Lashana Lynch on the power of representing Jamaica in James Bond’s 'No Time To Die'

Lashana Lynch has opened up about the immense pride she feels at starring in the upcoming James Bond movie No Time To Die, in which she plays a 00 agent alongside Daniel Craig.

During her speech at Essence’s Black Women in Hollywood Awards ceremony on Thursday night, via Page Six, Lynch admitted that it previously scared her “knowing there were little black girls around the world potentially looking up” to her and what she does.

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However, that changed when she realised that her work as an actress gave her a “golden opportunity to speak” to people that she cared about across the world through her roles.

She then made reference to her role in Captain Marvel, declaring, “It was a privilege to play Maria Rambeau and give an ode to single black mothers who are truly heroes without capes,” before then teasing her work in No Time To Die, by adding, “And it is an honor to be able to proudly flam our big Jamaican flag up in MI6 as a 00 agent.”

Lynch, who described herself as a “dark skinned, working class young woman from West London … who proudly comes from an immigrant family and wears her truth on her sleeve,” then opened up about growing up and always being “hyper-aware of [her] blackness.”

“I recall being in ballet class at a very young age and having a white teacher tell me to tuck in my backside, and I proceeded to explain why mine just doesn’t go in like everyone else.”

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“So then I told my mom I wanted to leave [ballet], at that young age, and because of the black women that raised me, I was confidently able to leave a space that didn’t celebrate me. And now here I am in this room being able to celebrate my skin, my hair and my [behind].”

We’ll get to see Lynch in all of her glory when No Time To Die is released on April 2, 2020.