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Nigerian born Sophie Okonedo thrills in South African movie, Skin



Sophie Okonedo, the Nigerian born international film star is currently making waves in South Africa with her latest feature length film, Skin.

Okonedo, 41, alongside the heart-wrenching movie, have been enjoying rave reviews from critics and pundits since the film hit South African cinemas over the weekend.

The biopic film vividly captures the traumatic and agonizing story of Sandra Laing, which was beautiful interpreted by Okonedo on various locations in South Africa.

According to Anthony Fabian, the director of Skin, Okonedo was chosen for the role ahead of other equally good stars because she truly fits into the character of Laing, with her colour and curly black hair.

“The Story of Sandra Laing is a true life incident that was so bizarre. The child of a white Afrikaner couple, Laing was born with a dark skin and curly hair, the result of a polygenic inheritance, or a throwback to distant black ancestry. Kicked out of her all white boarding school, she was reclassified coloured and then, after a widely publicised court battle, she was reclassified white again. While struggling to fit in with African society, Laing, the teenager eloped with a black man, thus leaving behind her white family and troubled identity.”

Laing eventually began what Fabian, painfully described as a “journey into colour.”

Speaking recently on Skin, in an interview with the Mail and Guardian newspapers of South Africa, Fabian, argued that what makes the story so powerful and unique was the bizarreness of the genetic element, adding that it highlights the irrationality of racism.

Surprisingly, Fabian first heard of the touching story in 2000, when Laing was being interviewed on BBC4.

Soon afterwards, Fabian met Laing and was deeply moved and concerned after hearing her story and interacting with her at close range.

Apart from Okonedo, whose father is a Nigerian and mother, a Jewish settler in London, the rest of the cast are South Africans. Even, the crew was mostly South Africans too.

Sensational Skin, which is Hollywood bound in the next couple of weeks, covers more than 30 years and, in telling Laing’s personal story, it also tells the greater story about apartheid.

With Okonedo, the Golden Globe winner and Oscar nominee on board, Skin has consistently received positive reviews within and outside South Africa and might even open the floodgates for more international awards for the sassy star, including the elusive Oscar.

Aside Skin, Okonedo, a single mother of one, had also starred in several other globally acclaimed hit films like: Hotel Rwanda, The Jackal, Dirty Pretty Things, Sweet Revenge, Tsunami and a host of others.