Naomie Harris

Naomie Melanie Harris is a British actress born on 6 September 1976. She began acting as a child and gained international recognition for her work across major film franchises and critically acclaimed dramas. She is best known for playing Eve Moneypenny in the James Bond series, the witch Tia Dalma in the Pirates of the Caribbean films, Selena in 28 Days Later, Winnie Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, and Paula in Moonlight. For her performance in Moonlight, she received nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA, and a Golden Globe. In 2017, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to drama.

Harris was born in Islington, London, to Carmen Harris, a screenwriting healer who emigrated from Jamaica, and Brian Clarke, a Trinidadian fashion designer of British, Grenadian, and Guyanese descent. Raised by her mother in Finsbury Park, she attended St Marylebone School and studied acting at the Anna Scher Theatre. She later attended Woodhouse College and graduated from Pembroke College, Cambridge, in 1998 with a degree in social and political sciences, before training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. During her youth, she was diagnosed with scoliosis and underwent a spinal fusion surgery that required her to learn how to walk again.

Her screen career began in 1987 with the television series Simon and the Witch, followed by a starring role in the remake of The Tomorrow People. In 2000, she performed in the stage play The Witch of Edmonton at the Southwark Playhouse. Harris achieved a breakthrough in November 2002 when she played Selena in Danny Boyle's post-apocalyptic film 28 Days Later. That same year, she starred in the television adaptation of Zadie Smith's novel White Teeth. She subsequently appeared in Michael Mann's film Miami Vice and Michael Winterbottom's ensemble piece A Cock and Bull Story.

Harris reached wider film audiences as Tia Dalma in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Her television and stage work continued with roles in Channel 4's Poppy Shakespeare in 2008, the BBC drama Small Island in 2009, and Danny Boyle's stage production of Frankenstein at the National Theatre in 2011. She also starred in Justin Chadwick's film The First Grader, which premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2011.

In 2012, Harris joined the James Bond franchise as Eve Moneypenny in Skyfall, becoming the first Black actress to play the character. She reprised her role in Spectre in 2015 and No Time to Die in 2021. In 2013, she starred alongside Idris Elba in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. Her role as Paula in the 2016 film Moonlight brought extensive critical recognition. In 2021, she played Frances Barrison / Shriek in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and in July 2023, she narrated 'That girl is going to get herself killed' on the audio platform Curio.