Chipo Chung facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Chipo Chung
Chung in 2008
Born	Chipo Tariro Chung (1977-08-17) 17 August 1977 (age 47) Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Nationality	Zimbabwean
Education	Yale University (BA) Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (BA)
Years active	2003–present
Parents	Rugare Gumbo (father) Fay Chung (mother)

Chipo Tariro Chung (born August 17, 1977) is an actress and activist from Zimbabwe. She is based in London, England.

Early Life and Education

Chipo Chung was born in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. At the time, her family were refugees. Her first name, Chipo, means "gift" in the Shona language. She spent her first two years in refugee camps in Mozambique. Thousands of young people were there, escaping the war in what was then called Rhodesia.

Chipo grew up in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. She went to Dominican Convent High School. There, she started acting with a theater group called Over the Edge. When she was 18, she moved to the United States. Her mother, Fay Chung, was an education expert and a former minister of education in Zimbabwe. She was working for the United Nations at the time.

Chipo first studied directing at Yale University. Later, she trained to be an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. She finished her studies in 2003.

Acting Career

Chipo Chung's first stage role was playing Ophelia in a play called Hamlet. She also acted in The Mayor of Zalamea and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. She then appeared in plays like Talking to Terrorists and The Overwhelming. She also played Condoleezza Rice in a play called Fallujah. Chipo was in Phedre, which was the first play recorded by National Theatre Live. In this play, she acted alongside Helen Mirren.

Chipo Chung has been in Doctor Who twice. She played Chantho, the Master's assistant, in the episode "Utopia". She also played a character called the Fortune Teller in the episode "Turn Left". Her first movie role was as the voice of Icarus II in Danny Boyle's film Sunshine (2007). She has also appeared in TV shows like The Last Enemy. She was a reporter in the Sherlock episode "The Hounds of Baskerville".

In 2011, she had a regular role in the TV series Camelot. She played Vivian, a servant who worked for Morgan le Fay. Chipo also appeared in the Sky Atlantic series Fortitude. After that, she got the role of Mary Magdalene in the TV series A.D. The Bible Continues. This show was praised for having actors from many different backgrounds. It was watched by 11 million people when it first aired in April 2015.

Chipo Chung then played the Master in AMC's kung fu series Into the Badlands.

In 2017, Chipo played Portia and Octavius in a play called Julius Caesar. She then took on the main role of Dido in Dido, Queen of Carthage. This was the first time the Royal Shakespeare Company performed this play by Christopher Marlowe. A famous critic, Michael Billington, wrote that she played Dido with a lot of emotion.

In 2021, Chipo joined the cast of His Dark Materials. This show is made by HBO and BBC. She played the angel Xaphania. She has also been in several Apple TV+ series. These include Foundation and Silo. In 2022, it was announced that she would play Eleanor Bennett in the Hulu series Black Cake. This show is based on a popular book by Charmaine Wilkerson. Oprah Winfrey's company, Harpo Films, helps produce the series.

Chipo Chung also reads many audiobooks for Audible. She is well-known for reading the novel Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo. This book was a finalist for the Booker Prize in 2022. She has also read books by Petina Gappah and Tsitsi Dangarembgwa.

In 2014, Chipo Chung was named one of the BBC's 100 women. She was nominated for Best Actress at the Zimbabwe International Women's Awards (ZIWA) in 2015. In 2017, she received a Special Recognition Award for her work in Media and the Arts at the Zimbabwe Achievers Awards in London.

Activism and Charity Work

Chipo Chung helped start a charity called SAFE-Kenya. This group uses theater to bring about social change in Kenya. They teach people about HIV and work to stop harmful practices like clitoridectomy. She also worked with the charity Peace Direct to create Envision Zimbabwe. This is a women's trust that helps people in Zimbabwe work together for peace. She is also part of the RADA Council and British Equity's International Committee for Artists' Freedom (ICAF).

In December 2019, Chipo Chung and 42 other cultural figures signed a letter. The letter supported the Labour Party in the 2019 general election. The letter said that the party's plan would put the needs of people and the planet first.

Filmography

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Film

Television

Video games

See also

In Spanish: Chipo Chung para niños