Recently seen in BBC One's The Girl Before, Apple TV's The Morning Show and Marvel's Loki, this exclusive in conversation event, hosted by radio and TV presenter Edith Bowman will feature Gugu talking about her career to date and in the future. 

Biography

Gugu Mbatha Raw is an award-winning actor of the stage and screen. Her stage performances include Hamlet (2009) alongside Jude Law in the West End, Elsinore in Denmark and Broadway, and Nell Gwynn (2015), for which she was nominated for ‘Best Actress’ at the 2015 Evening Standard Theatre awards. 

In film, Gugu has starred in Larry Crowne (2011) alongside Tom Hanks, and period drama Belle (2013) for which Gugu won Best Actress at the 2014 BIFA Awards. She has also starred in Concussion (2015) alongside Will Smith, The Whole Truth (2016) starring Keanu Reeves and Renée Zellweger, Miss Sloance (2016) with Jessica Chastain, Free State of Jones with Matthew McConaughey and Beauty and the Beast (2017) where she played the playful character of Plumette. Gugu starred in Disney’s ground-breaking blockbuster fantasy A Wrinkle in Time opposite Oprah Winfrey and Reece Witherspoon whilst also appearing in romantic tragicomedy Cloverfield Paradox. She can also be seen in Stephanie Laing’s Irreplaceable You (2018) on Netflix, where Gugu starred as the lead character, Abbie. Farming (2018), is a story of the writer/director’s Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje childhood. The film tells the story of a young Nigerian boy, ‘farmed out’ by his parents to a white British family in the hope of a better future. Instead, he becomes the feared leader of a skinhead gang. In March 2019 Gugu starred as superhero ‘Ruth’ in supernatural thriller, Fast Color. The film follows Ruth as she is forced to go on the run when her superhuman abilities are discovered. In November 2019, Gugu starred in Motherless Brooklyn alongside Ed Norton, Bruce Willis and Willem Dafoe, which tells the story of a lonely private detective afflicted with Tourette's Syndrome, as he ventures to solve the murder of his mentor and only friend, Frank Minna. Gugu appeared alongside Angelina Jolie and Michael Cain Peter Pan in Come Away (2020), the prequel to Peter Pan and Alice and Wonderland. In the same year, Gugu starred in the pageant comedy drama Misbehaviour alongside Kiera Knightly and Jessie Buckley. The screenplay comes from Rebecca Frayn, with revisions by Gaby Chiappe, and is based on the true story of the first black woman to win the Miss World competition. Summerland (2020) was directed by Jessica Swale and saw Gugu starring alongside Gemma Arterton in the film which is set during the Second World War where a woman opens her heart to an evacuee after initially resolving to be rid of him. 

With regards to Television, in 2016 Gugu starred in San Junipero, the only episode of Netflix anthology series Black Mirror ever to offer a happy ending. It has been widely celebrated by both critics and the viewing public since its release as a socially important and otherwise enrapturing piece of art. Starring Gugu-Mbatha Raw and Mackenzie Davis, the episode had higher critical ratings than the show's other episodes, and some critics considered it one of the best television episodes of 2016. In addition to several other accolades, San Junipero won two Primetime Emmy Awards, one for ‘Outstanding TV Movie’ and the other for creator, Charlie Brooker, for ‘Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special’.  

Gugu also starred in Apple TV’s drama series Morning Show. Starring Billy Crudup, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell, the series explores the unique challenges faced by the women and men and who carry out morning TV. Most recently, Gugu was the lead role in HBO/BBC’s adaptation of JP Delaney's best-selling psychological thriller The Girl Before and in Summer 2021, she featured in Marvel’s LOKI on Disney+ opposite Tom Hiddleston and go on to star in Surface, an eight-part series written by Veronia West which Gugu will also co-produce alongside Reece Witherspoon.