High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Matilda Wormwood is a fictional character in the children`s novel Matilda by Roald Dahl. She is a highly precocious six-year old girl who has a passion for reading books. Matilda`s parents do not recognise their daughter`s great intelligence and show little interest in her, particularly her father, a secondhand car dealer who has performed numerous abusive actions on Matilda. Matilda discovers she has psychokinetic powers which she uses to her advantage. In the BBC Radio 4 two-part adaptation of the novel, she is played by Nicola McAuliffe and in the film, as a six year old she is portrayed by American actress Mara Wilson and as a toddler she is portrayed by Amanda and Caitlin Fein.