Gugu Mbatha-Raw is an English actress.

Life and career

Gugu Mbatha-Raw was born Gugulethu Sophia Mbatha in 1983, in the John Radcliffe Hospital

John Radcliffe Hospital

The John Radcliffe Hospital is a large tertiary teaching hospital in Oxford, England.It is the main teaching hospital for Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University. As such, it is a well-developed centre of medical research. It also incorporates the Medical School of the University of Oxford....

, Oxford, England. Her name, "Gugulethu", means pride in Zulu. Her mother, Anne, is an English nurse, and her father, Patrick Mbatha, is a South African doctor. She has appeared in Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...

at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre as well as on television series such as Bad Girls

Bad Girls (TV series)

Bad Girls is an award-winning British television drama series that was broadcast on ITV from 1999 to 2006. It is produced by Shed Productions, the company which later produced Footballers' Wives and Waterloo Road...

(1999), Doctor Who

Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

(2007) and Marple

Marple (TV series)

Marple is a British television series based on the Miss Marple and other murder mystery novels by Agatha Christie. It is also known as Agatha Christie's Marple. The title character was played by Geraldine McEwan from the first to third series, until her retirement from the role. She was replaced...

(2007). In September 2010, she starred in the JJ Abrams TV series Undercovers

Undercovers (TV series)

Undercovers is an American action spy television series created by J. J. Abrams and Josh Reims for NBC. They were executive producers of the pilot along with Abrams' frequent collaborator Bryan Burk....

, which was cancelled two months later.

In June 2011, Mbatha-Raw was cast as the female lead in the Fox

Fox Broadcasting Company

Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

 pilot Touch

Touch (TV series)

Touch is an upcoming American television series written and created by Tim Kring. On February 22, 2011, it was announced that Kiefer Sutherland would star in the series. On September 22, 2011, Fox announced that they were picking up Touch for a 13-episode season, to premiere sometime in the spring...

opposite Kiefer Sutherland

Kiefer Sutherland

Kiefer Sutherland is an English-born Canadian actor, producer and director, best known for his portrayal of Jack Bauer on the Fox thriller drama series 24 for which he has won an Emmy Award , a Golden Globe award , two Screen Actors Guild Awards and two Satellite...

. She also had a supporting role in Larry Crowne

Larry Crowne

Larry Crowne is a 2011 American romantic comedy film starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. The film was directed by Hanks, who co-wrote its screenplay with Nia Vardalos...

, playing against Tom Hanks

Tom Hanks

Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...

 and Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts

Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman , which grossed $464 million worldwide...

.

