Sophie Okonedo, OBE is a British actress.
She received an OBE in the 2010 Queens Birthday Honours.
Okonedo began her film career in 1991 in the British coming-of-age drama, Young Soul Rebels,
before appearing in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things.
She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the
2004 film Hotel Rwanda.
She received a Golden Globe nomination for the miniseries Tsunami: The Aftermath and
BAFTA TV Award nominations for the drama series Criminal Justice and the TV film Mrs. Mandela.
Her other film roles include Æon Flux, Skin and The Secret Life of Bees.
On stage, she starred as Cressida in the 1999 National Theatre production of Troilus and
Cressida.
She made her Broadway debut in the 2014 revival of A Raisin in the Sun and received a Drama
Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play and won the Tony Award for
Best Featured Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Ruth Younger.
Early life Okonedo was born in London, the daughter of
Joan, a pilates teacher, and Henry Okonedo, who worked for the government.
Her father was Nigerian, and her mother, an Ashkenazi Jew, was born in the East End.
Okonedo's maternal grandparents, who spoke Yiddish, were from families that emigrated
from Poland and Russia.
Okonedo was brought up in her mother's Jewish faith.
When she was five years old, her father left the family, and she was brought up in relative
poverty by her single mother.
Career Okonedo trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic
Art.
She has worked in a variety of media including film, television, theatre and audio drama.
She performed in Scream of the Shalka, a webcast based on the BBC television series Doctor
Who as Alison Cheney, a companion of the Doctor.
As well as providing the character's voice, Okonedo's likeness was used for the animation
of the character.
In 2010, Okonedo portrayed Liz Ten in the BBC TV Series Doctor Who episodes "The Beast
Below" and again briefly in "The Pandorica Opens".
Okonedo played the role of Jenny in Danny Brocklehurst's BAFTA nominated episode of
Paul Abbott's series, Clocking Off.
She also played the part of Tulip Jones in the film Stormbreaker and Nancy in the 2007
television adaptation of Oliver Twist.
She is also known for playing the part of the Wachati Princess in Ace Ventura: When
Nature Calls.
She was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Supporting Actress in
2004 for her role as Tatiana Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda and nominated for a Golden
Globe for a Lead Actress in a Miniseries for her work in Tsunami: The Aftermath.
She played alongside Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys and Dakota Fanning as
May Boatwright, a woman who struggles with depression, in the film The Secret Life of
Bees; opposite Sam Neill and Alice Krige as Sandra Laing in Skin, and portrayed Winnie
Mandela in the BBC drama Mrs Mandela broadcast in January 2010.
She appears on Broadway in the revival of A Raisin in the Sun as Ruth Younger.
The play opened in April 2014.
She won the Tony Award, Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for
this role, beating out co-star and fellow nominee Anika Noni Rose.
Honours Okonedo was appointed Officer of the Order
of the British Empire in the 2010 Queen's Birthday Honours.
Personal life Okonedo has one child named Aoife, from a
previous relationship.
They live in Muswell Hill, London.
On her heritage, Sophie says, "I feel as proud to be Jewish as I feel to be black" and calls
her daughter an "Irish, Nigerian Jew".
Her father Henry died on 22 July 2009 in Orlando, Florida, USA.
Awards and nominations Academy Awards
2005, Best Supporting Actress [nominated]
BAFTA TV Awards 2010, Best Leading Actress [nominated]
2010, Best Supporting Actress [nominated]
Black Reel Awards 2005, Best Actress-Drama [winner]
2008, Best Ensemble [nominated] 2008, Best Supporting Actress [nominated]
2010, Best Actress [nominated]
British Independent Film Awards 2003, Best Supporting Actress [nominated]
2009, Best Actress [nominated]
Golden Globes 2007, Best Actress in a Mini-Series/Television
Movie [nominated]
Hollywood Film Festival 2008, Ensemble Acting of the Year [winner]
Image Awards 2005, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a
Motion Picture [nominated] 2007, Outstanding Actress in a Television
Movie/Mini-Series [winner] 2009, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a
Motion Picture [nominated] 2010, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
[nominated]
Screen Actors Guild Awards 2005, Outstanding Performance by a Female
Actor in a Supporting Role [nominated] 2005, Outstanding Ensemble in a Motion Picture
[nominated]
Tony Award 2014, Best Featured Actress in a Play [winner]
Filmography References
External links Sophie Okonedo at the Internet Movie Database
Sophie Okonedo at the British Film Institute's Screenonline