Boris Kodjoe

Character: Steven Bloom

Boris Kodjoe, who currently stars in Undercovers (Fridays at 20:30 E and 22:00 W on M-Net Africa) , was born in Vienna, Austria, to Ursula Kodjoe, a psychologist from Germany, and Eric Kodjoe, a physician from Ghana, West Africa.

He excelled in sports and became one of the best Tennis players in the country. In 1994 Boris accepted a Tennis scholarship to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

While studying in Richmond, he was approached by an agent of the Ford Modeling agency in New York. After earning his marketing degree, he joined Ford and his career skyrocketed immediately when he was booked for twelve campaigns such as Ralph Lauren, Perry Ellis, Yves Saint Laurent, the GAP, within the first seven months.

Boris worked with major publications, such as Vogue, GQ, and Esquire, making him one of the most recognisable faces amongst male supermodels.

Hollywood took notice and soon Boris was featured in the Spike Lee produced feature film Love and Basketball.

Boris was the cast in the hit TV series Soul Food, a show that introduced him to co-star and future wife, Nicole Ari Parker, and for which he won three NAACP Award nominations.

Soon followed a starring role in FOX Searchlight’s feature Brown Sugar alongside Taye Diggs and Queen Latifah.

In 2001 Boris was named one of People Magazine’s ’50 most beautiful people’.

In April 2008 he made his Broadway debut as ‘Brick’ in the Tennessee Williams Classic Cat on a hot tin roof. He starred alongside the legendary James Earl Jones and Phylicia Rashad, as well as award winning actors Anika Noni Rose and Giancarlo Esposito.

In Septemeber 2009 Boris starred opposite Bruce Willis in the Disney blockbuster Surrogates.

Boris and his wife Nicole have two children, Sophie (5) and Nicolas (5).

 

Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Character: Samantha Bloom

Gugu, short for Gugulethu, which means "Our Pride" in South African Nguni language Xhosa, was born in the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, England to South African doctor Patrick Mbatha and his wife, nurse Anne Raw.

Her parents separated when she was a year old, but she is still close to her father, and she was brought up by her mother in the town of Witney, Oxfordshire. Here she joined the local acting group Dramascope and, from the age of eleven, appeared in the pantomime at Oxford Playhouse every year.

A talented singer and dancer as well as playing the saxophone, Gugu joined the Oxford Youth Music Theatre in her teens. In 2001 she won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London.

Since graduation in 2004 she has appeared in all media, including as an acclaimed Juliet in Romeo and Juliet at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre and on television in such varied series as Bad Girls (1999), Doctor Who? (2005) and Marple.

Gugu stars as Samantha Bloom, wife of Steven Bloom (Boris Kodjoe) and one of the best operatives the CIA has known in M-Net Africa's drama series, Undercovers.