Dominique Thorne

Dominique Thorne is an American actress born on November 5, 1997, in Brooklyn, New York, to Trinidadian and Guyanese immigrants Nerissa and Gavin Thorne. She has two younger brothers, and her family later relocated to Newark, Delaware. As of 2020, Thorne and her family reside in Atlanta.

Thorne received her formal dramatic training at the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan. During her senior year, she earned the 2015 YoungArts Award in Spoken Theater and was named a U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, a distinction conferred annually by the White House. She subsequently enrolled at Cornell University, where she was initiated into the Mu Gamma chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority in spring 2018. She graduated in May 2019 with a bachelor's degree in Human Development and a minor in Inequality Studies, and prior to graduation became a member of the Sphinx Head secret senior honors society.

Her feature film debut came in 2018, when she portrayed Shelia Hunt, the younger sister of the central character Fonny Hunt, in Barry Jenkins's If Beale Street Could Talk, an adaptation of James Baldwin's novel. In 2021, she appeared in Judas and the Black Messiah as Judy Harmon, a member of the Black Panthers. In 2016, Thorne had auditioned for the role of Shuri in Black Panther, completing screen tests with Chadwick Boseman, though the part ultimately went to Letitia Wright.

Thorne was cast as Riri Williams / Ironheart in 2020 for the Disney+ series Ironheart, a role she received without additional auditions due to her prior work with Marvel Studios. Producer Nate Moore noted that Thorne was Marvel's first and only call when casting the character. She first appeared as Riri Williams in the 2022 theatrical release Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and reprised the role in the 2025 Disney+ miniseries Ironheart. She also starred in the 2024 Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck film Freaky Tales.

On stage, Thorne made her Broadway debut in 2023 in Jaja's African Hair Braiding.