Best known for essaying the titular role in the acclaimed period drama Belle (2013), Gugu Mbatha-Raw is a British film, stage and television actress. She started out on stage, garnering much praise courtesy of her portrayal of Shakespearean characters like Juliet and Ophelia early on in her career. In 2007, Mbatha-Raw made her feature film debut with a minor role in the thriller Straightheads. The romantic comedy Larry Crowne (2011) and the supernatural mystery thriller Odd Thomas (2013) preceded her breakout role in Belle (2013), which won Mbatha-Raw the British Independent Film Award for Best Actress that year.

Subsequent appearances in the acclaimed romantic drama Beyond the Lights (2014) and the biographical sports drama Concussion (2015) brought Mbatha-Raw further recognition, with the former earning her the Emerging Artist Award at the Chicago International Film Festival. In 2015, she was nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award, but lost to fellow Brit Jack O`Connell. Besides movies, the actress has also made her mark on television through her performances in popular shows like Doctor Who, Touch and Black Mirror. Other notable film credits in recent times include Free State of Jones (2016), the political thriller Miss Sloane (2016), Beauty and the Beast (2017) and the sci-fi fantasy adventure A Wrinkle in Time. Her 2019 release includes Motherless Brooklyn, directed by Edward Norton.