Ruth Negga is an Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

n-Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 actress who has starred in Irish films such as Capital Letters (2004), Isolation (2005) and Breakfast On Pluto

Breakfast on Pluto (film)

Breakfast on Pluto is a 2005 comedy-drama film directed by Neil Jordan and based on the novel of the same name by Patrick McCabe, as adapted by Jordan and McCabe...

(2005). She has also appeared in the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 mini-series

Miniseries

A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...

 Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice (TV series)

Criminal Justice is a British television drama series produced by the BBC and first shown in 2008. Written by Peter Moffat, each five-episode series follows the journey of an individual through the justice system and was first broadcast over five successive nights on BBC One.The first series, first...

, RTÉ's Love/Hate

Love/Hate (TV series)

Love/Hate is an Irish TV drama series broadcast on RTÉ One, commissioned by Raidió Teilifís Éireann. The first episode aired on 3 October 2010. It stars Aidan Gillen , Robert Sheehan Ruth Negga , Ruth Bradley , Killian Scott and Chris Newman...

and E4's Misfits

Misfits (TV series)

Misfits is a British science fiction comedy-drama television series about a group of young offenders forced to work in a community service programme, where they obtain supernatural powers after a strange electrical storm. The first series started broadcasting on 12 November 2009 on E4, and was...

.

Background

Negga was born in Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...

, Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

, 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

Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

, 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

Neil Jordan

Neil Patrick Jordan is an Irish filmmaker and novelist. He won an Academy Award for The Crying Game.- Early life :...

 changed the script to Breakfast On Pluto so that she could appear in the movie. She has also starred in Colour Me Kubrick

Colour Me Kubrick

Colour Me Kubrick: A True...ish Story is a French/British Dramedy film directed by Brian W. Cook, released in 2006 . The film stars John Malkovich as Alan Conway, a man who had been impersonating director Stanley Kubrick since the early 1990s...

(2005), with John Malkovich

John Malkovich

John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...

, and the short films The Four Horsemen, 3-Minute 4-Play and Stars.

On television Negga has appeared in Doctors, Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice (TV series)

Criminal Justice is a British television drama series produced by the BBC and first shown in 2008. Written by Peter Moffat, each five-episode series follows the journey of an individual through the justice system and was first broadcast over five successive nights on BBC One.The first series, first...

and the Irish series Love Is The Drug. She also played the lead role of Doris 'Sid' Siddiqi in the BBC Three

BBC Three

BBC Three is a television network from the BBC broadcasting via digital cable, terrestrial, IPTV and satellite platforms. The channel's target audience includes those in the 16-34 year old age group, and has the purpose of providing "innovative" content to younger audiences, focusing on new talent...

 series Personal Affairs

Personal Affairs

Personal Affairs is a British television drama-comedy series, broadcast on BBC Three. It stars Annabel Scholey, Laura Aikman, Maimie McCoy and Ruth Negga as four City of London Personal Assistants looking for the lost friend Grace Darling .-Premise:Off-beat, fast-paced, funny, sexy and candid...

, alongside Laura Aikman

Laura Aikman

Laura Holly Aikman is an English actress who has been appearing in TV and films since childhood. She attended Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls and is best known for her role in The Mysti Show as Mysti...

, Annabel Scholey

Annabel Scholey

Annabel Scholey is an English actress. She is known for portraying Lauren in the supernatural drama Being Human.-Background:Scholey was born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire...

 and Maimie McCoy

Maimie McCoy

Maimie McCoy is an English actress. She is known for portraying Nicole Palmerston-Amory in Personal Affairs.-Background:McCoy was born in Yorkshire, where she attended Stokesley School. She studied Performing Arts at London Metropolitan University, graduating with a BA in 2001.McCoy is the...

. Negga also appeared as Dame Shirley Bassey

Shirley Bassey

Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...

 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. In 2010, she played Ophelia in the National Theatre's production of Hamlet.

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.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	Doctors	Wanda Harrison -The Replacement (2004)	Soap opera
	Capital Letters	Taiwo	Feature film Feature film In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
	Love is the Drug Love is the Drug (TV series) Love is the Drug was a short lived drama based in Drogheda, Co. Louth and it ran on RTÉ Two for their 2004 season....	Lisa Sheerin	TV series
2005	3-Minute 4-Play	Woman	Short film
	Stars	Sophie	Short film
	Breakfast On Pluto Breakfast on Pluto (film) Breakfast on Pluto is a 2005 comedy-drama film directed by Neil Jordan and based on the novel of the same name by Patrick McCabe, as adapted by Jordan and McCabe...	Charlie	Feature film Feature film In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
	Isolation	Mary	Feature film Feature film In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
	Colour Me Kubrick Colour Me Kubrick Colour Me Kubrick: A True...ish Story is a French/British Dramedy film directed by Brian W. Cook, released in 2006 . The film stars John Malkovich as Alan Conway, a man who had been impersonating director Stanley Kubrick since the early 1990s...	Lolita	Feature film Feature film In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
2006	The Four Horsemen	Woman Priest	Short film
2008	Criminal Justice Criminal Justice (TV series) Criminal Justice is a British television drama series produced by the BBC and first shown in 2008. Written by Peter Moffat, each five-episode series follows the journey of an individual through the justice system and was first broadcast over five successive nights on BBC One.The first series, first...	Melanie Lloyd	TV series
2009	Personal Affairs Personal Affairs Personal Affairs is a British television drama-comedy series, broadcast on BBC Three. It stars Annabel Scholey, Laura Aikman, Maimie McCoy and Ruth Negga as four City of London Personal Assistants looking for the lost friend Grace Darling .-Premise:Off-beat, fast-paced, funny, sexy and candid...	Doris 'Sid' Siddiqi	TV series
2010	Misfits Misfits (TV series) Misfits is a British science fiction comedy-drama television series about a group of young offenders forced to work in a community service programme, where they obtain supernatural powers after a strange electrical storm. The first series started broadcasting on 12 November 2009 on E4, and was...	Nikki	TV series
	Love Hate Love/Hate (TV series) Love/Hate is an Irish TV drama series broadcast on RTÉ One, commissioned by Raidió Teilifís Éireann. The first episode aired on 3 October 2010. It stars Aidan Gillen , Robert Sheehan Ruth Negga , Ruth Bradley , Killian Scott and Chris Newman...	Rosie	TV mini series
	The Nativity The Nativity (2010 TV series) The Nativity is a 2010 British four-part drama television series. The series is a re-telling of the nativity and was broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD across four days, starting on 20 December 2010....	Leah	TV series (4 Episodes)
2011	Five Daughters Five Daughters Five Daughters is a British television drama mini-series starring Ian Hart, Sarah Lancashire, Jaime Winstone and Juliet Aubrey. Set in 2006, it is about the five victims of the Ipswich serial murders and how the crime affected their families...	Rochelle	TV series
	The Samaritan The Samaritan The Samaritan, currently under the title Lie Down With Darkness, is an upcoming neo-noir thriller written and directed by David Weaver. A trailer was released on its website.-Plot:...	Iris	Feature film Feature film In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
	Shirley	Shirley Bassey Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...	TV drama

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