and unyielding. She perceives what others miss. She listens when others scream. She bears a kind of sorrow that often eludes description, and this is precisely why she lingers in your thoughts. In a story filled with twins, ghosts, and gods, Annie is the one who makes it feel real.
Wunmi Mosaku
Wunmi Mosaku portrays her with subtle intensity. Originally from Zaria, Nigeria, and moved to the UK at the age of one, Wunmi did not grow up surrounded by traditional Yoruba beliefs. However, taking on the role of Annie meant more than memorising lines or learning rituals, it evolved into something much more profound. “Doing the research introduced me to a part of me and my ancestry,” she shares. “It reminded me of who I’m from, where I’m from.”
Before Sinners, she had already made a name for herself in film and television. After training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), she received praise for her roles in Moses Jones (2009), I Am Slave (2010), and Damilola, Our Loved Boy (2016), the latter winning her a BAFTA. Her career includes impactful performances in Luther, Lovecraft Country, Black Mirror, Loki, and most recently, Deadpool & Wolverine.
However, Sinners was not just another part to her. During production, Wunmi had been studying Yoruba for five years, and everything finally came together. The language started to resonate with her. The character of Annie felt like home. “Now that I’m a mum, reconnecting with where I come from feels even more important,” she explained. “I want my daughter to grow up with that sense of identity. Not merely the tales, but the names, the language, the values.”
The life I should have lived
This sentiment profoundly resonates in Annie’s character. In Sinners, Annie finds herself between different realms, past and present, seen and unseen. Her silence carries sorrow, and her gaze reflects memory. While the film delves into West African spiritual customs like Ifá, it’s Annie who allows you to sense the significance of what has been lost and what yearns to be remembered.
“Horror isn’t solely about specters,” Wunmi ponders. “At times, it concerns the fear of forgetting your origins. The fear of losing your identity.” This is why Annie is significant, not just as a figure, but as an embodiment of cultural remembrance. In her stillness, there’s resistance. In her pain, there’s preservation.
Wunmi does not spend much time reading online reactions. “I have not gone searching for anything,” she said. And yet, audiences and critics alike have noticed, her performance gives the film its emotional shape. She is the weight, the memory, the ache beneath the magic.
When asked to list her personal heroes, Mosaku included her grandmother Anike Adisa, whom she described as having “taught me so many lessons”; actor Albert Finney, who was her inspiration for attending RADA; her colleague and former instructor at RADA, William Gaskill; Paul Newman, whom she admired not just for his acting but also for his philanthropic efforts; and Oprah Winfrey, whom Mosaku considers “a superwoman”.
Outside of acting, Wunmi Mosaku is also an ambassador for ActionAid, an international charity that works with women and girls living in poverty. She started supporting ActionAid in 2018 and visited Ghana in March 2019 to meet with survivors of domestic violence and to learn about the organisation’s work in helping them access justice. Her trip was also a personal journey into her family history, as she reflected on the story of her grandmother who fought against a forced marriage upon returning to Nigeria.
And perhaps that’s why Wunmi Mosaku stands out, not because she demands attention, but because she gives her roles so much of herself. In Sinners, she doesn’t play Annie. She becomes her.
BUSINESSDAY MEDIA LTD