Rachel Mwanza

 was born in 1997 in Mbuji-Mayi, the third of six siblings, and spent her early childhood in Kasai Province. Her father dispatched her mother and siblings to Kinshasa when she was eight years old, promising to rejoin them later. There, the children no longer attended school, and her mother held her responsible for the family's misfortune after a false prophet stated Mwanza was a witch. He charged her mother for attempted exorcisms to rid Mwanza of witchcraft, but eventually she was thrown out on the street.

Mwanza spent several years living as a street child in Kinshasa before being cast in the Canadian film War Witch (Rebelle). She also appeared in the 2013 film Kinshasa Kids written and directed by Marc-Henri Wajnberg.

She later moved to Montreal, where she attended the high school École Lucien-Pagé and lived with the family of Anne-Marie Gélinas, the associate film producer for War Witch.

Quotes

 * It is kind of a miracle that I was chosen for this role. By Olivier, 02/04/2014.