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Letitia Wright, the Guyanese-British actress known for her role as Shuri in Marvel’s Black Panther franchise, is a committed Christian who has boldly spoken about her faith despite facing cancel culture criticism. This is her story of faith, resilience, and refusing to compromise her beliefs in a secular industry.

Letitia Wright, an actress known for her bold Christian faith and outspoken criticism of cancel culture, is set to reprise her role in Marvel’s upcoming film, Avengers: Doomsday (2026), which is slated to release this December.

It comes shortly after the release of Wright’s directorial debut, “Highway to the Moon” — which she created under her faith-based production company, 3.16 Productions. In May 2025, the short film premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and has since screened at multiple festivals, including the South London and Holly Shorts Film Festivals.

The Guyanese-born British film star founded 3.16 Productions in 2020, hoping it would “bridge the gap by bringing to light untold and hidden stories within our society”. 

“The company seeks to create impact and inspire practical change with every story it tells, leaving a lasting imprint of its ethos and signature through the development and production of scripted narratives in both television and feature-length films.”

Wright is a big name in Hollywood, having featured in four Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films—attaining global recognition for her role as Princess Shuri in Black Panther (2018), before reprising that role in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). In 2022, she starred as the lead in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which The Guardian called “the highest-grossing female-led superhero movie in US box office history”.

This year, Wright is slated to reprise her role as Princess Shuri in the much-anticipated Avengers: Doomsday, set for release in December.

Conversion to Christianity

While Wright’s reputation as a world-class performer is well-established, fewer people know that she is also a deeply committed and outspoken Christian. She has shared publicly how her pursuit of status and money within the industry had left her unfulfilled and empty when a friend called her. 

The friend told Wright that he felt prompted by God to call her and tell her that she wasn’t in a good place and to offer to tell her about Jesus. The friend gave her the verse Matthew 6:33, which commands people to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

On the back of that conversation, Letitia says she “just got really hungry”. “I really just kept feeding myself on the Word,” she noted, “and the Gospels are just my favourite…”

Alluding to John 10:10, she says the words of Jesus in Scripture “just brought life to me”.

“I knew something happened. I knew there was something different in my spirit. I felt free, and my mind wasn’t trippin’ any more. I am actually free!”

She has shared regularly about how her faith in Christ gives her the strength to continue serving Him within Hollywood.

“The world is so fickle and there’s not much that you can really put your hope in to make you feel whole,” she told The Independent in 2021.

“Even now I’m going through a new transformative stage of my life with understanding who I am, but with God you can really just get through these situations. It’s been beautiful to have my faith in Jesus, which is worth more than anything.”

She says people have told her to stop talking about Jesus, but she responds by pointing out that she’s “not trying to force anything on anyone”—she’s sharing Jesus because “I probably wouldn’t be alive right now if it wasn’t for Jesus, I probably wouldn’t have been able to cope.”

“… if someone saves you and brings light and love to your life, you want to share that. You don’t want to hide it.”

COVID-19 Controversy

But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Wright.

In the past few years, she has found herself on the receiving end of cancel culture—something she has expressed frustration about, especially in the context of toxic digital spaces.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the actress shared a video questioning the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine and expressing a range of views, many of which are considered controversial. Although she never endorsed every claim made in the video, Letitia was confronted with extreme backlash online.

She was initially scathing of the response: “If you don’t conform to popular opinions, but ask questions and think for yourself… you get cancelled.” Her MCU co-star Don Cheadle, while calling the video “hot garbage” and saying he would never defend someone sharing it, defended Wright personally—saying he “still won’t throw her away over it”.

In response to fierce criticism, Wright clarified and apologised: “…my intention was not to hurt anyone, my ONLY intention of posting the video was it raised my concerns with what the vaccine contains and what we are putting in our bodies… Nothing else.” 

The next day, she appeared to have deleted her Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Ongoing Adversity

It was a controversy Wright has been forced to revisit several times over the years. Although she has never backed down from the broad concerns articulated in her initial tweets—nor has she denied that what she experienced was “cancel culture”—she has emphasised her clarification and apology, saying she has “moved on”.

She has since called out the media—especially The Hollywood Reporter journalist, Scott Feinberg—for deceptive reporting and “vile behavior”, calling out a report in which Feinberg appeared to group her alongside two men who, in Wright’s words, “have been accused of abuse & sexual misconduct”.

“This is vile behavior. At this point a personal vendetta towards me. I’ve done nothing wrong but respectfully refused to do interviews with this publication. Stop your nonsense.”

In a separate post, she also opened up about just how vile the criticism against her had been since 2020:

“I’ve remained silent as the world told me to kill myself two years ago for a video I posted and apologised for. I kept my head down and focused on my craft. And now I’m at the other side of it. Here you are [speaking to Feinberg], as a so called journalist we are meant to trust, putting my name into this nasty article for what?”

Taking a Break from Social Media

As well as crediting her faith, Wright has also spoken about how helpful taking an extended break from social media has been—saying that having a “healthy, balanced conversation” in the real world is much more fulfilling and has allowed her to “have the sort of conversation and education that doesn’t feel like pointing the finger”.

Asked in 2021 how she had found her time offline, she responded:

“It’s been brilliant. I’ve been able to go away and educate myself, read books and connect with my family. There’s not been this pressure of expectation. Everyone should just step away from social media.”

Despite the adversity and controversy she has faced, Wright continues to find her hope in God—speaking boldly about her faith and sharing how he has transformed her life.

Image courtesy of Gage Skidmore via Flickr.