Gugu Mbatha-Raw was the belle of the ball at the red carpet premiere of slavery period drama, 'Belle' on June 5th at the BFI in London.
The rising English star plays Dido Elizabeth Belle.
Set in 18th century England, the film is based on the true story of a young woman born to an African slave and a Royal Navy Admiral.
Brought to England by her father and raised by her aristocratic great-uncle, Lord Mansfield, played by Tom Wilkinson, the adoption scandalises polite society, exposing the deep prejudices of the age.
SOUNDBITE: Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw, saying (English):
"I think in this story you sort of talk about the themes of learning to be comfortable in your own skin and not caring what people label you as or how society puts expectations on you so I think that's the important thing, if you know who you are then it doesn't really matter, you know, what people endow you with or names that they call you, labels that they put on you. I think it's about bei
