Line #39 Creator/GuguMbathaRaw


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gugu_mbatha_raw.jpg]]
2
3	->''"I'd rather feel free to express myself than feel like I was doing something for the money, than feel like I'd sold out and my soul had withered in the process."''
4
5	Gugulethu Sophia Mbatha-Raw, [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever MBE]] (born 21 April 1983 in Oxford, England), better known as Gugu Mbatha-Raw, is an English actor, born in Oxford, England to a black South African father and white English mother. Her father, a student activist with the African National Congress, had to flee UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica for opposing [[UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra apartheid]], coming to England where he met her mother.
6
7	Mbatha-Raw got her start in British television, appearing on the Creator/{{BBC}}'s ''Series/DoctorWho'' as Tish Jones, younger sister to Creator/FreemaAgyeman's companion Martha Jones, in one of her earliest roles. She later broke into American television, starring on Creator/{{NBC}}'s ''Series/{{Undercovers}}'' and Creator/{{FOX}}'s ''Series/Touch2012''. In 2016, she appeared in the Recap/BlackMirrorSanJunipero episode of Creator/{{Netflix}}'s ''Series/BlackMirror''. She has since gone on to appear in several other Netflix projects, including ''Series/TheDarkCrystalAgeOfResistance''.
8
9	Her prominence in films has seen a rise in promise during UsefulNotes/TheNewTens, with Mbatha-Raw appearing in high-profile projects like 2013's {{biopic}} ''Film/Belle2013'' as the title character, ''Film/BeyondTheLights'' as popstar Noni Jean, and The Wachowskis' ''Film/JupiterAscending'' as deerlike alien Famulus.
10
11	She also appears in Creator/{{Disney}}'s 2017 live-action ''Film/{{Beauty and the Beast\|2017}}'' and Creator/AvaDuVernay's ''Film/{{A Wrinkle in Time\|2018}}''.
12
13	----
14	!! Selected filmography
15	* ''Series/BadGirls'' (2006) as Fidelity
16	* ''Series/{{Spooks}}'' (2006) as Jenny
17	* ''Series/DoctorWho'' (2007) as Tish Jones
18	* ''Series/LostInAusten'' (2008) as Piranha
19	* ''Series/{{Bonekickers}}'' (2008) as Viv Davis
20	* ''Series/{{Undercovers}}'' (2010) as Samantha Bloom
21	* ''Film/LarryCrowne'' (2011) as Talia
22	* ''Series/{{Touch\|2012}}'' (2012) as Clea Hopkins
23	* ''Film/OddThomas'' (2012) as Viola
24	* ''Film/{{Belle\|2013}}'' (2013) as Dido Elizabeth Belle
25	* ''Film/BeyondTheLights'' (2014) as Noni Jean
26	* ''Film/JupiterAscending'' (2015) as Famulus
27	* ''Film/{{Concussion}}'' (2015) as Prema Mutiso
28	* ''Film/FreeStateOfJones'' (2016) as Rachel
29	* ''Film/{{The Whole Truth\|2016}}'' (2016) as Janelle Brady
30	* ''Series/BlackMirror: [[Recap/BlackMirrorSanJunipero San Junipero]]'' (2016) as Kelly
31	* ''Film/{{Beauty and The Beast\|2017}}'' (2017) as Plumette
32	* ''Film/TheCloverfieldParadox'' (2018) as Ava Hamilton
33	* ''Film/{{A Wrinkle in Time\|2018}}'' (2018) as Dr. Kate Murray
34	* ''Film/FastColor'' (2018) as Ruth
35	* ''Farming'' (2018) as Ms. Dapo
36	* ''Series/TheDarkCrystalAgeOfResistance'' (2019) as Seladon
37	* ''Series/TheMorningShow'' (2019) as Hannah Shoenfeld
38	* ''Film/MotherlessBrooklyn'' (2019) as Laura
39	* ''Film/ComeAway'' (2020) as adult Alice
40	* ''Misbehaviour'' (2020) as Jennifer Hosten
41	* ''Film/{{Summerland\|2020}}'' (2020) as Vera
42	* ''Series/{{Loki\|2021}}'' (2021–2023) as Judge Ravonna Renslayer
43	* ''Surface'' (2022-) as Sophie Ellis/Tess Caldwel
44	----
45	!! Tropes associated with her work:
46	* ActorSharedBackground: She has a black father and white mother. Her characters Noni in ''Film/BeyondTheLights'', Ruth (''Film/FastColor'') and Dido (''Film/{{Belle\|2013}}'') have the same ancestry (though with the parents' races being reversed in the latter two). In fact, so far now whenever her characters' background has been shown, it matches hers (at least aside from their parents' specific races, except in ''{{Series/Bonekickers}}'' and ''Film/BeyondTheLights'' with Vic and Noni respectively, whose ancestry was the same). This may have been her request, as she's explicit in identifying as a biracial woman. In all of those cases though, at least one of her parents is absent or even dead. Unlike her film alter egos, however, Mbatha-Raw enjoys close, very healthy relationships with both of her parents (per her interviews, her father has always played a very active role in her life and her parents [[AmicableExes both remain on such friendly terms]] with one another that the three of them often will do things together as a family).
47	* DyeingForYourArt: She tries to AVERT this whenever possible. A character's hairstyle "''Really'' has to support the story" in order for her to agree to change up her curly, black tresses. She wants to "send the important message to girls everywhere that they can be who they are".
48	* FakeNationality: Though Mbatha-Raw is English, most of her characters are Americans or other non-British nationalities.
49	* IAmVeryBritish: Her natural accent is Received Pronunciation, so if she plays an English character it makes them come off as posh.
50	* PromotedFangirl:
51	** Growing up, she was a HUGE fan of the original animated ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' (to the point that she knew the film's entire soundtrack by heart!). So when her agent called to tell her that Disney wanted her to play Plumette in the [[Film/BeautyAndTheBeast2017 live-action remake]], she was so excited that she "literally squealed down the phone line"!
52	** She's also been a major fan of Creator/JimHenson's work since she was a little girl and has described being cast as Seladon in ''Series/TheDarkCrystalAgeOfResistance'' as "a childhood dream come true".
53	* SeparatedAtBirthCasting: In ''Recap/BlackMirrorSanJunipero''. She and Denise Burse, who plays the elder version of her character, Kelly, could EASILY pass for mother and daughter (in fact, the two look SO similar that writer/show creator Charlie Brooker has had people approach him thinking that "elder Kelly" was Mbatha-Raw in old-age makeup and prosthetics!).
54	* StarMakingRole: She was virtually unknown to American audiences prior to landing the lead roles in ''Film/Belle2013'' and ''Film/BeyondTheLights''.

Context Creator / GuguMbathaRaw