Chipo Chung
Chung in 2008
Born
Chipo Tariro Chung

(1977-08-17) 17 August 1977 (age 46)
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
NationalityZimbabwean
EducationYale University (BA)
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (BA)
Years active2003–present
Parents

Chipo Tariro Chung (born 17 August 1977)[1] is a Zimbabwean actress and activist based in London.[2]

Early life and education

Chung was born as a refugee in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Her given name Chipo means "gift" in the Shona language. She spent her first two years in refugee camps in Mozambique with thousands of young people who were escaping the war in then-Rhodesia.[3]

Chung was raised in Harare where she attended Dominican Convent High School and developed her acting with the mixed-race theater company Over the Edge. At eighteen, she moved to the United States where her mother, educationist and former minister of education in Zimbabwe Fay Chung, was working for the United Nations.

Chung first studied directing at Yale University and then trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, graduating in 2003.[4]

Career

Chung’s stage debut was as Ophelia in a Nuffield Theatre production of Hamlet. Appearances in The Mayor of Zalamea and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse followed. She then appeared in Talking to Terrorists (Royal Court Theatre),[5] The Overwhelming (Royal National Theatre) and Fallujah (in which she played Condoleezza Rice),[6] as well as classical plays including Phedre, which was the first National Theatre Live recording, and starred Helen Mirren (Royal National Theatre).[7]

She has appeared twice in Doctor Who,[8] in one episode playing the Master's assistant Chantho and in another a character called the Fortune Teller.[9] Her first film credit was as the voice of Icarus II in Danny Boyle's Sunshine. Other television appearances include the drama The Last Enemy[10] and as a reporter in the Sherlock second series episode "The Hounds of Baskerville".[11]

In 2011 she had a recurring role in the medieval romance drama series Camelot[12] as Vivian, an indentured servant at King Uther's court who then works as an attendant and messenger for Morgan le Fay, played by Eva Green. She appeared in the first season of Sky Atlantic series Fortitude as Trish Stoddart.[13] before winning the role of Mary Magdalene in the TV series, A.D. The Bible Continues. The show was hailed for its international and multiracial casting and opened to 11 million viewers in April 2015.[14][15]

Chung then featured as the Master in AMC’s post-apocalyptic kung fu series Into the Badlands.

In 2017, Chung played Portia and Octavius in the Sheffield Theatre production of Julius Caesar, before taking on the title role of Dido, Queen of Carthage in the Royal Shakespeare Company's premiere production of Christopher Marlowe's tragedy. Michael Billington wrote in the Guardian she ‘plays [Dido] with a volatility and sense of contradiction that anticipates Shakespeare’s Cleopatra’.[16]

In 2021, Chung joined the cast of HBO/ BBC co-production His Dark Materials playing the angel Xaphania.[17] She features in a number of Apple TV+ series including Foundation and the upcoming Wool. In 2022, it was announced that she would be playing Eleanor Bennett in the Hulu series Black Cake, based on the best-selling novel by Charmaine Wilkerson.[18] The series is produced by Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films and Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment.

Chung reads a number of titles on Audible, most notably Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo, which was a 2022 finalist for the Booker Prize,[19] as well as books by Petina Gappah and Tsitsi Dangarembgwa.

She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2014.[20] She was nominated for Best Actress at the Zimbabwe International Women’s Awards (ZIWA) in 2015 and honoured with a Special Recognition Award for her contribution to Media and the Arts at the Zimbabwe Achievers Awards in London in 2017.[21]

Activism

Chung co-founded the charity SAFE-Kenya[22] which develops theatre for social change in Kenya, focusing on HIV education and abandoning clitoridectomy. She worked closely with the charity Peace Direct to start Envision Zimbabwe, a women's trust that works towards consensus-building and peace in Zimbabwe. She also sits on the RADA Council[23] and British Equity's International Committee for Artists' Freedom (ICAF).

In December 2019, along with 42 other cultural figures, Chung signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 general election. The letter stated that "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few."[24][25]

In 2020, Chung co-chaired British Equity’s Independent Commission on Race Equality, and in 2022 founded the British charity Partnership on Rape Aftercare (PORA), which supports the Adult Rape Clinic in Zimbabwe.[26][27]

Filmography

Mobile App

Year Title Role Notes
2017 Deep Time Walk The Scientist

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2005 Proof University Friend
2007 Sunshine Icarus II (voice)
2009 In the Loop Annabelle Hsin
2011 360 Editor
2012 Labalaba, He'll Return Atika Short film
2013 Red Zone Starling (voice) Short film
2014 Beyond Plain Sight Agnes Takahata Short film
2018 Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures! African Troublesome Trucks, Various African Characters (voice) UK & US versions

