--- title: Harry Potter Actress Noma Dumezweni Gives Olivier Speech description: She won Best Actress in a Supporting Role at the Olivier Awards on Sunday and took a moment onstage to acknowledge where she had come from canonical: https://time.com/4733155/noma-dumezweni-acceptance-speech-harry-potter/ author: Catherine Trautwein article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-10T16:29:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:42:41.049Z og:title: Noma Dumezweni Emphasizes Refugee Origins in Acceptance Speech og:description: The play won in a record-breaking nine categories og:url: https://time.com/4733155/noma-dumezweni-acceptance-speech-harry-potter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d6e5f2787e1adad/6988c21dfb4eac5689891723/gettyimages-666732900.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Noma Dumezweni at Olivier Awards 2017 on the Red Carpet og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Noma Dumezweni Emphasizes Refugee Origins in Acceptance Speech twitter:description: The play won in a record-breaking nine categories twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d6e5f2787e1adad/6988c21dfb4eac5689891723/gettyimages-666732900.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'I Am a Refugee Child.' Watch Harry Potter Play's Hermione Granger Give a Powerful Speech by [Catherine Trautwein](https://time.com/author/catherine-trautwein/) ## Catherine Trautwein Apr 10, 2017 4:29 PM UTC  LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 09: Noma Dumezweni attends The Olivier Awards 2017 at Royal Albert Hall on April 9, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Fred Duval/FilmMagic) LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 09: Noma Dumezweni attends The Olivier Awards 2017 at Royal Albert Hall on April 9, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Fred Duval/FilmMagic)Fred Duval—FilmMagic by [Catherine Trautwein](https://time.com/author/catherine-trautwein/) ## Catherine Trautwein Apr 10, 2017 4:29 PM UTC It was a truly magical Sunday night for the cast of [_Harry Potter and the Cursed Child_](http://time.com/tag/harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child/), as the play took home bronze statuettes at the [Olivier Awards](http://time.com/4732528/harry-potter-cursed-child-olivier-awards/) sweeping the ceremony, according to the [BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-39491479). Noma Dumezweni who won Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of Harry Potter’s bookish best friend, [Hermione Granger](http://time.com/4156583/harry-potter-hermione-granger-noma-dumezweni-theater/), delivered a powerful speech about her life as a refugee child. “I arrived in this country as a refugee child with my sister and my mother,” she said. “I suppose what I’m trying to say — this is my little political bit, if you don’t mind — I am a refugee child.” The actress, who the [_Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/21/jk-rowling-loves-black-hermione-casting-noma-dumezweni) reports has South African parents and was born in Swaziland, joins the rank of performers using their platforms at awards ceremonies to touch on political issues. Dumezweni’s casting had attracted hostility from some fans who complained that the character, played by [Emma Watson](http://time.com/4397694/noma-dumezweni-emma-watson/) in the films, was white. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling took to Twitter to announce her support of the casting choice. > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/678888094339366914) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4733155/noma-dumezweni-acceptance-speech-harry-potter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4733155/noma-dumezweni-acceptance-speech-harry-potter/"},"headline":"'I Am a Refugee Child.' Watch Harry Potter Play's Hermione Granger Give a Powerful Speech","datePublished":"2017-04-10T16:29:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:42:41.049Z","description":"The play won in a record-breaking nine categories","url":"https://time.com/4733155/noma-dumezweni-acceptance-speech-harry-potter/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrity","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d6e5f2787e1adad/6988c21dfb4eac5689891723/gettyimages-666732900.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Catherine Trautwein","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/catherine-trautwein/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5d6e5f2787e1adad/6988c21dfb4eac5689891723/gettyimages-666732900.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Noma Dumezweni at Olivier Awards 2017 on the Red Carpet","caption":"The Olivier Awards 2017 - Red Carpet Arrivals","creditText":"Fred Duval—FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4733155/noma-dumezweni-acceptance-speech-harry-potter/","name":"'I Am a Refugee Child.' Watch Harry Potter Play's Hermione Granger Give a Powerful Speech"}}]}] ```