Sophie Okonedo CBE
Okonedo in 2008
Born	(1968-08-11) 11 August 1968 London, England
Alma mater	Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupation(s)	Actress and narrator
Years active	1991–present
Spouse	Jamie Chalmers
Children	1

Sophie Okonedo CBE (born 11 August 1968) is an English actress and narrator. The recipient of a Tony Award, she has been nominated for an Academy Award, three BAFTA TV Awards, an Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award.

Having trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art she starred as Cressida in the 1999 Royal National Theatre production of Troilus and Cressida. She made her Broadway debut portraying Ruth Younger in the 2014 revival of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun for which she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play. She returned to Broadway as Elizabeth Proctor in the 2016 revival of Arthur Miller's The Crucible for which she was nominated for her second Tony Award. She returned to the stage portraying Cleopatra from 2018 to 2019 in the National Theatre production of Antony and Cleopatra for which she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress.

She began her film career in the British coming-of-age drama Young Soul Rebels (1991) before appearing in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), and Stephen Frears's Dirty Pretty Things (2002). Her breakthrough role was as Tatiana Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda (2004) for which she received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination. She continued acting in films such as Æon Flux (2005), Martian Child (2007), The Secret Life of Bees (2008), Skin (2008), Christopher Robin (2018), Wild Rose (2018), and Death on the Nile (2022).

For her television work she earned Golden Globe Award nomination for the miniseries Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006), three BAFTA TV Award nominations for Mrs. Mandela (2010), Criminal Justice (2010) and Criminal: UK (2021). She was also nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for her guest role in Ratched (2020). She is also known for Father & Son (2009), The Hollow Crown (2016), Wanderlust (2018), and Flack (2019-2020). Okonedo was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010^[1] and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2019, both for services to drama.^[2]

Early life

Okonedo was born on 11 August 1968^[3][4][5] in London, the daughter of Joan (née Allman), a Jewish Pilates teacher who was born in the East End of London, and Henry Okonedo (1939–2009), a British Nigerian^[6] who worked for the government.^[7][8][9] Okonedo's maternal grandparents, who spoke Yiddish, were from families that had emigrated from Poland and Russia. Okonedo was raised in her mother's Jewish faith.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Okonedo was raised in the Chalkhill Estate, part of the Wembley Park district in the London Borough of Brent.^[6]

Career

Okonedo trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.^[14] 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 (Queen Elizabeth X) 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 TV Award nominated episode of Paul Abbott's series Clocking Off. She also played the role of Tulip Jones in the film Stormbreaker (2006) and Nancy in the television adaptation of Oliver Twist (2007). She is also known for playing the role of the Wachati Princess in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995). In October 2017, Michael Caton-Jones stated that, in 1998, he had chosen Okonedo to star in B. Monkey. However, the film's producer, Harvey Weinstein, banned this because the actress did not meet his personal sexual preference.^[15]

She was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Supporting Actress for her role as Tatiana Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda (2004) and nominated for a Golden Globe Award for a Lead Actress in a Miniseries for her work in Tsunami: The Aftermath (2006).

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); opposite Sam Neill and Alice Krige as Sandra Laing in Skin (2009); and portrayed Winnie Mandela in the BBC drama Mrs. Mandela broadcast in January 2010.^[16]

In 2014 she appeared on Broadway as Ruth Younger in the revival of A Raisin in the Sun. 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.^[17][18] In 2016, Okonedo returned to Broadway in Ivo van Hove's production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible at the Walter Kerr Theatre as Elizabeth Proctor opposite Bill Camp, Tavi Gevinson, Jason Butler Harner, Ciarán Hinds, Jim Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Thomas Jay Ryan and Ben Whishaw.^[19] Also in 2016, Okonedo appeared as Queen Margaret in the second season of the BBC's The Hollow Crown, an adaptation of the Shakespearean plays Henry VI, Part I, II, III and Richard III. She performed in the role of Stevie in the 2017 West End revival of the existentialist play The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, by Edward Albee. Directed by Ian Rickson and also starring Damian Lewis as Martin, the production's first preview was on 24 March 2017, opening night on 5 April 2017, and final performance on 24 June 2017, at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

In May 2013, Okonedo played the role of Hunter in a BBC radio production of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, adapted by Dirk Maggs. She portrayed Siuan Sanche in the 2021 television series The Wheel of Time.^[20]

Personal life

Okonedo has one daughter, from a relationship she had with Irish film editor Eoin Martin,^[21] and lives in Muswell Hill, London. On her heritage, Okonedo has said, "I feel as proud to be Jewish as I feel to be Black" and calls her daughter an "Irish, Nigerian Jew".^[22] As of 2023, Okonedo is married to Jamie Chalmers, who is a builder and with whom she is the stepmother of his two children.^[23]

Honours

Okonedo was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 Birthday Honours^[24] and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2019 New Year Honours, both for services to drama.^[25]

Filmography

Theatre

Awards and nominations

Theatre Awards

Audio

Notes

References

External links

• Sophie Okonedo at IMDb
• Sophie Okonedo at the Internet Broadway Database
• Sophie Okonedo at the TCM Movie Database
• Sophie Okonedo at AllMovie
• Sophie Okonedo at the BFI's Screenonline