SOPHIE OKONEDO: A TRUE CREDIT TO NIGERIA

The first time I actually came across her name was in a magazine article when she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in the true-life film HOTEL RWANDA she'd starred with Don Cheadle in 2004. Born to a Nigerian father and a Jewish British mother, Sophie worked hard to get to what she has today; a flourishing acting career and a household name & it could'nt have been easy for her considering she was of mixed heritage like Halle Berry. One of the things I like about her is being a bookworm(like myself) and the way she becomes the character she portrays. Like in HOTEL RWANDA where she played Tatiana, the Tutsi wife of Paul Rusesabagina -to prepare for the role, she actually traveled to Belgium to met the real life lady, in order to study her character and mannerisms, how she met Paul etc, but of course did'nt make her relive the horrible days of genocide back in Rwanda when Paul hid more than a thousand Tutsi refugees in his hotel to prevent them from being slaughtered by the militia.

I remember seeing her(to my surprise) as an African princess in ACE VENTURA 2:WHEN NATURE CALLS, who tried to seduce Jim Carrey- it was one of her earlier works, back in 1995. But what thoroughly impressed me was what I watched just recently; the 2007 Oliver Twist mini series, where she played the character, Nancy. I was so psyched at her performance; she was brilliant, realistic and what I like best was her portrayal- this Nancy was a lot softer towards Oliver as opposed to the diamond in the rough Nancys in the past adaptations. She assured Oliver- after listening to his talk about the mother he never knew- that whoever she was, she must have been beautiful, cheering him up considerably.

I like and admire her very much- which is why i just had to post something about her. She may be half Nigerian, but I consider her a true credit to this country. May she continue doing us proud.

N.B: Her upcoming film is the biopic, SKIN.