The Secret Life of Bees' Cast

Oscar®-nominated actress Sophie Okonedo plays May Boatwright, a sensitive soul who carries the weight of the world on her shoulders. To prepare for her character, Sophie says she read the script many times to get into May's head. "I ask myself, 'What are her hopes and fears? Where does she want to go in her life?' Those sort of questions," she says.

Sophie also had to ask herself what it would be like to lose a twin sister, a life-altering tragedy in May's life. Sophie says she researched twin bereavement and watched Spike Lee's film Four Little Girls, a documentary about the bombing of an African-American church during the civil rights movement. "There is one part where one of the sisters talks about losing her sister, and I played this all the time because it was such a phenomenal documentary," she says. "I felt it really got me inside the atmosphere and what was happening at the time."