These leading ladies have won awards for their roles in successful British and Hollywood films and were raised in England as the children of immigrants from Africa:
Sophie Okonedo - Character Actress
"I feel proud to be Jewish, as proud as I feel to be Black" says actress Sophie Okonedo, star of Hotel Rwanda (2004) and The Secret Life of Bees (2008).
But the Oscar-nominated actress hadn't always felt that way. Born in London in 1968 to hairdresser Joan, a Polish/Russian Jew and Henry, a government worker from Nigeria, her parents divorced when Okonedo was five and her father moved back to his homeland where he now has another family.
Joan was left to raise her daughter alone in a deprived part of London: "It was very rough... but there were loads of mixed race children there. When I moved out I found it much harder."
Racism
As a Black child (with a "huge afro") growing up with a white family, Okonedo had an identity crisis: "I can relate to... questioning where you're from; particularly when you're young and everyone says "that can't be your mum." Nowadays everyone's mixed race, it's not such a big deal, but in the 70s when I was growing up it was more unusual. I used to say "Mum am I adopted?"
Okonedo used to regularly attend the synagogue with her Yiddish grandmother where she stood out as the only Black girl there. "I came across as much racism in the Jewish community as I did outside the Jewish community - no more, no less." But she identifies more with her white family and doesn't like discussing her father "I didn't have much to do with my African side" she said.
Sophie Okonedo's African Roles
Since becoming an actress, Okonedo has made connections with her estranged father's continent and has appeared in five roles as African women, the first as an African princess in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), then as Tatiana Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda - her best known role to date.
The film about a hotelier and his family who help many escape the 1994 Rwandan genocide won Okonedo an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. "Since Rwanda I have been offered lots of parts set in Africa. I suppose they think, 'Oh, she's good, and she can play an African'".
Okonedo played Skin (2009) as Sandra Laing, the true story of a Black woman born to white Afrikaans parents in South Africa during apartheid. She then portrayed Winnie, another South African woman and wife of legendary anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela in Mrs Mandela (2009).
Okonedo lives in London with her 11 year old daughter Aoife (from a previous relationship with Irish film editor Eoin Martin) who she describes as a "gorgeous Irish-Nigerian-Jew, so she's really got it made."
Thandie Newton - Ex-Dancer Turned Hollywood Actress
British Actress Thandie Newton's big break was playing the title character Beloved alongside Oprah Winfrey in the 1998 film of the same name, which was ironic because her full name Thandiwe means 'Beloved' in her mother's native tongue.
Zimbabwean-born Nyasha was a health worker in a hospital in Zambia where she met Nick, a British lab technician who had been working in a London hospital until he requested a transfer to Africa.
They married and Nyasha fell pregnant and gave birth to Newton in November 1972 during a two week holiday to London. The young family moved back to Zambia where Newton's brother Jamie was born.
From Zambia to Cornwall
When Newton was three, her family fled Zambia following political unrest in the country. "In some ways I think my parents are still living off their time in Africa" says Newton. "For a moment it was the future. There were all these different people from around the world - India, Hungary, Britain - working there, but gradually it all started falling apart. It was incredibly upsetting for them."
They found refuge in Cornwall, England where Nick worked in his father's antiques business. Newton's fondest memories were of her mother dressing up in her traditional Zimbabwean clothes, yet despite Nyasha's African pride, she had to shield her mixed-race children from the discrimination they faced.
"I remember sensing that my mother was holding something back from me. I used to think I had done something wrong because she could be so distant. It took me years to work out that she had actually been protecting me as a child from racism. I don't think it was truly nasty, but there were comments, and my mother kept all that away from us."
Newton didn't fit in at her Catholic high school: "I was the only dark-skinned kid. There was no way a boy could ever, ever ask me out. It was fact, and that's what I carried into my teens. I don't think my brother or I felt like we really belonged anywhere. But that's probably been helpful with my career - always looking for a place to find yourself".
Thandie Newton's Acting CareerNewton's early roles included a student in Flirting (1991) and a small part in Interview with the Vampire (1994) as the unlucky maid to Tom Cruise's vampire.
Newton worked with Cruise again in Mission: Impossible II (2000), gave a memorable performance in Crash (2004), starred as Condoleezza Rice in political biopic W (2008) and as the president's daughter in 2012 (2009) alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor (who also has African roots, see Hollywood Actors with African Parents).
