Hollywood Prodigy Amandla Stenberg Has Many (Actual) Strings To Her Creative Bow

Gracing the cover of TIME magazine back in 2018 as a "next generation leader", actor and activist, Amandla Stenberg may be young in years, but her legacy is already overflowing. 

With a breakthrough performance as the young tribute Rue in the Jennifer Lawrence-led flick The Hunger Games back in 2012, Stenberg's ascension as a Hollywood fixture has been lined with film roles in The Hate U Give and Where Hands Touch, TV stints on Drunk History and The Eddy, and even an appearance in Beyonce's epic Lemonade music video back in 2016. 

Now at the age of 23, it's not just shiny Hollywood appearances that have ricocheted Stenberg from young up-and-comer to industry powerhouse; Stenberg also gives voice and strength to a variety of cultural, political and social justice issues, named in 2015 as the Ms. Foundation for Women's "Feminist Celebrity of the Year", while also going viral that same year for her playful yet thought-provoking cultural appropriation video project titled Don't Cash Crop My Cornrows. 

Balancing a burgeoning career alongside public scrutiny for her stances on racial and gender equality, Stenberg also has yet another string to her very powerful creative bow, playing violin and singing, making her official music debut in 2015 with the folk rock duo Honeywater. And her music chops are on full display in 2021, with the impending release of her brand new film: an adaptation of the Broadway smash-hit musical Dear Evan Hansen.

Featuring a stacked cast including Stenberg, Ben Platt, Kaitlyn Dever, Nik Dodani, Julianne Moore and Amy Adams, Dear Evan Hansen follows the titular anxious and isolated high schooler Evan Hansen as he struggles to belong in high school and the social media age, with an array of Grammy-winning songs including You Will Be Found, Waving Through A Window and For Forever. Stenberg joins the cast in the role of Alana Beck, an empathetic overachiever with a pivotal role in the film and musical, with Alana's role also expanded for the film to include a brand new song for the character, penned by Stenberg herself alongside songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. And to unpack the Dear Evan Hansen experience and also gift a brief insight into her other music endeavours, Amandla Stenberg joins The Green Room podcast for today's episode.

"It was 100% because Steven Levenson and Stephen Chbosky, that's our screenwriter and our director, and Benj Pasek and Justin Paul our songwriters came to me and were like: we want you to write the song with us!" Stenberg explained to host Speter.

"And I was like: 'Huh?! You guys have, like, Tonys and stuff! You want me to write a song with you?!' And they were like: '...yeah! This is really important to the creation of the character.'

"I'm really grateful that they even, like...believed in me," Stenberg said incredulously, "or saw potential in me as a collaborator!"

"I'm so honoured by that, and we had such a special time together writing the song and exploring who Alana is through the song."

While Stenberg's musical prowess will be able to be witnessed with gusto when Dear Evan Hansen finally releases in cinemas (a fact Stenberg is so grateful for and goes on to discuss on today's episode of The Green Room) - can we all dare to hope to be able to hear even more of her sonic adventures in the not too distant future?

"Yeah, totally," Stenberg enthused. "I'm working on an EP right now.

"I...I haven't really publicised that very much, or given it a release date because I am still in the process of figuring out exactly how I wanna 'do the thing'.

"But I have a lot of demos, I've been working on it for a long time. 

"But it's exciting to just, kind of, explore my musical voice without there being any pressure put onto it."

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Catch Amandla Stenberg in Dear Evan Hansen next Thursday 9 December, including a stellar cast performing all the Grammy-winning songs on the silver screen. For more information, head here.

To check out the full chat with Amandla Stenberg and host Tiana Speter, you can listen below, over at the Euphony site, via YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts - or wherever you usually get your podcasts from.