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Rachel Mwanza is an actress from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, best known for her performance as Komona in the 2012 film Rebelle.
Born in 1997 and abandoned by her parents as a child, Mwanza spent several years living as a street child in Kinshasa before being cast in Rebelle. She was cast in the film after director Kim Nguyen and producers Pierre Even and Marie-Claude Poulin saw her in a documentary film on the street kids of Kinshasa. Due to her lack of education, she did not know how to read or write when she was first cast in the film; the filmmakers have since made arrangements to pay for her education and housing until she turns 18. In February 2013 she was granted a visa to allow her to attend the Academy Awards.
Her performance in Rebelle garnered her awards for Best Actress from the Berlin Film Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival and the Vancouver Film Critics Circle in 2012, as well as the award for Best Actress at the 1st Canadian Screen Awards.
In 2012, she appeared in her second film role, in Marc-Henri Wajnberg's Kinshasa Kids.
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