
Joaquina Kalukango
Actor · Born September 2, 1989 (37) · Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Screen Actors Guild Award nominee
Joaquina Kalukango is an American actor and singer best known for playing Nelly O'Brien in the Broadway musical Paradise Square, for which she won the 2022 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. She was nominated for Best Actress in a Play in 2020 for portraying Kaneisha in Slave Play. In addition to her theatre work, Kalukango has appeared in One Night in Miami..., When They See Us and Lawmen: Bass Reeves. Kalukango is a 2007 YoungArts alumnus. She graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts from the Juilliard School. Kalukango is of Angolan descent, and her parents arrived in the United States as political refugees. Due to her heritage, Kalukango wants to work on roles that showcase the Black experience.
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Biography from TMDB.
- September 2, 1989 (37)
- Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- Actor
- 8 on MovieCove · 10 credits in all
Known for
What are Joaquina Kalukango's films like?
Across a limited sample of 4 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Self and Society.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 0 · Earnest 4
Light 1 · Serious 2 · Dark 1
Grounded 2 · Stylized 2 · Heightened 0
Gentle 1 · Charged 3 · Intense 0
Steady 2 · Shifting 2 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 3 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 0
Slow burn 3 · Even-paced 1 · Relentless 0
Casual 1 · Engaged 2 · Full focus 1
Easy watch 0 · Affecting 3 · Heavy 1
A split, not a type: Resolved 2 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 1
Roles they play
- Allyas Mildred in Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia (2021)
- Heroas Gloria Gaynor in Robin Roberts Presents: I Will Survive: The Gloria Gaynor Story (2025)
Moods and endings
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Joaquina Kalukango's films?
As of October 24, 2026, 7 of their 8 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Netflix (2).
Subscription and free streaming for Joaquina Kalukango's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
10 credits, 8 with a MovieCove page; 2 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Midcredits score: 54th percentile of all films (provisional, few ratings)
Lawmen: Bass Reeves(2023)
Midcredits score: 65th percentile of all shows
Bring Me to Light (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)
Midcredits score: 76th percentile of all films
One Night in Miami...(2020)
Midcredits score: 85th percentile of all films

Lovecraft Country(2020)
Midcredits score: 53rd percentile of all shows
Chained for Life(2018)
Midcredits score: 67th percentile of all films
When They See Us(2019)
Midcredits score: 99th percentile of all shows
Steal Away (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
Star power in the 68th percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 10 titles, 9 of them dated from 2019 to 2025.
Film career
- 2019Screen debut· Chained for Life
- 2020Screen Actors Guild Award nomination· One Night in Miami...
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.
Awards
Nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2021, Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
Major bodies only: the Oscars, Primetime Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs and Screen Actors Guild Awards are named; Cannes, Venice, the Berlinale, Sundance, the directors', writers' and producers' guilds, the Grammys, Critics Choice and the Independent Spirit Awards count as other major bodies. Festival and regional prizes are not counted. Source: IMDb.
How do Joaquina Kalukango's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 72nd percentile, the median of the 4 of 5 with a score; across a limited sample of 4 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 73rd percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up3
- 50th to 74th4
Shape of the crowd
3 of their 7 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved1
- Cult Classic1
- Crowd Pleaser3
- Mixed2
Reviewers score the acting 77/100 in their films, across 3 reviewed titles; fans 87, detractors 45. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Who does Joaquina Kalukango work with?
People who share at least 2 of Joaquina Kalukango's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Adam Sliwinski shares the most, 2.
Cinematographers
- Adam SliwinskiShared titles: Robin Roberts Presents: I Will Survive: The Gloria Gaynor Story (2025), Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia (2021)See all 2 shared titles with Adam Sliwinski

Producers
- Charles CooperShared titles: Robin Roberts Presents: I Will Survive: The Gloria Gaynor Story (2025), Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia (2021)See all 2 shared titles with Charles Cooper

- Linda BermanShared titles: Robin Roberts Presents: I Will Survive: The Gloria Gaynor Story (2025), Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia (2021)See all 2 shared titles with Linda Berman

- Robin RobertsShared titles: Robin Roberts Presents: I Will Survive: The Gloria Gaynor Story (2025), Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia (2021)See all 2 shared titles with Robin Roberts

