Sheila Atim facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sheila Atim MBE
Atim in 2014
Born	January 1991 Uganda
Education	King's College London (Biomedical science)
Occupation	Actress, singer, playwright, composer
Years active	2014–present

Sheila Atim (born around 1991) is a talented actress, singer, composer, and playwright from Uganda and Britain. She was given an MBE honor, which is a special award from the British King or Queen for great achievements.

Sheila started her acting career in 2014 at Shakespeare's Globe theatre in a musical called The Lightning Child. She has since become very well-known for her work on stage, in movies, and on TV. She won two Laurence Olivier Awards, which are major awards for theatre in the UK. One was for her role in the musical Girl from the North Country and the other for the play Constellations. She has also appeared in popular TV shows like The Pale Horse and The Underground Railroad, and in films such as Bruised and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Early Life and Education

Sheila Atim was born in Uganda around 1991. When she was only five months old, she moved to the United Kingdom with her mother. She grew up in Rainham, a part of London.

As a teenager, Sheila sometimes worked as a model. She was discovered after she shaved part of her head for a school dance! She even appeared in a special fashion show in 2009 that aimed to show clothes for "real women." Sheila later shared that modeling wasn't her main job because her unique look wasn't always what commercial jobs were looking for.

Sheila studied biomedical science at King's College London. After getting her science degree, she trained to be an actress at the Weekend Arts Centre in London.

Acting Career

Sheila Atim's acting career began in theatre, where she quickly gained attention for her powerful performances.

Theatre Performances

Sheila's first professional acting role was in The Lightning Child at Shakespeare's Globe in 2013. This musical was written by her acting teacher, Ché Walker. Sheila later said that her science background helped her acting, even influencing how she prepared for roles.

Atim (right), with Damson Idris in Ghost Town (2014)

In 2014, Sheila played Keira in Ghost Town at the York Theatre Royal. Critics praised her "mesmeric physical presence" and said she "dominated the stage." She then appeared in another play by Ché Walker, Klook's Last Stand, where she was noted for her energetic performance.

Sheila also performed in Rachel and joined the touring show Hopelessly Devoted. She took on three different roles in plays by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), including The Jew of Malta and Volpone. She even composed songs for another play, The Etienne Sisters.

Leading Roles and Awards

Sheila's first big stage role was in Les Blancs at the National Theatre in 2016. She played a silent character called The Woman, and her performance was described as "mesmerising."

She received great praise for her roles in the Donmar Warehouse's all-female Shakespeare Trilogy in 2016. In these plays, set in a women's prison, she played Ferdinand in The Tempest, Gadshill and Lady Percy in Henry IV, and Lucius in Julius Caesar. For these roles, she won a Clarence Derwent Award in 2018.

Sheila played Marianne Laine in the musical Girl from the North Country. The story is set during the Great Depression, and Sheila's character is a pregnant Black woman adopted by a white couple who run a struggling guesthouse. Critics loved her performance, with one newspaper saying, "She sings Dylan better than Bob." She was nominated for a WhatsOnStage award and won the 2018 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for this role.

In 2018, she played Emilia in Othello at Shakespeare's Globe. Her performance was so powerful that one reviewer said she "unleashed a fury that blew the greatest actor of his generation off the stage."

Sheila also wrote her first play, Anguis, which was shown at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She composed the songs for it too. Critics called it an "intriguing look at female power" and said it marked her as "a playwright to watch."

In 2022, Sheila won another Laurence Olivier Award, this time for Best Lead Actress, for her performance in the play Constellations.

Television, Film, and Music

Sheila Atim has also made a name for herself in television and film. She played both Viola and Sebastian in a film version of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, winning the Screen Nation 2019 Best Female Performance film award.

She can play several musical instruments, including piano, violin, bass, and drums. She composed the music for the play Time Is Love in 2019. That same year, she was cast in Bloodmoon, a planned prequel series to Game of Thrones.

In 2020, she appeared as an alleged witch in the BBC show The Pale Horse. In 2021, she was in the TV series The Underground Railroad and The Irregulars, and the film Bruised, which was directed by and starred Halle Berry. She also appeared in the Marvel movie Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in 2022.

In June 2019, Sheila Atim was awarded an MBE for her contributions to drama. She also serves on the Board of Trustees for The Old Vic Theatre Trust.

Credits

Theatre

Television

Film

Radio

Awards and Nominations

Images for kids

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  Atim (right), with Damson Idris in Ghost Town (2014)

See also

In Spanish: Sheila Atim para niños