Sophie Okonedo
Born: January 1 1969
Where: London, UK
The one-time stallholder at London's Portobello Market won acclaim for her Oscar-nominated role in the African genocide drama Hotel Rwanda.
She played the wife of hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle), who saved the lives of more than a thousand Tutsi tribespeople during the Rwandan war.
Although she missed out on the Academy Award (Cate Blanchett won for The Aviator) Okonedo has made American audiences take notice of her striking talent.
Okonedo's father, a government worker, left the marital home to return to Nigeria when she was five, leaving her mother to raise her alone.
Raised on the working class Chalkhill estate, she left school aged 16 and worked on a clothing stall at the famous Portobello Market in west London.
There she spotted an advert for a drama workshop run by writer Hanif Kureishi at the Royal Court and went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
After graduating, she landed roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Young Vic and the National, where her performance in Trevor Nunn's Troilus and Cressida won rave reviews.
She made her big screen debut in 1991's Young Soul Rebels and went on to star in the Michael Winterbottom drama Go Now with Robert Carlyle.
In 1995, she raised her profile as the Wachati Princess in the Jim Carrey comedy Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.
British TV work, including Staying Alive and The Governor, followed before she landed a small role in the action thriller The Jackal in 1997.
Two years later she appeared in the romantic comedy This Year's Love and Sara Sugarman's disappointing comedy Mad Cows with Anna Friel.
When it looked like her career was going nowhere, she attracted attention as a single mum caught in the poverty trap in Tony Marchant's TV drama Never Never.
However, it was as a tart with a heart in Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things alongside Audrey Tautou that she established herself as a serious contender.
Okonedo went on to terrify audiences as a bigamist in the BBC's Clocking Off before Terry George cast her in the acclaimed Hotel Rwanda in 2004.
