Queen of Katwe Actor Nikita Pearl Waligwa Is Dead at 15
Nikita Pearl Waligwa, a Ugandan actor who appeared in Disney’s 2016 Mira Nair-directed film Queen of Katwe, has died. She was 15.
The New York Times reports that the cause was brain cancer. Waligwa had been diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2016, and after a brief recession, doctors found the cancer had spread. Waligwa’s school, Gayaza High School in Kampala, Uganda, announced her death on Twitter on Sunday.
BBC reports that Nair had tried to crowdfund Waligwa’s medical treatment in India, after Ugandan doctors said they lacked the equipment necessary to eradicate her brain tumor.