Kosar Ali

Last updated
Kosar Ali
Kosar Ali, 2020 interview.png
Ali in 2020
Born (2003-12-21) 21 December 2003 (age 20)
London, England
OccupationActress
Years active2019–present

Kosar Ali (born 21 December 2003) [1] is a British actress. Her debut role in the 2019 film Rocks leading her with a nomination at only 17 for Best Supporting Actress at the 74th British Academy Film Awards whilst also being the youngest recipient to win two British Independent Film Awards. She plays Victoire in Dangerous Liaisons on Starz.

Contents

Early and personal life

Ali lives in Newham, East London. She comes from a large British Somali Muslim family she had no acting experience before being street cast. [2]

Career

Ali was discovered at her school when she was 13 years old by director Sarah Gavron and casting director Lucy Pardee as they were street casting for the film Rocks . [3] [4] The actresses were given a story outline, but no dialogue, and worked chronologically with Gavron and the writers, Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson. Occasionally the actresses were not even told the cameras were rolling; they naturally fell into conversations that were filmed without the director calling "action" or "cut". Gavron said that she even reshot a classroom scene which Ali told her was not working authentically. [1]

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019 and opened in Britain on 18 September 2020. [5] For her work on this film Ali was nominated at the British Academy and Film awards in the Best Supporting Actress category being the first hijabi woman to be nominated for this. Ali also was one of the youngest actors to win two British Independent Film Awards (BIFA), for 'supporting actress' and 'most promising newcomer', in February 2021. [6]

In 2021, Ali starred in a BBC comedy short, PRU, about unruly adolescents in the British system; the title stands for Pupil Referral Unit, an alternative schooling system for badly behaved students. [7] [8]

In 2022, she plays the leading role of Victoire in the Starz television series Dangerous Liaisons. [9]

In 2023 she starred in two short films Muna and Luna as well as her debut performance in WorldPlay at the royal court theatre which she has had critical acclaim for.

Accolades

YearAwardCategoryResultRef
2021 British Independent Film Awards BIFA Award for Best Supporting Actress Won
Most Promising Newcomer Won [10]
British Academy Film Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated [7] [11] [12]

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
2019 Rocks SumayaDebut role; Ali was one of the youngest winners of 2 British Independent Film Awards
2021PRUHanna1 episode
2022 Dangerous Liaisons Victoire8 episodes
2023 Muna Muna
2023 Luna
2023[[ WORDPLAY (Theatre)|royal court

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sophia Myles</span> English actress (born 1980)

Sophia Myles is an English actress. She is best known in film for portraying Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward in Thunderbirds (2004), Isolde in Tristan & Isolde (2006), Darcy in Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014), Erika in Underworld (2003) and Underworld: Evolution (2006) and Freya in Outlander (2008).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivia Colman</span> English actress (born 1974)

Sarah Caroline Sinclair, known professionally as Olivia Colman, is an English actress. She has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, four BAFTA Awards, two Emmy Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lesley Manville</span> British actress (born 1956)

Lesley Ann Manville is an English actress known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films Grown-Ups (1980), High Hopes (1988), Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), Another Year (2010), and Mr. Turner (2014). She has been nominated for two British Academy Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in Another Year (2010) and Phantom Thread (2017), with her performance in the latter earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Wilson</span> British actress

Ruth Wilson is an English actress. She has played the eponymous protagonist in Jane Eyre (2006), Alice Morgan in the BBC psychological crime drama Luther, Alison Lockhart in the Showtime drama The Affair (2014–2018), and the eponymous character in Mrs Wilson (2018). From 2019 to 2022, she portrayed Marisa Coulter in the BBC/HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials, and for this role she won the 2020 BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actress. Her film credits include The Lone Ranger (2013), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), and Dark River (2017).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wunmi Mosaku</span> British-Nigerian actress (born 1986)

Oluwunmi Mosaku is a Nigerian-born British actress. She is known for her roles as Joy in the BBC Two miniseries Moses Jones (2009) and Holly Lawson in the ITV series Vera (2011–2012). She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Gloria Taylor in the TV film Damilola, Our Loved Boy (2016). In 2019, she starred in the fifth series of Luther. In 2020, she starred as Ruby Baptiste in HBO's Lovecraft Country, and starting in 2021, starred as Hunter B-15 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) television series Loki.

Sarah Gavron is a British film director. She has directed four short films, and three feature films. Her first film was This Little Life (2003), later followed by Brick Lane (2007) and Village at the End of the World (2012). Her film, Suffragette (2015) is based in the London of 1912 and tells the story of the Suffragette movement based on realistic historical events. Her most recent film is Rocks which she directed in a creative collaboration with the team and young cast. Rocks premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and opened in cinemas in 2020.

