Ruth Negga (born 1982) is an Ethiopian-Irish actress who has starred in Irish films such as
Capital Letters (2004),
Isolation (2005) and
Breakfast On Pluto (2005). She has also appeared in the BBC mini-series
Criminal Justice and E4's Misfits.
Background
Negga was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she lived until she was four, to an Irish mother and an Ethiopian father. Her father died in a car accident when she was seven. She now lives in London, but continues to visit Ethiopia.
Negga trained at the Samuel Beckett Centre at Trinity College, Dublin, graduating with a BA in Acting Studies.
Career
Negga made her screen debut in the Irish film
Capital Letters (2004), playing the lead role of Taiwo. She went on to play the lead role of Mary in
Isolation (2005). Prior to this she had been working mostly in theatre.
After seeing Negga act, director Neil Jordan changed the script to
Breakfast On Pluto so that she could appear in the movie.She has also starred in
Colour Me Kubrick (2005), with John Malkovich, and the short films
The Four Horsemen,
3-Minute 4-Play and
Stars.
On television Negga has appeared in
Doctors,
Criminal Justice and the Irish series
Love Is The Drug. She also played the lead role of Doris 'Sid' Siddiqi in the BBC Three series
Personal Affairs, alongside Laura Aikman, Annabel Scholey and Maimie McCoy. Negga also appeared as Dame Shirley Bassey in the BBC production
Shirley in 2011.
Negga’s theatre work includes roles in
Duck,
Titus Andronicus and
Lay Me Down Softly.As of 2007 she began working with the Irish theatrical group Pan Pan Theatre.
[
7
] In 2010, she played Ophelia in the National Theatre's production of Hamlet.
Ruth Negga on BBC Breakfast 26.09.11
[youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTxsSdiwPYQ[/youtube]
Ruth Negga interviewed on TV3's Xpose
Awards and recognition
Negga was nominated as 2003’s Most Promising Newcomer at the
Olivier Awards
.She was chosen as Ireland's Shooting Star for the 2006
Berlin Film Festival.
Ruth Negga Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ruth-Negg ... 2602189140
