Vinette Robinson facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Vinette Robinson
Robinson in 2021
Born	1981 (age 43–44) Bradford, West Yorkshire, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1998–present

Vinette Robinson (born 1981) is a British actress with Jamaican ancestry. She won a British Independent Film Award for her performance in the film Boiling Point (2021), a role she reprised in its spinoff series. On television, she is known for her roles in the BBC One series Waterloo Road (2009), Sherlock (2010–2014) and The A Word (2016–2017). She also guest starred in Black Mirror (2015) and as civil rights campaigner Rosa Parks in the Doctor Who episode "Rosa" (2018).

Early life

Robinson was born to a Jamaican father and a British mother. She grew up in Bradford. Robinson went to Primary and Secondary school in Bradford, then did drama in sixth form at Intake High School in Leeds, along with weekly courses at the Scala School of Performing Arts theatre school in Leeds.

Career

Robinson began auditioning when she was thirteen years old; her first audition was for the role of Queen Amidala in the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace; a part which ultimately went to Natalie Portman. She made her television debut in The Cops at the age of 17. Following this she spent three years at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, where she was awarded a Laurence Olivier Bursary from the Society of London Theatre. She had a small role as the Jamaican girl in the 2004 film Vera Drake but was given an entire character backstory by the director Mike Leigh.

Her first stage role was in the highly lauded National Theatre/Complicité production of Measure for Measure. Following this she was part of the Gunpowder season at the Royal Shakespeare Company where she played the servant May in Rupert Goold's production of Speaking Like Magpies by Frank McGuinness. In 2006 she played Eve in an acclaimed production of Paradise Lost. Following the conclusion of Sugar Mummies, she appeared in a short feature for Time Out, in which she and five other actors were described as "innovative young theatrical talent".

In 2009 she played Josie Porritt in the BBC television series Hope Springs and appeared as newly qualified English teacher Helen Hopewell in eight episodes of Waterloo Road's fifth series. From December 2009 to January 2010, she starred as the maid Florence in Hampstead Theatre's Darker Shores. In a Daily Telegraph review that rated the play only two stars, Charles Spencer commended Robinson's performance as having "a warmth and emotional openness". Kate Bassett for The Independent on Sunday also praised her, writing that she "copes admirably". In 2010 she starred as police sergeant Sally Donovan in the BBC series Sherlock, continuing her role in the second and third series that aired in January 2012 and December 2013/January 2014.

In 2011 Robinson appeared in Philip Ridley's Tender Napalm, for which she received a "Best Female at The Offie" award. She then went on to play Ophelia in The Young Vic's production of Hamlet, for which she received the Clarence Derwent Award. Her role as Ophelia led to her inclusion in the New York Times Magazine article "Titans of the Stage".

In 2016 she appeared in Hated in the Nation, an episode of the anthology series Black Mirror.

In October 2018, Robinson appeared in the Doctor Who episode "Rosa", as civil rights campaigner Rosa Parks. It was her second appearance in Doctor Who, following her portrayal of the character Abi Lerner in the 2007 episode "42".

In 2019 Robinson appeared briefly in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker as a pilot. She appeared in the 2021 one-take film Boiling Point for which she received critical acclaim, as well as the BIFA for Best Supporting Actress. She portrays a sous chef to an insolent head chef over the course of one hectic night at a busy restaurant.

Theatre

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Awards and nominations