Malaika Uwamahoro is a Rwandan performing artist, poet, and director whose work bridges storytelling, history, and social impact. A graduate of Fordham University in New York City with a BA in Theatre Studies (Acting Track), she attended as a proud recipient of the Rwandan Presidential Scholarship Malaika’s poetry and performances have graced stages worldwide, including Africa CEO Forum 2026 in Kigali, Rwanda, hosted the Commonwealth Short Story Prize award ceremony 2025, CHOGM in Rwanda, Forbes Women Africa in Durban, the United Nations Headquarters in New York, African Union Summits in Addis Ababa and Kigali, We the People Commonwealth in 2024, and Qatar, Doha. She recently released her debut poetry album, Rhymes of Remembrance, an immersive 25-minute audiovisual collection of five poems exploring Rwanda’s journey from pre colonial times to the present that she directed and performed at Our Past at Kwibuka 2024 Nyanza Her Off-Broadway debut came in 2014 with Katori Hall’s Our Lady of Kibeho. Other theater credits include Dance Africa (BAM), Miracle in Rwanda (Theatre Row, NYC), Cartography (New Victory Theatre, NYC; NYUAD Abu Dhabi), Bishop (Fordham/Primary Stages, NYC), Africa’s Hope (USC Bovard Theatre, CA), and Les Os que Craquent (Théâtre de Poche, Belgium) Malaika’s film work includes Alkebulan (Dir. Steven Chikosi), Fight Like A Girl (Dir. Dame D Nil), The Lover (Dir. Atiq Rahimi), Loveless Generation (Dir. Thomas Petkovski), Un Plan Parfait (Dir. Pascal Chaumeil), and Shake Hands with the Devil (Dir. Roger Spottiswoode) As a director, she has led performances for Kwita Izina 2022 (Musanze), Youth ConneKt Africa 2022, The Love Lab Album Launch (KCEV, Kigali), Twaje Fest 2024 (BK Arena, Kigali), Inzibutso play(Nyanza Memorial site, Kigali), Boukuru’s opening performance at Giants of Africa 2025 (BK Arena, Kigali), Commonwealth Short Story Prize award ceremony 2025, Rhymes of remembrance Performance(Nyanza Memorial site,Kigali), Rhymes of remembrance Europe tour(Italy, France, and Poland) Her accolades include the Best Actress Award at the Vues d’Afrique International Film Festival in Montréal, Arts & Culture Excellence Award — Women In Leadership Summit & Awards(2024),Awardee — Celebrating Young Rwandan Achievers(CYRWA) Awards (2017) as well as nominations for Best Solo Performance (Audelco VIV Awards, 2019) and Best Actress (Golden Orange International Film Awards) Dedicated to preserving history and amplifying truth, Malaika’s work celebrates the transformative power of art to educate, inspire, and create change
