South African star Thuso Mbedu on Sunday bagged an international award for best female performance at the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards.
The 30-year-old actress was nominated for Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series and won for her role as Cora Randall in the film Underground Railroad.
In a speech, Mbedu acknowledged the show’s director Barry Jenkins along with the Amazon Prime Video streaming platform.
She said: “… first and foremost, thank you to form independent for this recognition. Barry Jenkins, thank you for absolutely everything. I really, really, really appreciate you, Francine Maisler, because I met you before I met Barry.
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your guidance. Thank you to Amazon, to all the executive producers, to my team Beth, April, Laurie … My sister in South Africa.
“She would kill me if I didn’t say anything about her. I appreciate all the support. And every single person who was involved in ’The Underground Railroad’.”
Mbedu also wrote on Instagram: “What a day! [I think I’ll need to take a nap for 3-5 business days to fully wrap my head around today].
“A big thank you to @filmindependent for allowing me to be part of such an important and brilliant group of people. I’m humbled. Thank you for this recognition.
“Thank you to Colson Whitehead, Barry Jenkins and Amazon Studios for gifting us with #TheUndergroundRailroad. Thank you to everyone involved in creating this timeless work of art.
“I have a lot more people to thank, and I will, but right now I just need to let this sink in. I appreciate y’all. I’m so happy to be reunited with my glam squad, y’all snatched me to the gods and back! I mean lemme tell you something, chile.”
In April 2021, it was announced that Mbedu would make her film debut opposite Viola Davis in The Woman King, a historical epic film inspired by the true events that took place in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The film is set to be directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood.
She was also nominated for an International Emmy for her role in the Is’Thunzi telenovela and appeared on the 2018 Forbes Africa under 30 list.
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