Question Time: Sophie Okonedo
Sophie Okonedo on growing up with a huge afro and a Jewish mum, her new film Skin, and why she's excited about playing Winnie Mandela
Hannah Pool16 July 2009
In your new film Skin you play Sandra Laing, a black woman born in 50s South Africa to Afrikaner parents. Does her story tell us anything about race today?
Oh God, don't ask me questions like that. I don't know. What interests me is that I've been brought up in a white family, and, being black myself, I can really relate to that side of it – questioning your heritage and where you're from; asking, "Is this really my parent?" Particularly when you're young, and everyone says, "That can't be your mum." Nowadays everyone's mixed race, it's not such a big deal, but in the 70s when I was growing up it was more unusual. I used to say, "Mum, am I adopted?" So I can really relate to that – knowing something's not quite right but not being quite sure what it is. My mother's Jewish, so my family is Jewish, and it was hard to believe this young girl with a huge afro had a Jewish mum. But nowadays, anything goes.