Sophie Okonedo was born on August 11th, 1969 in London, United Kingdom, as a product of an interracial marriage between her Jewish mother, Joan, who is a pilates teacher and her Nigerian father, Henry, who worked with the government. She is a British stage, television, and film actress.
Sophie Okonedo is 55 years old.
Sophie's dad left his family when she was just 5 years old, and she grew up with her mum in a relatively poor atmosphere. At 16, she dropped out of school and started working in the stalls of Portobello Road, a popular street market in west London. Notwithstanding her deprived status, she still had a penchant for reading and learning.
When Sophie was 18, she enrolled in a writing workshop taught at the Royal Court Theatre by Hanif Kureishi, a British novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. There she portrayed spectacular acting and writing skills and was adviced to take acting seriously. She eventually began taking acting classes at the Weekend Performing Arts and Media College and started appearing in performances with the Royal Court Theatre. When she had completed the classes, she auditioned for and received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), a respected London school of theater arts.
After completing her studies at RADA during the late 1980s, Sophie started performing on stage with several groups which included the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company, the Young Vic, and the National Theatre. In 1991 she appeared in her first film role, in Isaac Julien's Young Soul Rebels. All the while, her venturing into acting was just to make some money for her self and her mum, It was not until 1995 that she began seeing the possibility of hitting it big in the movie industry. She auditioned for a Hollywood movie, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, a zany comedy starring Jim Carrey. She was cast to play the small role of "Wachati Princess," one of Carrey's love interests. She did so well in the movie that she got nominated for an MTV Movie Award in the Best Kiss category.
Okonedo continued working on stage, films, and television, appearing in an American action film, The Jackal, directed by Michael Caton-Jones, in 1997, and winning enthusiastic reviews in the title role of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida onstage in 1999. By 2002 she caught the attention of British director, Stephen Frears, who gave her a lead role in his film Dirty Pretty Things. After her appearance in Dirty Pretty Things, she got an offer to audition for an upcoming film about ethnic genocide in the African nation of Rwanda. The film, titled Hotel Rwanda, was to depict the horrific effects of the ethnic violence in Rwanda. The film was a huge success, and Okonedo was lauded for her ability to play that significant role. She has not relented on her efforts, and her intelligence and delivery are still always admired and commended.
Sophie has a daughter, Aloife, who was born as a result of her relationship with Irish film editor Eoin Martin. The relationship was broken after a couple of years, and there has been no record of her marrying any man. She is a religious Jew.
A list of some of the awards received by Sophie include;
Her net worth is not available.
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