Born in Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda, Mukwaya has ancestry from Ganda, Ankole, and Rwanda. He is the son of Abdullah Mukwaya and Aziidah Mariam.
Usama started pre-education at Saidat Aisha Nursery School and later at Buraaq Infants School, then in Bwaise. Then he shifted to Victoria Christian School in Ndeeba and later went on to attend Linnet Primary School in Nabweru, Wakiso District, for his final primary school education. In 2012, Usama joined Shuhada’e Islamic Secondary School for his O-Level and achieved his Advanced Certificate of Education from Nyamitanga Secondary School, both schools in Mbarara.
In 2008, Mukwaya studied Cisco Career Certifications in Networking and LAN/WAN Management under the faculty of information technology at Makerere University. Usama holds a diploma in film directing from MNFPAC.
His film credits include Bala Bala Sese (2015), Rehema (2017), Love Faces (2018), Kyaddala (from 2019), Sanyu (2021), The Blind Date (2021), Sixteen Rounds (2021), and the most recent, The Passenger (2023).
He studied screenwriting and directing at the Maisha Film Lab in 2011. He also earned a diploma in information technology at Makerere University. Usama is the founder of O Studios Entertainment Ltd., a multimedia production company that has produced numerous successful local and international films, the most recent being Love Faces. He has worked as the General Secretary and Treasurer of the Screenwriter’s Guild of Uganda Film Network and twice as a volunteer for Pearl International Film Festival before becoming the festival’s programmer for the 7th, 8th, and 9th editions, respectively.
The previous Young Achievers Award winner in the film and television category was recently appointed as the director of content acquisition for Stream Afrique, a video streaming platform specializing in African content.
He is a 2019 recipient of the LéO Africa Institute’s Young Emerging Leaders Project Fellowship.
Usama is credited as the producer of the 2023 and 2024 IKON Awards, the 2023 of which marks his first “live” television production.