Paulina Lule

Paulina Lule Bugembe-Kuwahara is an American actor and filmmaker, best known for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, General Hospital, and The Emperor of Ocean Park.

Early life and education

Paulina Lule Begumbe-Kuwahara grew up in the Washington Heights area of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Of the city, Lule said that they loved the "laid back vibe of the Midwest, the lack of pretension, the food". Lule studied film directing and screenwriting at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and received a Master of Fine Arts from Chapman University. Valerie had previously been portrayed by Brytni Sarpy, who had last appeared in the role in March 2019 after leaving the soap, and the role was subsequently recast to Lule as General Hospital producers did not want to lose the character. After last appearing in the episode originally broadcast on June 12, 2019, Lule returned to the role the following year for a short stint beginning on August 28, 2020. Lule portrayed Lilla McKenzie on the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. They appeared in Emperor of Ocean Park opposite actor Grantham Coleman.

Lule appeared in the film Honey Boy (2019). They were also seen in Mikael Kreuzriegler's Deany Bean is Dead (2018), Femi Oguns’ Motel (2019) which they also co-wrote, Kate Tsang's Marvelous and the Black Hole (2021), Beau Ballinger's She Watches from the Woods (2021), and Nate Hapke's Surprise! (2024).

Lule is currently working on Sherman Park, a zombie-horror short about a Black man from Milwaukee returning to his home in Sherman Park after a six-year prison sentence. They set the film in Sherman Park as they and their family had grown up in Washington Heights, which was next to Sherman Park, and those areas had some of the highest incarceration rates in the United States. and crowdfunded the rest of the budget on IndieGogo.

Theatre Lule portrayed Francine/Lena in Clybourne Park on stage at the Westchester Playhouse in Los Angeles in 2016. They joined the cast of HOOPS at Milwaukee Chambers Theatre (MCT) in 2023. In May 2026, Lule appeared in Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's production of A Raisin in the Sun about a 1950s family in the South Side, Chicago.

Personal life

Lule identifies as non-binary, gender-fluid, and pansexual. They felt non-binary all of their life "deep down" but did not know how to "articulate" it until later in life. They married their longtime partner Ren Kuwahara in 2022.

In March and April 2020, Lule shared on social media that they had Covid-19. They experienced extreme shortness of breath and noted that they felt the sickest they had been in over ten years despite being considered a mild case.

Lule moved back to Milwaukee from Los Angeles in 2022. The same year, their brother was killed when an unknown assailant opened fire on two men on the street.

Philanthropy and activism In 2023, Lule worked with the Zoological Society of Milwaukee and the Milwaukee County Zoo, running the Kohl's Wild Theater Program to educate children about wildlife conservation. Lule is part of the steering committee at Action! Wisconsin, a statewide coalition that advocates for film and TV production tax incentives.

Filmography

Film