Bond star to receive award for putting UK film in spotlight
JAMES Bond actress Naomie Harris is to be honoured with a prestigious award for helping to shine a spotlight on film intheUK.
Harris, who is best known for playing Eve Moneypenny in the last two Bond films, Skyfall and Spectre, will receive the Variety Award at the forthcoming British Independent Film Awards (Bifa).
She follows Benedict Cumberbatch, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Sir Michael Caine, Dame Helen Mirren and fellow Bond star Daniel Craig in winning the prize.
Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet won the honour last year.
Harris said she is “touched and honoured to be included alongside such an inspiring and talented group film-makers”.
She added: “Working in film has given me the chance to tell stories from around the world – and I’m incredibly proud to represent British film-making when doing so. I’m excited to be home to be part of the Bifas.”
Praise for 40-year-old Harris comes from the likes of Oscar-winning of director Danny Boyle, who dubbed her a “phenomenally talented” actress after working with her on 2002 movie 28 Days Later and a 2011 stage production of Frankenstein.
London-born Harris also portrayed Winnie Mandela in 2013 biopic Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom.
Her other credits include roles in Southpaw and two of the Pirates Of The Caribbean films, and she will soon appear opposite Winslet and Will Smith in Collateral Beauty, for which she is already tipped for Bafta and Oscar success.
Nominations for the 2016 Bifas will be announced on November 1, with the ceremony taking place on December 4.