In a portrait that hangs in Scone Palace in Scotland, two young women stand side by side in 18th-century dress. One of them is Dido Elizabeth Belle, a mixed-race woman raised in an aristocratic English household. In 2013, Gugu Mbatha-Raw brought her to life on screen.
Mbatha-Raw was born in Oxford, England, in 1983. Her father, Patrick Mbatha, is a South African doctor who left apartheid South Africa; her mother, Anne Raw, is an English nurse. Her first name, Gugulethu, is a Zulu name meaning “our pride”.
Training
She grew up in Oxfordshire and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. She worked in theatre, including Shakespeare roles, and appeared in British television dramas such as Doctor Who, where she played Martha Jones’s sister, Tish.
Belle
Belle, directed by Amma Asante, a British director of Ghanaian heritage, told the story of Dido Belle, the daughter of an enslaved African woman and a British naval officer. She was raised by her great-uncle, Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice whose rulings played a part in the legal debates over slavery in England. The film won praise for Mbatha-Raw’s performance, and she received awards and nominations for the role. Asante went on to direct A United Kingdom in 2016, about the marriage of Seretse Khama of Botswana and Ruth Williams.
San Junipero
In 2016, she starred with Mackenzie Davis in “San Junipero”, an episode of the anthology series Black Mirror. The love story, set partly in a simulated 1980s beach town, became one of the most acclaimed episodes of the series and won Emmy awards.
Hollywood
She played a pop star under crushing pressure in Beyond the Lights in 2014, and appeared in Concussion, Beauty and the Beast, A Wrinkle in Time and Motherless Brooklyn. In Marvel’s Loki series, she played Ravonna Renslayer, a judge of the Time Variance Authority. She has also starred in The Morning Show on Apple TV+.
South African roots
Mbatha-Raw has spoken about her South African heritage and her father’s story. Her name is a daily reminder of that link.
Honours
She was appointed MBE in 2017 for services to drama.
Dido Belle’s story was nearly forgotten. It took a painting, a director of Ghanaian heritage and an actress of South African heritage to put her back in front of an audience.
