# Michael Wawuyo

Michael Wawuyo Sr is a Ugandan actor and special effects artist. He is notable for his big screen roles on Last King of Scotland, Kony: Order from Above, The Only Son, Sometimes in April, The Mercy of the Jungle, The Taste of our Land, and small screen roles on Uganda NTV's Yat Madit and Power of Legacy.

## Career

Wawuyo broke into film industry in the 1991 Mira Nair directed film Mississippi Masala playing a terrorist soldier. He subsequently took on a series of military-type roles in several international productions, including an intelligence security officer in Black Blood (1997); a military commander in the HBO film Sometimes in April (2005) about the Rwandan genocide; and an air force commander in The Last King of Scotland (2016) about former Ugandan president Idi Amin.
In addition to homegrown Ugandan productions, Wawuyu continues to periodically work in regional African and international films, including the awarding winning Rwandan films The Mercy of the Jungle (2018) and A Taste of our Land (2022). The latter film, set in an unnamed African country and told against the backdrop of Chinese influence on the continent, garnered him the Best Male Actor award at Morocco's Festival du Cinéma Africain de Khouribga.
His Ugandan films include Situka (2015); Kony: Order from Above (2017), The Boda Boda Thieves (Abaabi Ba Booda) (2015), The Only Son (2016) and The Girl in the Yellow Jumper (2020), the first Ugandan film to be made available on Netflix.
After a quarter of a century of big screen appearances, Wawuyo made his television debut on NTV Uganda's 2016 award-winning drama series,Yat Madit, about a fictional post-conflict Northern Ugandan community. The series was part of an effort to promote reconciliation and peace among post-conflict communities in North and North Eastern Uganda following Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army war. Wawuyo's next television role was in the 2019 television drama series Power of Legacy, starring as the patriarch of the Batte family hotel empire.
Wawuyo is also known for his work as a special effects and make up artist on films that includeThe Felista's Fable (2013) for which he received his first nomination at the 2nd Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards in 2014, Imbabazi: The Pardon (2013), and The Mercy of the Jungle (2018).
At the Uganda 2024 iKon Awards, Wawuyo was given a Lifetime Achievement Award.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2022 | Taste of Our Land | Yohani | |
| 2022 | Kafa Coh | Cedric Nkono | |
| 2020 | The Girl in the Yellow Jumper | | |
| 2019 | Power of Legacy | Zacharias Batte Sr. | |
| 2018 | The Mercy of the Jungle | Village Chief | Rwandan film by Joël Karekezi |
| 2017 | Kony: Order from Above | | About the LRA Rebel leader Joseph Kony |
| 2016 | Yat Madit | Achan | Aired on NTV Uganda in 2016-2017 |
| 2016 | The Only Son | Father | |
| 2015 | King of Darkness | James - Airport store man | |
| 2015 | Situka | Muwadada | |
| 2015 | The Boda Boda Thieves | Goodman | |
| 2014 | Bullion | | Produced by Henry H. Ssali and directed by Phillip Luswata |
| 2013 | Luzira:Escape From Uganda | Inspector Michael Morais | Malayalam thriller movie directed by Rajesh Nair |
| 2013 | Imbabazi: The Pardon | Kalisa | Rwandan film by Joël Karekezi |
| 2013 | The Felistas Fable | Kuku | |
| 2012 | Bye Bye Mzungu | Waswa | Short |
| 2006 | The Last King of Scotland | Air Force Commander | Hollywood Production starring Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin, Kerry Washington as Kay Amin and James McAvoy as Dr. Nicholas Garrigan |
| 2005 | Sometimes in April | RAF Soldier #8 | HBO TV Movie about Rwandan genocide of 1994 |
| 1991 | Mississippi Masala | Soldier on Bus | Mira Nair directed film |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Nominated work | Association | Category | Result | Notes |
| 2024 | | iKon Awards | Lifetime Achievement Award | Won | |
| 2022 | Taste of our Land | Festival du Cinéma Africain de Khouribga | Best Male Actor | Won | |
| 2017 | | Uganda Film Festival Awards | Judges' Choice Award | Won | Honorary Award |
| 2014 | Felista's Fable | Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards (AMVCAs) | Make Up Artiste of the Year | Nominated | |