The War Between The Land And The Sea’s Gugu Mbatha-Raw has incredible painting hobby
Gugu Mbatha-Raw is an incredible painter. (Getty and Instagram/@gugumbatharaw)
Gugu Mbatha-Raw is an incredible painter. (Getty and Instagram/@gugumbatharaw)
While you can currently enjoy the acting talents of Gugu Mbatha-Raw in The War Between The Land and The Sea, you can also enjoy her talents as a painter on the side.
The actress, 42, is known for her roles in Belle, Loki, The Morning Show and Surface. But she has also gained notoriety for her painting skills which she’s shown off on social media.
Among her portraits are those of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, which were auctioned off in 2020 to benefit charities and organisations such as Still We Rise and Black Lives Matter.
Mbatha-Raw has also created portraits of co-stars such as Stephen James and Kevin Hart.
Speaking to Variety in 2020 as her works were being auctioned, Mbatha-Raw shared she’d taken life drawing classes at art school.
But it wasn’t until her Concussion co-star, Will Smith, gifted her some art supplies and she then had the time to focus on it during the Covid-19 lockdowns that she picked up the hobby.
Painting Floyd was her way of processing the social movements taking shape at that time. “It was very grounding for me to take a few hours to centre myself and honour him in that way. That was really where it started,” she said.
She also said: “Initially I was doing it for myself but I think it’s always amazing when you can take something nourishing for you and may help bring a greater awareness to the world’s issues.”
Two years later, during an interview with W Magazine, the Belle star revealed she’d developed a passion for painting while growing up.
As for picking it back up during the pandemic she said it came from “trying to find connection”.
Mbatha-Raw also reflected: “If I hadn’t been forced to stop in my normal rhythm of life, maybe I wouldn’t have come back to it.”
In The War Between The Land and The Sea, the Doctor Who spinoff from Russell T Davies, Mbatha-Raw plays Salt, the leader of the Homo Aqua – an age-old Doctor Who villain also known as the Sea Devils.
Salt’s people have come out of the sea after years of being dormant due to the destruction humanity has caused to the planet’s oceans, and they want their planet back.
Plainclothes actor Russell Tovey stars opposite Mbatha-Raw as the low-level UNIT staff member Barclay, who somehow becomes a spokesperson for humanity with the Homo Aqua.
The War Between the Land and the Sea airs on BBC iPlayer and BBC One weekly on Sundays, before premiering on Disney+ around the world in early 2026.
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