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2003 Absolute Power Miriam Episode: "History Man"
2007 Dalziel and Pascoe Layla Jadwin 2 episodes
2007–2008 Doctor Who Chantho, Fortune Teller Episodes "Utopia" & "Turn Left"
2007 Holby City Dr. Nicola Wood Episode: "Past Imperfect"
2008 The Last Enemy Lucy Fox 2 episodes
2009 Casualty Dan Dan Episode: "Who Do You Think You Are?"
2009 National Theatre Live Ismene Episode: "Phédre"
2010 Identity Michelle Fielding Episode: "Second Life"
2011 Camelot Vivian 8 episodes
2012 Sherlock Presenter Episode: "The Hounds of Baskerville"
2015 Fortitude Trish Stoddart 5 episodes
2015 A.D. The Bible Continues Mary Magdalene 12 episodes
2015 From Darkness Jemima Greer Episode: "Episode #1.2"
2016 Thirteen Alia Symes 3 episodes
2017 Absentia Agent Whitman 7 episodes
2017–2019 Into the Badlands The Master 14 episodes
2018 Thomas & Friends Hong-Mei, African Trucks UK/US voice
2021 Foundation Simulation Instructor 2 episodes
2022 His Dark Materials Xaphania Main role
2023 Silo Sandy Main role
2023 Black Cake Eleanor Bennett

Video games

Year Title Role Notes
2017 Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice Narrator

References

  1. ^ "Chipo Tariro Chung". Directors.findthecompany.co.uk. Retrieved 31 March 2017.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Bonnie Greer (31 July 2011). "How We Met: Chipo Chung & Bonnie Greer". The Independent. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  3. ^ "100 Women: Chipo Chung on identity, acting and activism". London: BBC. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  4. ^ Williams, Holly (14 September 2017). "Chipo Chung: 'I had to go round the houses to get into theatre'". THE STAGE. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
  5. ^ "Talking to Terrorists – Stockroom". www.stockroom.co.uk. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  6. ^ Peter, John. "Fallujah". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  7. ^ Hytner, Nicholas; Lough, Robin (25 June 2009), National Theatre Live: Phèdre (Drama), National Theatre, retrieved 11 October 2022
  8. ^ Jeffery, Morgan (5 January 2019). "8 actors who played more than one role in Doctor Who". Digital Spy. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  9. ^ "15 actors who've appeared in 'Doctor Who' as different characters - Page 2 of 3". CultBox. 18 October 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  10. ^ The Last Enemy (TV Mini Series 2008) - IMDb, retrieved 11 October 2022
  11. ^ Sherlock (TV Series 2010–2017) - IMDb, retrieved 11 October 2022
  12. ^ Camelot (TV Series 2011) - IMDb, retrieved 11 October 2022
  13. ^ "Fortitude: Will it get a second series?". Digital Spy. 11 February 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  14. ^ "Jesus was a feminist, says Mary Magdalene actress". The Independent. 7 April 2015. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  15. ^ Culturati, Kate O'Hare's Pax (10 May 2015). "'A.D.' Star Chipo Chung Thinks Mary Magdalene Was 'Robust'". Kate O'Hare's Pax Culturati. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  16. ^ "Coriolanus/Dido, Queen of Carthage review – Shakespeare and Marlowe do battle". the Guardian. 23 September 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  17. ^ His Dark Materials (Adventure, Drama, Family), Anton, Bad Wolf, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), 4 November 2019, retrieved 28 November 2022
  18. ^ Black Cake (Drama), Harpo Films, Hulu Originals, Kapital Entertainment, retrieved 28 November 2022
  19. ^ "Glory". The Booker Prizes. 7 April 2022. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  20. ^ "Who are the 100 Women 2014?". BBC News. 26 October 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  21. ^ Radio, Nehanda (3 May 2016). "Zim Achievers to celebrate women in media and arts". Nehanda Radio. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  22. ^ "S.A.F.E. Homepage". Safekenya.org. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  23. ^ Fabrique. "Governance and advisors — RADA". www.rada.ac.uk. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  24. ^ "Vote for hope and a decent future". The Guardian. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  25. ^ Proctor, Kate (3 December 2019). "Coogan and Klein lead cultural figures backing Corbyn and Labour". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  26. ^ Grater, Tom (28 May 2020). "UK Actors' Union Equity Sets Up Race Equality Commission After Laurence Fox Row". Deadline. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  27. ^ "Welcome to S.A.F.E. – safekenya.org". safekenya.org. Retrieved 28 November 2022.

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