Meet Thinley Lhamo, The Nepali Actor Playing Tenzing Norgay’s Wife in Apple’s “Tenzing”

When Apple’s new film Tenzing reaches screens in late 2026, most of the attention will go to the big names in the cast, like Tom Hiddleston and Willem Dafoe. But one of the most important roles in the film belongs to a young Nepali actor who was almost unknown outside her home country just two years ago. Her name is Thinley Lhamo, and she plays Dawa, the wife of Tenzing Norgay.

This is a big moment, both for her and for Nepali cinema. Here is who she is, how she got here, and what her role in Tenzing means.

Who Is Thinley Lhamo?

Thinley Lhamo is a Nepali actor of Tibetan heritage, born around 1997. She grew up in Kathmandu and went to boarding school in the Boudha area, a part of the city with a strong Tibetan community.

As a child she loved singing and dancing, and for a while she even dreamed of becoming a flight attendant. That changed when she joined the Nepal Tibet Opera Association, a group that performs traditional Tibetan opera. Performing on stage taught her how to control her expressions and hold an audience, and it slowly pulled her toward acting.

She has spoken openly about how raw she was in the beginning. In her own words, she used to make a lot of strange faces while performing before she learned to control them. That honesty about her early days is part of what makes her story easy to like.

Thinley Lhamo keeps her personal life mostly private. She shares moments from her work and travels on social media, but she has not publicly spoken about a partner or relationship.

Her First Films

Before she became known around the world, Lhamo appeared in two Nepali films, Naka and Hari, both around 2017 and 2018. She has said these early roles almost fell into her lap through her modelling and stage work, and that she enjoyed the process even though she was still learning.

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These were small steps, but they gave her real time in front of a camera. That experience mattered later, when a much bigger role came her way.

The Film That Changed Everything “Shambhala”

Lhamo’s breakthrough came with Shambhala (2024), directed by Nepali filmmaker Min Bahadur Bham. In it she plays Pema, a young woman in a Himalayan village who sets off on a hard and emotional journey after her husband disappears on a trading trip. The film was shot in the remote Dolpo region at very high altitude, and the work was physically brutal. Some of the crew got altitude sickness and had to be flown out.

Shambhala did something no Nepali film had done before. It was selected for the main competition at the Berlin International Film Festival, one of the most respected film events in the world. It later became Nepal’s official entry for the Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards.

Then came the moment that put Lhamo’s name on the map. At the 77th Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland in August 2024, she won the Boccalino d’Oro Prize for Best Acting Performance. This was a historic win, the first of its kind for a South Asian actor. Director Min Bahadur Bham said the award was an inspiration for young Nepali actors from the Himalaya, and the team dedicated it to the strong women of the region.

Thinley Lhamo New Role in “Tenzing”

After Shambhala, Lhamo was cast in Tenzing, a major film from Apple that tells the true story of Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa mountaineer who, together with Edmund Hillary, became one of the first two people to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1953.

In the film, Lhamo plays Dawa, Tenzing’s wife. The story shows how his wife’s belief in him helped push Tenzing onto the British climbing team, not just as a helper but as a real climber. That makes her role central to the heart of the film, even though it sits among a cast of famous names.

Tenzing’s first wife, Dawa Phuti, died young, years before the famous 1953 climb. She never saw the summit and never saw what the world would make of her husband’s name. For that reason, seeing her brought to life on screen in a big production is rare and meaningful, and Lhamo carries that responsibility.

The Cast and Crew of “Tenzing”

Tenzing is directed by Australian filmmaker Jennifer Peedom, who is well known for her 2015 documentary Sherpa and has a long relationship with the Sherpa community. The script was written by Luke Davies, who also wrote the Oscar-nominated film Lion.

The main cast includes:

• Genden Phuntsok as Tenzing Norgay
• Tom Hiddleston as Sir Edmund Hillary
• Willem Dafoe as expedition leader Colonel John Hunt
• Caitríona Balfe as expedition secretary Jill Henderson
• Thinley Lhamo as Dawa, Tenzing’s wife

The film is produced by See-Saw Films, the company behind The King’s Speech and Slow Horses, along with India Take One Productions. Norbu Tenzing, Tenzing Norgay’s son, is one of the executive producers, which gives the project a close personal link to the real family.

Filmed in Nepal

Much of Tenzing was filmed in Nepal in 2025, including in Kathmandu and the Everest region, before the crew moved to New Zealand to finish.

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Shooting a story like this in the actual landscape, at real altitude, gives the film a level of truth that a studio set could never match. For Nepali viewers, seeing these places on a global screen is a point of pride.

When Can You Watch “Tenzing”?

Tenzing is set to open in select theaters in the United States on October 9, 2026, and will then stream worldwide on Apple TV starting October 16, 2026. Because Apple has given it a limited theater run before streaming, many people expect the film to be a serious contender during awards season.

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