One more international award for Thuso Mbedu
- Wits Alumni Relations
Wits alumna awarded Best Female Performance at 37th Independent Spirit Awards.
Wits alumna Thuso Mbedu (BADA 2014) has added one more prestigious award for her performance in the television series The Underground Railroad.
On Sunday, 6 March 2022, the 30-year-old walked away with the Best Female Performance in a New Scripted Series at the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Los Angeles.
“What a day! (I think I’ll need to take a nap for 3-5 business days to fully wrap my head around today),” Mbedu wrote on Instagram.
“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.”
Mbedu has mesmerised Hollywood with her performance of Cora Randall, based on Colson Whitehead’s novel The Underground Railroad. Last year she tied for Outstanding Performance in a New Series at the Gotham Awards and won the award for TV Breakout Star at the Hollywood Critic’s TV Awards. She recently returned to South Africa to film the upcoming feature film The Woman King alongside Viola Davis and John Boyega.
At Wits Mbedu excelled and earned numerous academic honours including the Golden Key International Honours Society Membership (2012), the University Council Merit Scholarship (2012) and the New York University Summer Programme Scholarship (2012). She participated in a number of Wits Theatre productions not only as a performer, but also as stage crew member, stage manager, assistant director and choreographer. Read her profile interview in the October 2021 edition of WITSReview.
The Spirit Awards are the primary fundraiser for Film Independent’s programmes, which cultivate the careers of emerging filmmakers and promote diversity and inclusion in the industry. Traditionally held the Saturday before the Oscars, the 2022 date places the Spirit Awards squarely in the corridor leading into Oscar voting.
In January this year, The Underground Railroad also won Best Miniseries or Television movie at the 79th Golden Globes Awards.