Sophie Okonedo extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Sophie Okonedo
Okonedo at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	1968 (age 41–42) London, England, UK
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1991 – present

Sophie Okonedo (born 1968)¹² is an English actress. In 2004, her role as Tatiana, the wife of Rwandan hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina in the genocide drama film Hotel Rwanda, earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.³

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Awards and nominations 5 Filmography 6 TV series 7 References 8 External links

Early life

Okonedo was born in London, England, the daughter of Joan (née Allman), a pilates teacher, and Henry Okonedo, who worked for the government.⁴ Her father is Nigerian and her mother, an Ashkenazi Jew, was born in the East End to Yiddish-speaking immigrants from Poland and Russia; Okonedo was brought up attending synagogue.⁵⁶⁷ Her father left the family when Okonedo was five, and she was subsequently brought up in relative poverty by her single mother ("but we always had books," she says).⁸

Career

Okonedo trained at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.⁹ 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.

Okonedo played the role of Jenny in the Paul Abbot series, 'Clocking Off'.

Okonedo also played the part of Ms. Tulip Jones in the movie Stormbreaker (2006) and Nancy in the 2007 television adaptation of Oliver Twist.

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 (2008).

In 2010, Okonedo is set to portray Winnie Mandela in the BBC drama Mrs Mandela.¹⁰

Personal life

Okonedo has a daughter, Aoife (born 1997).⁵ from her previous relationship with Irish film editor Eoin Martin.⁷ 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".¹¹

Awards and nominations

• Academy Awards
  • 2005, Best Supporting Actress (Hotel Rwanda) [nominated]

• Black Reel Awards
  • 2010, Best Actress (Skin) [nominated]
  • 2008, Best Ensemble (The Secret Life of Bees) [nominated]
  • 2008, Best Supporting Actress (The Secret Life of Bees) [nominated]
  • 2005, Best Actress-Drama (Hotel Rwanda) [winner]

• British Independent Film Awards
  • 2009, Best Actress (Skin) [nominated]
  • 2003, Best Supporting Actress (Dirty Pretty Things) [nominated]

• Golden Globes
  • 2007, Best Actress in a Mini-Series/Television Movie (Tsunami: The Aftermath) [nominated]

• Hollywood Film Festival
  • 2008, Ensemble Acting of the Year (The Secret Life of Bees) [winner]

• Image Awards
  • 2010, Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture (Skin) [nominated]
  • 2009, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (The Secret Life of Bees) [nominated]
  • 2007, Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie/Mini-Series (Tsunami: the Aftermath) [winner]
  • 2005, Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (Hotel Rwanda) [nominated]

• Screen Actors Guild Awards
  • 2005, Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role (Hotel Rwanda) [nominated]
  • 2005, Outstanding Ensemble in a Motion Picture (Hotel Rwanda) [nominated]

Filmography

• Young Soul Rebels (1991)
• Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995)
• The Jackal (1997)
• This Year's Love (1999)
• Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
• Hotel Rwanda (2004)
• Æon Flux (2005)
• Stormbreaker (2006)
• Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006)
• Scenes of a Sexual Nature (2006)
• Martian Child (2007)
• Oliver Twist (2007)
• The Secret Life of Bees (2008)
• Skin (2009)
• Mrs. Mandela (2009)

TV series

• Staying Alive (1996)
• Never Never (2000)
• Father & Son (2009)
• Criminal Justice (2009)
• Doctor Who - 1 episode (2010)

References

External links

• Sophie Okonedo at the Internet Movie Database
• Sophie Okonedo at the British Film Institute's Screenonline