--- title: Ruth Negga Speaks About Biracial Identity with Vogue Cover description: Ruth Negga, the star of the movie "Loving," talks about her biracial identity in her cover feature with Vogue Magazine. canonical: https://time.com/4594300/ruth-negga-on-biracial-identity/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-07T22:24:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:39:17.123Z og:title: Ruth Negga Speaks Out About Her Biracial Identity og:description: "I get very territorial about my identity" og:url: https://time.com/4594300/ruth-negga-on-biracial-identity/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a88c823dc29218f/6988b22fa988cae26d6ba647/ruth-negga-biracial-identity.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Premiere Of Focus Features' "Loving" - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ruth Negga Speaks Out About Her Biracial Identity twitter:description: "I get very territorial about my identity" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a88c823dc29218f/6988b22fa988cae26d6ba647/ruth-negga-biracial-identity.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ruth Negga on Being Biracial: 'I Get Very Territorial About My Identity'  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 7, 2016 10:24 PM UTC  Ruth Negga attends the premiere of "Loving" at Samuel Goldwyn Theater on October 20, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic) Ruth Negga attends the premiere of "Loving" at Samuel Goldwyn Theater on October 20, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Dec 7, 2016 10:24 PM UTC _Vogue’s_ first cover girl of 2017 is [Ruth Negga](http://time.com/4573644/american-voices-ruth-negga/), who opened up about making [the film ](http://motto.time.com/4575296/loving-movie-racism/)_Loving_ and what it was like to grow up as the daughter of a white Irish nurse and a black Ethiopian doctor in the U.K. in the magazine’s accompanying article. The actress plays Mildred Loving in _Loving_, which centers on [the interracial marriage that made civil rights history, Loving vs. Virginia](http://time.com/4362508/loving-v-virginia-personas/). As a part of the process, she recalled her own [biracial experience](http://healthland.time.com/2010/12/16/passing-as-black-how-biracial-americans-choose-identity/); especially poignant is her memories of discovering her biracial identity after moving to England at age 11, not long after her father passed away. “I remember thinking, I’m just _me_,” she said. “When you’re a kid, you’re just you, aren’t you? It was when I moved to England that I felt it, because I was Irish _and_ black.” The nuances of her background and her lived experiences have made Negga especially aware of the ways that the world views race, but she is clear in pointing out that her identity is hers and hers alone. “People have always made assumptions about me,” she said. “I become very territorial about my identity because it’s been hijacked by so many people, with their own projections.” Negga does hope, however, that the film’s racial politics will help to expand viewpoints — which seems all the more urgent given with the need for diversity in her industry, which she says has been “unacceptable for a long time, and it’s becoming clearly an embarrassment.” “The film is reminding us that there’s a conversation that we need to be having still,” she said. Read the full story at [_Vogue_](http://www.vogue.com/13508701/ruth-negga-january-cover-loving-movie-interview/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4594300/ruth-negga-on-biracial-identity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4594300/ruth-negga-on-biracial-identity/"},"headline":"Ruth Negga on Being Biracial: 'I Get Very Territorial About My Identity'","datePublished":"2016-12-07T22:24:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:39:17.123Z","description":"Negga is the first cover star of the new year for the magazine","url":"https://time.com/4594300/ruth-negga-on-biracial-identity/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","movies","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a88c823dc29218f/6988b22fa988cae26d6ba647/ruth-negga-biracial-identity.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2a88c823dc29218f/6988b22fa988cae26d6ba647/ruth-negga-biracial-identity.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Premiere Of Focus Features' \"Loving\" - Arrivals","caption":"Premiere Of Focus Features' \"Loving\" - Arrivals","creditText":"Jason LaVeris—FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4594300/ruth-negga-on-biracial-identity/","name":"Ruth Negga on Being Biracial: 'I Get Very Territorial About My Identity'"}}]}] ```