‘Being mixed race shouldn’t stop you doing anything’

STUNNING actress Ruth Negga has spoken out about her experience as a mixed race child growing up in Ireland.

The Love/Hate star, who is playing iconic singer Shirley Bassey in a new BBC2 biopic, revealed she was made to feel different — but in a good way.

Ruth, 29, said: “Where I grew up in Limerick there weren’t any black or mixed race people but I never, ever, ever had any hassle.

“In fact I was treated in a very special way.

“My mum’s family adored me so there was never any problem there.

“At school I was an object of fascination for a while and then that wore off and I was just Ruth.

“I was different but it was interesting. Any sort of attention I got was out of interest rather than anything else,” the actress said.

The Limerick star will be playing the Diamonds Are Forever diva in an hour-long drama to be aired as part of the BBC’s mixed race season.

Born to a Nigerian father and an English mother, Bassey — who had hits with songs like Big Spender — overcame prejudice in the entertainment industry to sell more than 300 million albums worldwide.

With an Ethiopian father and Irish mother, Ruth believes that Bassey broke down barriers for mixed race entertainers in Ireland and Britain.

Ruth revealed: “She was a groundbreaker — a huge inspiration.

“She didn’t feel that being mixed race should stop you doing anything and neither do I.”

Yet while the actress and singer share a dual African and European heritage, there is another, more painful, parallel between their lives.

Bassey’s biological father left the family home while she was just an infant and Ruth’s father died in a car accident when she was just seven years old.

Ruth said: “I didn’t grow up in poverty like Shirley but I’m an actress and my job is to be empathetic so I can understand it.

“But Shirley had an absence of a father figure and my dad died when I was young so I could relate to that.

*Shirley is on BBC2 on Thursday, September 29, at 9pm.