‘National treasure’ – Thuso Mbedu wins another international award

South African actress Thuso Mbedu continues her winning streak for her breakout role as Cora in The Underground Railway Road. 

Thuso won best female performance in a New Scripted Series at the 37th Film Independent Spirit Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night. 

Other actresses nominated were Jana Schmieding in Rutherford Falls, Jasmine Cephas Jones in Blindspotting, Deborah Ayorinde in THEM: Covenant, and Anjana Vasan in We Are Lady Parts. 

When announced as the winner, Thuso was in complete shock, and tearfully joked that she didn’t prepare for a speech.

She shared a thank you message on Instagram, where she wrote: “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.”

The actress wore a two-piece suit from Christian Dior’s Alta-Costura Inverno 2021 collection. 

Thuso starred as the lead in Barry Jenkins’s adaption of the book, The Underground Railroad. It is about a slave, Cora, who escaped her Georgia plantation for the rumoured underground railroad. 

She discovers the place is not a myth and an actual railroad full of engineers, conductors and a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath southern soil. The critically acclaimed series premiered on Amazon Prime in May 2021.

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Thuso’s groundbreaking performance received much recognition for the actress, including an Emmy nomination for the role, winning Outstanding Performance in a New Series at the 2021 Gotham Award, as well as the Pietermartizburg native presented with an honorary recognition award as “TV Breakout Star” at the Hollywood Critics Association Awards.

Many congratulations poured in on social media after her latest win.