Sophie Okonedo

Sophie Okonedo, OBE (born 1st January 1969) is a London-born actress who in 2003 provided the voice of Alison Cheney, companion to the "Shalka Doctor" in the 2003 BBC animated webcast serial, Scream of the Shalka. Okonedo likely would have continued to play Alison in future webcasts, had the announcement of BBC Wales' revival of the television not closed the book on further productions of this type. Amongst Doctor Who fans, she is now better known as Liz 10, a character she played in The Beast Below and The Pandorica Opens, episodes from the BBC Wales version of Doctor Who.

Okonedo is, however, one of the premier British actors of the early 21st century. She appeared in the film Hotel Rwanda, for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first actress in a leading role in an official Doctor Who production to achieve such an honour after appearing in Doctor Who. (In 2010, Carey Mulligan became the only other actress to date to receive such an honour.) Some of Okonedo's other credits include the TV series Criminal Justice and the science fiction film Aeon Flux.

She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire two days before the broadcast of The Pandorica Opens, her second appearance in televised Doctor Who.