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Sophie Okonedo

• Sophie Okonedo to receive Bahamas rising star tribute

  Screendaily - Found Nov. 12, 2009 Sophie Okonedo will be the subject of the sixth Bahamas International Film Festival?s Rising Star Tribute in Nassau on December 16. Okonedo,

• British film Whole Lotta Sole gets Bacon

  Filmstalker - Found Nov. 6, 2009 ... t a small budget horror film, oh no, this is a film starring Kevin Bacon, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Sophie Okonedo and James Nesbitt, the film is...

• Actress Sophie Okonedo Explores Biracial Identity

  The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles - Found Oct. 25, 2009 ?I?m a North London, working-class, black, Jewish girl,? actress Sophie Okonedo said.

• Jennifer Hudson To Play Winnie Mandela In Biopic

  MTV - Found Nov. 18, 2009 Mandela film, the BBC TV movie "Mrs. Mandela," which stars Hudson's "Secret Life of Bees" co-star Sophie Okonedo in the title role, is planned... Jennifer Hudson's Postmurder Movie: A Win-Winnie Situation - EOnline.com Jennifer Hudson to Play Controversial South African Figure - People Jennifer Hudson's Postmurder Movie: A Win-Winnie Situation - E! Online Jennifer Hudson's Post-Murder Movie: A Win-Winnie Situation - E! Online Explore All

  JoBlo Movie Emporium

• Capone's Art-House Round-Up with GENTLEMEN BRONCOS, SKIN, ONG BAK 2, ...

  Ain't It Cool News - Found Nov. 13, 2009 ... on-a-true-story SKIN tells the story of Sandra Laing (played as a young woman and adult by Sophie Okonedo (HOTEL RWANDA, THE SECRET LIFE OF... Review: "Gentlemen Broncos" - Denver Post 'Napoleon Dynamite' crew's latest lacking in kick - Chicago Tribune From 'Dynamite' to a fizzle with 'Gentlemen Broncos' - Minneapolis Star Tribune Review: Joke's on you if you pay to see 'Broncos' - Detroit News Explore All

  Denver Post

• A family divided by race

  Chicago Tribune - Found Nov. 13, 2009 Portrayed by the fine British actress Sophie Okonedo ("Hotel Rwanda") as the teenager and adult, with a delightful Ella Ramangwane as the... Review: Stupidity of racism smartest thingabout film that sometimes ... - TwinCities.com Explore All

  TwinCities.com

• 'Skin' deep; 'Crude' rude

  Minneapolis Star Tribune - Found Nov. 12, 2009 Sophie Okonedo (Oscar-nominated for her work in 'Hotel Rwanda') plays Sandra as a teen and an older woman.

• 'Skin' doesn't go deep enough

  Minneapolis Star Tribune - Found Nov. 11, 2009 Sophie Okonedo (Oscar-nominated for her work in 'Hotel Rwanda') plays Sandra as a teen and an older woman.

• Sosa says cosmetic cream caused lighter skin

  Fresno Bee - Found Nov. 11, 2009 And now her story has become a rather straightforward but fascinating movie, 'Skin,' starring Sophie Okonedo ('Hotel Rwanda,' 'The Secret Life...

• Skin -- $47K

  MSN Movies - Found Nov. 10, 2009 The year is 1955. Sandra Laing (Sophie Okonedo) has just been born two a pair of white Afrikaner parents, her brown skin and curly hair the...

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 London, England
Occupation	Actress

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/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 raised attending synagogue.⁵⁶⁷ Her father left the family when Okonedo was five, and she was subsequently raised 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 2009, 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/Nominations

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

• Black Reel Awards
  • 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
  • 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]

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

• Father & Son (2009)
• Criminal Justice (2009)

References

External links

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