Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Mbatha-Raw in 2013
Born
Gugulethu Sophia Mbatha-Raw

(1983-04-21) 21 April 1983 (age 41)
Oxford, England
EducationRoyal Academy of Dramatic Art (BA)
OccupationActress
Years active2001–present

Gugulethu Sophia Mbatha-Raw MBE (/ˈɡɡ əmˈbætərɔː/;[1][2] born 21 April 1983) is an English actress. She began acting at the National Youth Music Theatre and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and gained acclaim for her roles as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Octavia in Anthony and Cleopatra in 2005 at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. She made her West End and Broadway debut portraying Ophelia in Hamlet in 2009. For her role as the titular character in Jessica Swale's 2015 play Nell Gwynn, she received an Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress nomination.

Her early television roles include in Doctor Who (2007), the NBC series Undercovers (2010), and FOX's Touch (2012). She had her breakthrough with the British period drama film Belle (2013), for which she won the BIFA for Best Actress. After roles in the films Beyond the Lights (2014) and Miss Sloane (2016), she co-starred in the Emmy Award-winning Black Mirror episode "San Junipero" (2016), for which she received acclaim. Her other film roles include Beauty and the Beast (2017), A Wrinkle in Time (2018), Motherless Brooklyn (2019), Misbehaviour (2020), and Summerland (2020). She has also acted in the Apple TV+ drama series The Morning Show (2019), and the Disney+ series Loki (2021–present).

In 2017, Mbatha-Raw was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama. In February 2021, Mbatha-Raw was appointed a global Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

  1. ^ Bernstein, Abbie (30 May 2012). "Gugu Mbatha-Raw On 'Touch' Interview – EXCLUSIVE". buzzymag. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  2. ^ "Gugu Mbatha-Raw Attempts to Put Together Mr. Potato Head". Vanity Fair. 3 February 2016. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2018.