Must List 2005: Sophie Okonedo

Must List 2005: Sophie Okonedo

AGE 36

MUSTWORTHINESS Her stunning turn as Don Cheadle’s iron-willed wife in Hotel Rwanda earned this British theater vet an unexpected Oscar nomination and global name recognition. Now, following the Dame Judi Dench-patented Shakespeare-and-Bond juggle, she backflips across screens in September as Charlize Theron’s sometime sidekick in Aeon Flux.

ON HER MUST LIST Liv Ullmann. ”I rather wish she would cast me in a film. I’ve got her number, but I’m a little too nervous to ring,” says Okonedo. ”I don’t know what to say except ‘I’m a fan and will you do an English-speaking film and cast me?”’ (How about giving her a call to break the ice, Liv?)

SAG STORY Her favorite moment of award season was bringing her best gal pal to the SAG ceremony. ”We literally laughed all night. Here’s someone who’s used to looking after two kids all day. And when she met Johnny Depp, she burst into tears and then collapsed.”

NEXT A ”lovely and sweet drama,” Martian Child, with Cusacks, John and Joan.