If Beale Street Could Talk actress Dominique Thorne will play genius inventor Riri Williams in Ironheart, Marvel Studios announced yesterday. The news sparked a wave of fan curiosity about Dominique Thorne’s age, personal life and other roles.
How old is Dominique Thorne?
Dominique Thorne’s age is not officially listed online. However, when she was a high school senior, Thorne won the 2015 Young Arts Award in Spoken Theatre. This would make her around 22-23 years old in 2020.
Thorne is a relative newcomer to the big screen. Despite her young age and relative inexperience, she made her cinematic debut in Barry Jenkins’ multi-Award winning adaptation of a James Baldwin novel, If Beale Street Could Talk.
Since then, Thorne has added another two screen credits to her name, one of which is Marvel’s Ironheart, where Thorne plays genius inventor Riri Williams.
The other is Shaka King’s Judas and the Black Messiah. The film, which will premiere in 2021, follows the story of Fred Hampton, Chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party.
Thorne’s early acting days
A Brooklyn native, Dominique Thorne attended the Professional Performing Arts High School, in Manhattan. But she didn’t sideline her academic education in order to pursue an acting career.
Instead, according to a profile on the Cornell University website, Thorne divided her college applications between schools for acting and schools for academics.
She got top choices for both, and decided to pursue a formal college education. Thorne said: “While theatre and acting have been a huge part of my life, I wanted to see that I was capable of academically.”
Thorne later landed an unexpected role in Barry Jenkins’ 2018 film, If Beale Street Could Talk. When the film received widespread critical acclaim, it catapulted Thorne into the limelight.
Given Thorne’s recent casting in the role of Riri Williams, her rise to prominence has been rapid. As a result, fans have shown their support for the announcement via Twitter. The news has also received widespread media attention.
Riri Williams is the successor to Iron Man in the original comics, and is making her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in the Disney+ series.
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