Nathalie Emmanuel
Nathalie Emmanuel is a British actor best known for playing Missandei in HBO’s Game of Thrones. Before that, she rose to national attention in the UK as Sasha Valentine in Hollyoaks, then moved into major film and TV projects including The Maze Runner sequels and the Fast & Furious franchise as hacker Ramsey. Her television work also includes the romantic comedy series Four Weddings and a Funeral, and she has continued to take lead roles in thriller and action films.
Emmanuel is also vegan and has remained so in recent years. In 2024, she was described as having been vegan for nine years, with the decision framed as something she tried initially and then continued after noticing clear changes in how she looked and felt. She has explained that the switch began as a one-week trial and continued because of the impact on her energy and wellbeing, with friends commenting that she looked brighter. She has also linked going vegan to taking control over what she puts in her body, influenced by conversations with friends and her family’s health history.
Alongside diet, Emmanuel is a certified yoga instructor and has spoken about yoga, rest, and routine as part of how she stays grounded while working long, demanding schedules.
“I started eating a vegan diet about four years ago and even after a week I felt amazing. I had so much more energy. I don’t trust the food industry, I don’t trust what they put in our food -it makes me feel sick actually. I cook a lot and my signature dish is a vegan version of a Caribbean dish called Ackee and Saltfish.”1Brotherton, H. 2017. 10 things you need to know about Nathalie Emmanuel. Glamour. Available: https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/nathalie-emmanuel-interview [Accessed 10 March 2021].
“I ate vegan for one week at first… it made me feel really good, so I carried on… People kept coming up to me and telling me I looked glowy and my eyes looked really bright, so I kept going.” 2https://www.livekindly.com/vegan-celebrities/
