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Letitia Wright Hopes to Inspire Young Girls With Black Panther Role

At the movie's premiere, the actress tells E! News it's a " privilege" to play Shuri

By Zach Johnson Jan 30, 2018 7:50 PMTags
Watch: Letitia Wright Reveals "Black Panther" Set Had Rap Battles

Black Panther had its world premiere at L.A.'s Dolby Theatre Monday—and word on the street is that Letitia Wright steals more than a few scenes as Shuri, the technologically proficient princess of Wakanda. Before she headed inside to screen the movie, the 24-year-old actress spoke to E! News' Zuri Hall on the red carpet about her "amazing" experience making Marvel Studios' next big movie, out Feb. 16. "It feels like such a huge blessing and a dream come true!"

Wright said she'd been dreaming of a role like this since she was a teenager ("I still look like a teenager!") and it's something she'd "always" kept in mind. "It's a privilege to be able to have such a character that a young girl can look back on, watch this film and be like, 'Hey, I might want to be a scientist. I want to be in technology,'" Wright said. "Yeah, I think that's amazing."

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Black Panther's Hollywood Premiere
Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney

The actress worked with a handful of A-listers, as the cast includes Angela Bassett, Chadwick Boseman, Winston Duke, Martin Freeman, Danai Gurira, Michael B. Jordan, Daniel Kaluuya, Lupita Nyong'o, Andy Serkis and Forest Whitaker—to name a few. "Just learning from them was such a blessing. It was surreal, but then they were so humble. They were so grounded, as well! They didn't make me feel like I didn't belong there. They just made me feel included," Wright told E! News. "So, it was great to learn from them and to get whatever I needed to get."

But it wasn't all work all the time, of course.

Wright recalled the cast made "so many" fun memories while filming. "What we did a lot was have rap battles," Wright revealed. "I would always win, so those were pretty funny moments!"