Newton lives in London with her Director husband Ol Parker and their two daughters.
Sophie Okonedo - Character Actress
"I feel proud to be Jewish, as proud as I feel to be Black" says actress Sophie Okonedo, star of Hotel Rwanda (2004) and The Secret Life of Bees (2008).
But the Oscar-nominated actress hadn't always felt that way. Born in London in 1968 to hairdresser Joan, a Polish/Russian Jew and Henry, a government worker from Nigeria, her parents divorced when Okonedo was five and her father moved back to his homeland where he now has another family.
Joan was left to raise her daughter alone in a deprived part of London: "It was very rough... but there were loads of mixed race children there. When I moved out I found it much harder."
Racism
As a Black child (with a "huge afro") growing up with a white family, Okonedo had an identity crisis: "I can relate to... questioning where you're from; particularly when you're young and everyone says "that can't be your mum." Nowadays everyone's mixed race, it's not such a big deal, but in the 70s when I was growing up it was more unusual. I used to say "Mum am I adopted?"
Okonedo used to regularly attend the synagogue with her Yiddish grandmother where she stood out as the only Black girl there. "I came across as much racism in the Jewish community as I did outside the Jewish community - no more, no less." But she identifies more with her white family and doesn't like discussing her father "I didn't have much to do with my African side" she said.
Sophie Okonedo's African Roles
Since becoming an actress, Okonedo has made connections with her estranged father's continent and has appeared in five roles as African women, the first as an African princess in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), then as Tatiana Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda - her best known role to date.
The film about a hotelier and his family who help many escape the 1994 Rwandan genocide won Okonedo an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress. "Since Rwanda I have been offered lots of parts set in Africa. I suppose they think, 'Oh, she's good, and she can play an African'".
Okonedo played Skin (2009) as Sandra Laing, the true story of a Black woman born to white Afrikaans parents in South Africa during apartheid. She then portrayed Winnie, another South African woman and wife of legendary anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela in Mrs Mandela (2009).
Okonedo lives in London with her 11 year old daughter Aoife (from a previous relationship with Irish film editor Eoin Martin) who she describes as a "gorgeous Irish-Nigerian-Jew, so she's really got it made."
Thandie Newton - Ex-Dancer Turned Hollywood Actress
British Actress Thandie Newton's big break was playing the title character Beloved alongside Oprah Winfrey in the 1998 film of the same name, which was ironic because her full name Thandiwe means 'Beloved' in her mother's native tongue.
Zimbabwean-born Nyasha was a health worker in a hospital in Zambia where she met Nick, a British lab technician who had been working in a London hospital until he requested a transfer to Africa.
They married and Nyasha fell pregnant and gave birth to Newton in November 1972 during a two week holiday to London. The young family moved back to Zambia where Newton's brother Jamie was born.
From Zambia to Cornwall
When Newton was three, her family fled Zambia following political unrest in the country. "In some ways I think my parents are still living off their time in Africa" says Newton. "For a moment it was the future. There were all these different people from around the world - India, Hungary, Britain - working there, but gradually it all started falling apart. It was incredibly upsetting for them."
They found refuge in Cornwall, England where Nick worked in his father's antiques business. Newton's fondest memories were of her mother dressing up in her traditional Zimbabwean clothes, yet despite Nyasha's African pride, she had to shield her mixed-race children from the discrimination they faced.
"I remember sensing that my mother was holding something back from me. I used to think I had done something wrong because she could be so distant. It took me years to work out that she had actually been protecting me as a child from racism. I don't think it was truly nasty, but there were comments, and my mother kept all that away from us."
Newton didn't fit in at her Catholic high school: "I was the only dark-skinned kid. There was no way a boy could ever, ever ask me out. It was fact, and that's what I carried into my teens. I don't think my brother or I felt like we really belonged anywhere. But that's probably been helpful with my career - always looking for a place to find yourself".
Thandie Newton's Acting CareerNewton's early roles included a student in Flirting (1991) and a small part in Interview with the Vampire (1994) as the unlucky maid to Tom Cruise's vampire.
Newton worked with Cruise again in Mission: Impossible II (2000), gave a memorable performance in Crash (2004), starred as Condoleezza Rice in political biopic W (2008) and as the president's daughter in 2012 (2009) alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor (who also has African roots, see Hollywood Actors with African Parents).
Newton lives in London with her Director husband Ol Parker and their two daughters.
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