Irish-Ethiopian actress Ruth Negga has been nominated for this year's British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA) Rising Star Award.
The former Love/Hate star is joined on the shortlist by new Spider-Man star Tom Holland, Laia Costa (Victoria), Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea) and Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch) with voting now open at ee.co.uk/bafta. Previous recipients of the Rising Star Award include Star Wars' John Boyega, Tom Hardy and Kristen Stewart.
The #EEBAFTAs Rising Star Award 2017 nominees are @deLaiaCosta, Lucas Hedges, @TomHolland1996, Ruth Negga & @Anyataylorjoy! pic.twitter.com/5rvqRqC4PZ
— EE (@EE) January 5, 2017
Negga, whose new film Loving opens in Irish cinemas on February 3, described her nomination as "surreal". "I can't wait for the ceremony in London," she added.
The rest of this year's BAFTA nominees will be announced next Tuesday with the awards ceremony taking place at the Royal Albert Hall on February 12.
Earlier this week, Negga received the Rising Star Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in California in recognition of her performance in Loving.
The Limerick-raised star is also among the nominees in the Best Actress category at this weekend's Golden Globe Awards in the US for her role in the acclaimed film.
Written and directed by Mud and Midnight Special director Jeff Nichols, Loving tells the true story of an illegal inter-racial marriage in the US state of Virginia in the 1950s. Negga plays Mildred Loving with Joel Edgerton starring as her husband, Richard.
The couple eloped to Washington DC in 1958 but on their return home to Virginia they were arrested. They were sentenced to a year in prison, suspended for 25 years, on condition that they left Virginia.
Their case eventually reached the US Supreme Court, which in 1967 overturned the Lovings' convictions and ruled that state laws against interracial marriage were unconstitutional.
In an interview with Vogue, Negga told the magazine about how she identified with Mildred Loving, saying: "Virginia isn't that different from Ireland. Land and home and community are super important. When I was playing her, I tried to imagine I couldn't go home again because of whom I married. It must have drained the lifeblood from her."
Ruth Negga stars on the cover of our January issue! Read the full cover story: https://t.co/DZrisYDl65 pic.twitter.com/Eu5pbFtGc1
— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) December 7, 2016
