Quvenzhané Wallis is an American teen actress who was born on August 28, 2003, in Houma, Louisiana, USA, the daughter of Venjie Sr. and Qulyndreia Wallis.

At age 5 she auditioned for the starring role in Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) despite the minimum age to be considered was six. She went on to beat out some 4,000 other local kids to play Hushpuppy--the indomitable child prodigy and survivalist who lives with her dying father in the backwoods bayou squalor of Louisiana.

For her outstanding performance in the film, she became the youngest person ever to receive a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance. She was the first Academy Award nominee who was born in the 21st century.

After Beasts of the Southern Wild Quvenzhané appeared the next year in the short film "Boneshaker" and played Margaret Northup in "12 Years a Slave." For 2014 she was the voice of Almitra in “Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet.” She then landed the role of “Annie" in an African-American film version of the iconic musical next to Jamie Foxx. She has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award for best actress in a musical or comedy film for her titular role in that film.  She also appeared in  Fathers and Daughters  (2015) and  is the voice of Harper in the animated feature, "Trolls.' 

In 2019 she joined the cast of the TV series "Black-ish" playing the role of Kyra it is her first venture into serial television.

With her nomination for an Oscar, she joined the ranks of Dorothy Dandridge, Diana Ross, Cicely Tyson, Diahann Carroll, Whoopi Goldberg, Angela Bassett, Halle Berry, Gabourey Sidibe, and Viola Davis. She became the 10th black actress to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar.