GREAT STRIDES
Sheila Atim stars in a gripping new screen adaptation of the epic historical novel The Underground Railroad
In 2018, the Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins saw the British actress Sheila Atim playing Emilia in Othello at the Globe and promptly wrote her a letter asking if she would be in his new project. This was a television adaptation of the Pulitzer-winning novel The Underground Railroad, which reimagines the metaphorical ‘railroad’ of secret routes and safe houses used by runaway slaves in America as a real system of subterranean train tunnels. ‘The book as a piece of work on its own is extraordinary, I had never read anything about slavery like it,’ remarks Atim, who plays the protagonist’s mother, Mabel, in the series. ‘The style of the writing lays everything out in this matter-of-fact way that makes the horror ping out even more.’
We can expect Atim to bring her customary razor-sharp focus and sensitivity to the role. Born in 1991 and brought up in east London, she studied biomedical sciences at King’s College while taking weekend acting classes, and first stepped on stage in 2013 starring in her teacher Ché Walker’s show The Lightning Child. This was followed by a succession of stellar turns, including playing Marianne in the Bob Dylan-inspired musical Girl
from the North Country, for which she won an Olivier, and performing in Phyllida Lloyd’s groundbreaking allfemale Shakespeare trilogy (portraying a frisky Ferdinand in The Tempest, Lady Percy in Henry IV and a perfect, witty Lucius in Julius Caesar).
Although Atim has also delved into the disciplines of modelling, music and playwriting, acting remains her focal point; she was awarded an MBE at just 28 for services to drama, and after Jenkins’ series, we will see her flex her storytelling muscles on the silver screen and stage, too. Later this year, she will appear in Bruised – Halle Berry’s directorial debut, set in the world of mixed martial arts, the extreme full-contact combat sport also known as cage fighting. Though she can’t reveal much about the movie at this point, a review from its premiere at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival describes Atim as ‘a revelation’. ‘Working with Halle was so affirming,’ she says. ‘She has great creative vision and allowed me to feel super relaxed… I just had the best time.’
But before then, Atim is back on home turf, illuminating London’s Vaudeville Theatre this summer in the two-hander
Constellations. ‘I’m excited for live theatre to be back,’ she tells me, her eyes lighting up. ‘It’s going to be celebratory and a huge release after what everyone has been going through this past year.’ In character and in person, Atim is undeniably radiant, so it’s little wonder that the actress has been scooped up by Bottega Veneta for the brand’s S/S 21 campaign. She says she has learnt never to secondguess herself when it comes to choosing what to do next in her career, ‘because some of the most amazing jobs that I’ve had have come absolutely out of the blue’. Whatever Atim turns her hand to next, we will be in for a pleasant – and profoundly enthralling – surprise. ‘I’m always pushing for a challenge,’ she says thoughtfully. ‘I don’t want to get too comfortable in one lane.’ ‘The Underground Railroad’ is out now on Amazon Prime Video. Atim stars in ‘Constellations’ at the Vaudeville Theatre (www.vaudevilletheatre.org.uk) from 18 June to 1 August. ‘Bruised’ will be on Netflix later this year.