Ruth Negga
Ruth Negga ( ; born 4 May 1981) is an Irish actress known for the AMC television series Preacher and the film Loving. For her portrayal of Mildred Loving in the latter, Negga received several major nominations from the Academy Awards, British Academy Film Awards and the Golden Globe Awards, and won the Irish Film and Television Award for Best Actress. In 2022, Negga made her Broadway debut in a production of Shakespeare's Macbeth as Lady Macbeth, and earned a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play. Negga has also appeared in the films Capital Letters (2004) (also released as Trafficked in some countries), Isolation (2005), Breakfast on Pluto (2005), Warcraft (2016), and Passing (2021). Other television projects include the BBC mini-series Criminal Justice, RTÉ's Love/Hate, E4's Misfits, and ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Early life and education Negga was born in 1981 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to an Irish mother, Nora, and an Ethiopian father. Her parents met while working at a hospital in Ethiopia; her mother was a nurse and her father was a doctor. Negga, an only child, lived in the country until she was four. Her father died in a car accident when she was seven. She grew up in Limerick, Ireland, until moving to London, England for secondary school. Negga studied 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 the following year. 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 played the lead role of Doris "Sid" Siddiqi in the BBC Three series Personal Affairs, alongside Laura Aikman, Annabel Scholey and Maimie McCoy. Negga portrayed Rosie in the first two series of RTÉ's Love/Hate. Negga appeared as Dame Shirley Bassey in the BBC production Shirley in 2011 and won the IFTA Award for Best Actress (Television) for her performance. Her 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. In 2010, she played Ophelia in the National Theatre's production of Hamlet. She also provided voice acting in the video game Dark Souls II, playing Shanalotte, otherwise known as "the Emerald Herald". In 2013, it was announced that Negga had been booked for a recurring role as Raina on the American TV series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. She appeared in 17 episodes of the programme. She filmed scenes