The British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actress is an annual award given by the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) to recognize the best supporting performance by an actress in a British independent film.

The British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor is an annual award given by the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) to recognize the best supporting performance by an actor in a British independent film.

The British Independent Film Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film is an annual award given by the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) to recognize the best leading performance by an actress in a British independent film. The award was first presented in the 1998 ceremony with Kathy Burke being the first recipient of the award for her performance as Valerie in Nil by Mouth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morfydd Clark</span> Welsh actress (born 17 March 1990)

Morfydd Clark is a Welsh actress. She is best known for playing Galadriel in the Amazon Prime series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022–). She received a number of accolades for her performance in the film Saint Maud (2019), including a BAFTA Cymru as well as BIFA and BAFTA Rising Star Award nominations.

Theresa Ikoko is a British playwright and screenwriter of Nigerian descent. Her play Girls, about three girls abducted by terrorists in northern Nigeria, won the Alfred Fagon Award and other awards.

Liv Hill is a British actress. She received accolades for her roles in the BBC miniseries Three Girls (2017) and the films Jellyfish and The Little Stranger (2018). She has since appeared in The Fight (2018), Elizabeth is Missing (2019), and The Great (2020). She played a young Catherine de' Medici in The Serpent Queen (2022).

<i>Rocks</i> (film) 2019 British drama film

Rocks is a 2019 British coming-of-age drama film directed by Sarah Gavron. The film stars Bukky Bakray as Olushola, nicknamed "Rocks", a Black British teenage girl living in Hackney, London, whose single mother abandons her and her younger brother Emmanuel, forcing them to try to avoid being taken into social services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bukky Bakray</span> British actress

Bukky Bakray is a British actress and writer. She is known for her debut role in the film Rocks (2019). At 18, she became the youngest BAFTA Rising Star Award recipient as well as one of the youngest Best Actress in a Leading Role nominees. She appeared on the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

You Don't Know Me is a British four-part television series. It is based on the 2017 crime novel of the same name by Imran Mahmood. The first episode premiered on BBC One on 5 December 2021, with the series available to stream on BBC iPlayer following broadcast. It had an international release on Netflix on 17 June 2022.

The 75th British Academy Film Awards, also known as the BAFTAs, were held on 13 March 2022 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2021. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, accolades were handed out for the best feature-length film and documentaries of any nationality that were screened at British cinemas in 2021.

Lucy Pardee is a British casting director, who is an exponent of street casting. Pardee used this to great effect in her work on Rocks, for which she was awarded a BAFTA for Casting Direction in 2021. She was the second person to receive the accolade since its introduction in 2019, when it was awarded to Shayna Markowitz. Pardee was nominated for second BAFTA award in 2022 for her work on the film Aftersun. She has spoken out about how the Academy Awards should also introduce an award for casting direction.

References

  1. 1 2 Harrison, Ellie (25 October 2020). "Rocks star Kosar Ali: 'People can't decide if they want black women to be their shield or their target'". The Independent. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  2. Williams, Holly (8 March 2020). "Rocks stars: meet the teenage cast of the hot new British film". the Guardian. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  3. Tutt, Louise (30 March 2021). "'Rocks' stars Bukky Bakray and Kosar Ali talk acting inspirations, future plans". Screen Daily.
  4. Godfrey, Alex (10 March 2021). "How Lucy Pardee spots future film stars in the wild". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 19 April 2021.
  5. McCann, Allison (September 18, 2020). "The Nigerian-British Writer Putting Black Joy on Stage and Screen". New York Times.
  6. Minelle, Bethany (19 February 2021). "Rocks: Cast of unknowns wins big at British Independent Film Awards". Sky News. Archived from the original on 2021-03-10.
  7. 1 2 Kemp, Ella (9 March 2021). "Meet Kosar Ali – the BAFTA-nominated teen star of 'Rocks'". NME. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  8. Dahir, Ikran (23 March 2021). "'PRU' Star Kosar Ali Explained That Controversial Somali Lesbian Line". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  9. Roth, Jaclyn. "Kosar Ali Found Herself Through Acting: 'It's A Nice Feeling To Belong Somewhere'". Grazia US. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  10. "Winners & Nominations". BIFA. 4 December 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  11. Sherwin, Adam (9 March 2021). "Bafta 2021 nominations: Rocks star Bukky Bakray and Daniel Kaluuya lead breakthrough year for diverse talent". INews. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  12. Maher, Kevin (8 April 2021). "Rocks, the teenage Britflick that became the awards darling". The Times. Retrieved 25 November 2022.