Ruth Negga

Ethiopian-Irish actress Ruth Negga became best known for playing Tulip O'Hare on the AMC comic book series "Preacher" (2016- ) and for co-starring in the civil rights drama "Loving" (2016). Born in Ethiopia to an Irish mother and Ethiopian father, Negga always had a desire to become an actress. When she was 7, however, tragedy struck the family after her father was killed in a car accident. Negga could have easily allowed the horrific event to consume her in a negative way, but instead, she used her father's death as a driving force in pursuing her dream. That said, when it came time to enter college Negga chose nearby Trinity College in Dublin, where she studied acting. After honing her craft for four years as primarily a stage actress, Negga began auditioning for film and TV roles. She nabbed her first recurring TV role on the Irish TV series "Love Is the Drug" (2004), and from there landed a few supporting roles in films like "Breakfast on Pluto" (2005), "Isolation" (2005), and "Color Me Kubrick" (2005). Negga continued appearing in primarily Irish television shows throughout the remainder of the 2000s, but in 2013 she landed her first high-profile movie role in the post-apocalyptic zombie film "World War Z" (2013). The film, which starred Brad Pitt, was a global success, thus highlighting Negga as an actress to watch. In 2013, she appeared in the Jimi Hendrix biopic "Jimi: All Is By My Side," which only further propelled her to superstardom. Then later that year, Negga nabbed a recurring role as Raina on the Joss Whedon-created Marvel action series "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." (ABC, 2013- ). She left the show in 2015, but her movie career only prospered, with starring roles in the dramas "Iona" (2015) and "Loving" (2016). The latter film, in which she portrayed civil ricghts icon Mildred Loving, whose landmark Supreme Court case struck down miscegenation laws in the United States, brought Negga an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Also in 2016 Negga started appearing on the AMC comic book series "Preacher." The show debuted on the network in May of that year, with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg serving as co-creators. While co-starring on the series, Negga co-starred in Duncan Jones' video game adaptation "Warcraft" (2018) and reappeared on "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D" in its fifth season. She also made a much publicized return to the stage, starring in the title role of Hamlet at Dublin's Gate Theatre during the 2018 season.