Television

Year	Title	Format	Role	Notes
2004	Holby City Holby City Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...	Television series	Collette Hill	Minor Role
2006	Vital Signs Vital Signs (TV series) Vital Signs is a British television drama series airing on ITV from 2006. It stars Tamzin Outhwaite as a supermarket check-out operator who decides to become a doctor. The series co-stars William Beck, Fraser Ayres, Eve Best, Claudie Blakley, Lucinda Dryzek, Beth Goddard, Alfie Hunter, Brooke...	Television series	Eve	Minor Role
	Walk Away and I Stumble	Television series	-	Regular
	Bad Girls Bad Girls (TV series) Bad Girls is an award-winning British television drama series that was broadcast on ITV from 1999 to 2006. It is produced by Shed Productions, the company which later produced Footballers' Wives and Waterloo Road...	Television series	Fidelity	Minor Role
2007	Spooks Spooks Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...	Television series	Jenny	Semi Regular during series 5
	Doctor Who Doctor Who Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...	Television series	Tish Jones	Semi Regular
	Doctor Who Confidential Doctor Who Confidential Doctor Who Confidential is a documentary series created by the British Broadcasting Corporation to complement the revival of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Each episode was broadcast on BBC Three on Saturdays, immediately after the broadcast of the weekly...	Documentary series	Herself	Interviewee
	Marple Marple (TV series) Marple is a British television series based on the Miss Marple and other murder mystery novels by Agatha Christie. It is also known as Agatha Christie's Marple. The title character was played by Geraldine McEwan from the first to third series, until her retirement from the role. She was replaced...	Television series	Tina Argyle	Minor Role in "Ordeal by Innocence Ordeal by Innocence Ordeal by Innocence is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on November 3 1958 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at twelve shillings and sixpence and the US edition at $2.95... "
2008	Lost in Austen Lost in Austen Lost in Austen is a four-part 2008 British television series for the ITV network, written by Guy Andrews as a fantasy adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen...	Television series	Piranha	Minor Role
	Bonekickers Bonekickers Bonekickers was a BBC drama about a team of archaeologists, set at the fictional Wessex University. It debuted on 8 July 2008 and ran for one series....	Television series	Viv Davis	Lead Role
	Trial & Retribution Trial & Retribution Trial & Retribution is a feature-length ITV police proceduraltelevision drama series that began in 1997. It was devised and written by Lynda La Plante as a follow-on from her successful television series Prime Suspect. Each episode of the Trial & Retribution series is broadcast over two nights. The...	Television series	Jenny Miller	Supporting Role
2009	Fallout Fallout Fallout or nuclear fallout is the residual radiation hazard from a nuclear explosion.Fallout may also refer to:*Fallout , a 1997 post-apocalyptic computer role-playing game released by Interplay Entertainment...	Television series	Shanice Roberts	Part of Channel 4's Disarming Britain series
2010	Undercovers Undercovers (TV series) Undercovers is an American action spy television series created by J. J. Abrams and Josh Reims for NBC. They were executive producers of the pilot along with Abrams' frequent collaborator Bryan Burk....	Television series	Samantha Bloom	Lead Role
2011	Touch Touch (TV series) Touch is an upcoming American television series written and created by Tim Kring. On February 22, 2011, it was announced that Kiefer Sutherland would star in the series. On September 22, 2011, Fox announced that they were picking up Touch for a 13-episode season, to premiere sometime in the spring...	Pilot	Clea Hoppkins	Lead Female Role

Theatre

Year	Title	Theatre	Role	Notes
2005	Antony and Cleopatra Antony and Cleopatra Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Lives and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony...	Royal Exchange in Manchester	Cleopatra	Lead Role
	Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...	Royal Exchange in Manchester	Juliet Capulet Juliet Capulet Juliet is one of the title characters in William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet, the other being Romeo. She is the daughter of old Capulet, head of the house of Capulet. The story has a long history that precedes Shakespeare himself....	Lead Role
2008	Gethsemane Gethsemane (play) Gethsemane is a play by David Hare. It premièred at the National Theatre in London on 4 November 2008.The work opens with a reflection on the sway religious books hold over their adherents, but it soon establishes itself as a political piece dramatising the methods used by the governing Labour...	National Theatre	Monique	-
2009	Hamlet Hamlet The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...	Donmar West End and Broadway	Ophelia Ophelia Ophelia is a fictional character in the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes, and potential wife of Prince Hamlet.-Plot:...	Played opposite Jude Law Jude Law David Jude Heyworth Law , known professionally as Jude Law, is an English actor, film producer and director.He began acting with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987, and had his first television role in 1989... ; 2009–2010

Radio

Year	Title	Role	|Radio station
2006	Living with the Enemy Living with the Enemy Living with the Enemy is a BBC Radio 4 sitcom written by and starring Nick Revell and Gyles Brandreth. It made its debut on 14 November 2006....	Various, but mainly Sophie, god-daughter of Gyles Brandreth's lead character	BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the... , broadcast 14 November–19 December 2006
2009	Choice of Straws	Michelle	BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the... , Saturday Play, broadcast on 19 September 2009

External links

• Gugumbatha-raw.com - Official Fansite, originally from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
  Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
  The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a drama school located in London, United Kingdom. It is generally regarded as one of the most renowned drama schools in the world, and is one of the oldest drama schools in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1904.RADA is an affiliate school of the...
  
   website