Usama (/ʊˈsɑːmə/) "Osam" Nyanzi Mukwaya (born December 12, 1989) is a Ugandan screenwriter,[1] film director, producer, actor and former television host.

[4] Usama is credited as the producer of the 2023 inaugural IKON Awards and the follow-up 2nd and 3rd editions,[5][6][7][8]the earlier of which marked his first "live" television production.

[12][13][14][15] He is an executive member of Uganda Film Network and a 2019 recipient of the LéO Africa Institute's Young Emerging Leaders Project Fellowship.

In 2008, Mukwaya studied Cisco Career Certifications Networking, and LAN/WAN Management under the faculty of information technology at Makerere University.

He made his film industry entry in 2009 through Dan Kiggundu's Maryland Productions, where he debuted as a script editor and supporting actor in the TV drama Pain of Lies, which premiered in 2011.

In July 2011, he made it to the final selection of the 12 screenwriters from all over East Africa to participate in the 7th Maisha Film Lab, ending up with a collaboration with Diana Karua in the making of the movie She Likes Prada.

Amidst the other four young directors, he directed his first film, Smart Attempt, written by Julian Nabunya and Abel Mwesigwa, during the first season of the Movie Furnace program in August 2012.

[46][47] The Blind Date marked the second collaboration between Usama and Loukman Ali after working together on the first season of Kyaddala TV Series, which was released in 2019.

[54] Loukman announced in October 2021 that a feature film based on the Sixteen Round's story was in the making and Usama would be producing it, but it was later cancelled.

[55][56] In 2023, Usama produced Nambi,[57] an adaptation of a Ugandan folk tale called Kintu, written and directed by Peter Mikiibi and coproduced by Dennis Arthur Abwakat.

In the same year, Usama released The Passenger, his next feature film after Love Faces, which premiered on Maisha Magic Movies, a Dstv channel.

Commissioned by Mnet, the film was directed by Hadijah Nakanjako, written by Meddy Sserwadda, and stars Henry Nathan Katongole, Allen Musumba, and Olot Bonny Elem in leading roles.

[60][61] The series, set in present-day high school life, focuses on real-life social issues that affect young people in Africa and stars actors from Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda.

[5] Mukwaya began his philanthropic work in January 2015 with Empowerment of Disadvantaged Youth and Children (EDYAC) when he traveled to Tororo in eastern Uganda to share life experiences.

He and Bobby Tamale, with whom they had previously worked, later made a documentary, which is now available on YouTube, about their experience with the video directed and narrated by Mukwaya.

The inaugural scholarship was awarded in May 2021 to Kizito Ismael after winning best theatre production at the Mariam Ndagire Film and Performing Arts Center, Class of 2021.