Chipo Chung

Early life and education

Chung was born as a refugee in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Her given name Chipo means "gift" in the Shona language. She spent her first two years in refugee camps in Mozambique with thousands of young people who were escaping the war in then-Rhodesia.

Chung was raised in Harare where she attended Dominican Convent High School and developed her acting with the mixed-race theater company Over the Edge. At eighteen, she moved to the United States where her mother, educationist and former minister of education in Zimbabwe Fay Chung, was working for the United Nations.

Chung first studied directing at Yale University and then trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, graduating in 2003.

Career

Chung's stage debut was as Ophelia in a Nuffield Theatre production of Hamlet. Appearances in The Mayor of Zalamea and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse followed. She then appeared in Talking to Terrorists (Royal Court Theatre), The Overwhelming (Royal National Theatre) and Fallujah (in which she played Condoleezza Rice), as well as classical plays including Phedre, which was the first National Theatre Live recording, and starred Helen Mirren.

Chung has appeared twice in Doctor Who, in one episode playing the Master's assistant Chantho in the series 3 episode "Utopia", and a character called the Fortune Teller in series 4’s "Turn Left". Her first film credit was as the voice of Icarus II in Danny Boyle's Sunshine (2007). Other television appearances include in the drama The Last Enemy and as a reporter in the Sherlock second series episode "The Hounds of Baskerville".

In 2011, she had a recurring role in the medieval romance drama series Camelot as Vivian, an indentured servant at King Uther's court who then works as an attendant and messenger for Morgan le Fay, played by Eva Green. Chung appeared in the first season of Sky Atlantic series Fortitude as Trish Stoddart, before winning the role of Mary Magdalene in the TV series, A.D. The Bible Continues. The show was hailed for its international and multiracial casting and opened to 11 million viewers in April 2015.

Chung then featured as the Master in AMC's post-apocalyptic kung fu series Into the Badlands.

In 2017, Chung played Portia and Octavius in the Sheffield Theatre production of Julius Caesar, before taking on the title role of Dido, Queen of Carthage in the Royal Shakespeare Company's premiere production of Christopher Marlowe's tragedy. Michael Billington wrote in The Guardian that she "plays [Dido] with a volatility and sense of contradiction that anticipates Shakespeare's Cleopatra".

In 2021, Chung joined the cast of BBC/HBO co-production His Dark Materials playing the angel Xaphania. She features in a number of Apple TV+ series including Foundation and Silo. In 2022, it was announced that she would be playing Eleanor Bennett in the Hulu series Black Cake, based on the best-selling novel by Charmaine Wilkerson. The series is produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Films and Aaron Kaplan's Kapital Entertainment.

Chung reads a number of titles on Audible, most notably the novel Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo, which was a 2022 finalist for the Booker Prize, as well as books by Petina Gappah and Tsitsi Dangarembgwa.

Chung was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2014. She was nominated for Best Actress at the Zimbabwe International Women's Awards (ZIWA) in 2015 and honoured with a Special Recognition Award for her contribution to Media and the Arts at the Zimbabwe Achievers Awards in London in 2017.

Activism

Chung co-founded the charity SAFE-Kenya which develops theatre for social change in Kenya, focusing on HIV education and abandoning clitoridectomy. She worked closely with the charity Peace Direct to start Envision Zimbabwe, a women's trust that works towards consensus-building and peace in Zimbabwe. She also sits on the RADA Council and British Equity's International Committee for Artists' Freedom (ICAF).

In December 2019, along with 42 other cultural figures, Chung signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 general election. The letter stated that "Labour's election manifesto under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few."

In 2020, Chung co-chaired British Equity's Independent Commission on Race Equality, and in 2022 founded the British charity Partnership on Rape Aftercare (PORA), which supports the Adult Rape Clinic in Zimbabwe.

Filmography

Mobile App

Film

Television

Video games

References

References

1. (November 2019). "Chipo Tariro Chung".
2. Greer, Bonnie. (31 July 2011). "How We Met: Chipo Chung & Bonnie Greer". The Independent.
3. . (21 October 2013). ["100 Women: Chipo Chung on identity, acting and activism"](https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-24608662/100-women-chipo-chung-on-identity-acting-and-activism). *BBC*.
4. (14 September 2017). "Chipo Chung: 'I had to go round the houses to get into theatre'".
5. "Talking to Terrorists – Stockroom".
6. Peter, John. (13 May 2007). "Fallujah". [[The Sunday Times]].
7. (2009-06-25). "National Theatre Live: Phèdre". National Theatre.
8. Jeffery, Morgan. (2019-01-05). "8 actors who played more than one role in new Doctor Who".
9. (2015-10-18). "15 actors who've appeared in 'Doctor Who' as different characters - Page 2 of 3".
10. "The Last Enemy (TV Mini Series 2008)".
11. "Sherlock (TV Series 2010–2017)".
12. "Camelot (TV Series 2011)".
13. Jeffery, Morgan. (2015-02-11). "Fortitude star Chipo Chung: 'I don't know what happens in the end'".
14. Battersby, Matilda. (2015-04-07). "Jesus was a feminist, says Mary Magdalene actress".
15. Culturati, Kate O'Hare's Pax. (2015-05-10). "'A.D.' Star Chipo Chung Thinks Mary Magdalene Was 'Robust'".
16. Billington, Michael. (2017-09-23). "Coriolanus/Dido, Queen of Carthage review – Shakespeare and Marlowe do battle".
17. (2019-11-04). "His Dark Materials". Anton, Bad Wolf, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
18. "Black Cake". Harpo Films, Hulu Originals, Kapital Entertainment.
19. (7 April 2022). "Glory".
20. (2014-10-26). "Who are the 100 Women 2014?". BBC News.
21. Radio, Nehanda. (2016-05-03). "Zim Achievers to celebrate women in media and arts".
22. "S.A.F.E. Homepage".
23. Fabrique. "Governance and advisors — RADA".
24. (3 December 2019). "Vote for hope and a decent future". [[The Guardian]].
25. Proctor, Kate. (3 December 2019). "Coogan and Klein lead cultural figures backing Corbyn and Labour". [[The Guardian]].
26. Grater, Tom. (2020-05-28). "UK Actors' Union Equity Sets Up Race Equality Commission After Laurence Fox Row".
27. "Welcome to S.A.F.E. – safekenya.org".