Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Gugulethu Sophia Mbatha-Raw (; born 21 April 1983) is a British actress who is known for her performances on stage and screen. In 2017 she 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). Mbatha-Raw started her career in theatre training at the National Youth Theatre and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She 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 earned her a nomination for the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress. After a minor role in Larry Crowne (2011), she made her breakthrough with the British period drama Belle (2013), for which she won the BIFA Award for Best Actress. Her career progressed with roles in the films Beyond the Lights (2014), Miss Sloane (2016), Beauty and the Beast (2017), A Wrinkle in Time (2018), Motherless Brooklyn (2019), Misbehaviour (2020), and Summerland (2020). Her early television roles include in Doctor Who (2007), and the short-lived NBC's series Undercovers (2010) and FOX's Touch (2012). She gained acclaim starring in the Netflix anthology series Black Mirror episode "San Junipero" (2016) which received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie. She has also acted in the Apple TV+ drama series The Morning Show (2019), and the Disney+ series Loki (2021-).