The Power List: Naomie Harris Steps Up As Hollywood's Newest Bond Girl. Will She Pull It Off?

This week, BlackVoices is shining the spotlight on 12 people who are primed to make big waves in 2012.

With predecessors like Grace Jones and Halle Berry, Naomie Harris has some tough shoes to fill as Hollywood's newest Bond girl. But what's going to be even more of a challenge is pulling off the role of one the most famous of Bond girls, and one that has only ever been played by a white actress -- Miss Moneypenny.

According to the Daily Mail, Harris' portrayal of the character is likely to be very different from those of predecessors Samantha Bond, Caroline Bliss and Lois Maxwell. She'll initially play an M16 field agent known only as Eve, but the plot will see her character become Bond's foil, Moneypenny.

It's a role Harris is primed to play following her success in 2006's "28 Days Later..." and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films, and puts her among a small group of black actresses blazing trails in action films as of late.

In preparation for her rise to the top in 2012, Harris told PEOPLE:

"I've been doing yoga three times a week, stunt driving and firing machine guns -- which I discovered I had a real taste for. I'm raring to go!"

When she isn't training, the British actress is making the rounds on red carpets across the globe.

PHOTOS:

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly named actress Thandi Newton as a former Bond Girl. Though rumored to play in 2006's "Casino Royale," Newton did not appear in the film.

Comments

[michelleobamaok]

07:12 PM on 01/21/2012

Very uninspiring, although she is wearing a very splendid rug on her head.......

[Quis Custodiet]

06:27 PM on 01/20/2012

Right...you know, because talented people should be 1st boiled down to their ethnicity, and evaluated on their talent later. I wonder, what would happen if someone created "the influential white Americans list."

Something tells me there would be a TON of b**ching.

[gussom]

07:59 AM on 01/22/2012

Yes I noticed it today when i saw the MSN list for the up and coming list of females in fashion for 2012. Yes you guessed it "The influential white list". B**ching comes from those with a myopic view of reality, who are constantly looking over at their neighbors to see what they can complain about.

[Quis Custodiet]

03:29 PM on 01/22/2012

Right back at you. I attend a top 10 university and I can proudly say that our attendees and alumni could give a dog's***d less about an individual's race. Then again, we have you people to do it for us I guess, so in a way I guess I owe you a round of the world's smallest violin.

Interestingly enough, blacks just happen to be the most bigoted faction (on the ethnic level) in this country. I mean you folks hate the whites for the "trials of your grandpa", Asians for "over achieving", Europeans for "being white", and so on and so forth.

Ironically, this social dynamic is working out SO well that you have the lowest high school graduation rates, the highest population growth, and the rest of the country is finally getting fed up with your B,S.

Now, I acknowledge that you happen to be an educated individual and I give you TONS of respect for it because I came from a poverty background to Princeton. I wanted it, I worked my butt off, and now I'm here.

At the same time; I have no patience for character shaping along the ethnic lines, We are all *people* skin color does not and should not define our humanity bro.

[Quis Custodiet]

08:57 PM on 01/22/2012

Dude, Blacks have *no* desire to BOND as a unit and this article is nothing but a grade A example of that.

True bigots? Read the posts in which BLACK women accuse Naomie of not being BLACK ENOUGH.

Seriously. ,WAKE UP TIME.

But as an aside, one of my house mates tried to get into an all Black Fraternity (why this is allowed is beyond me) and was rejected because he's part Philippino, an athlete (soccer) and such...

The guy was crushed because he wanted to develop more knowledge about that angle of his heredity but was not allowed to do so. He's moving on and pledged for a multi-cultural fraternity along with me (I'm White, Mongol, and Scandinavian) but I'm still pissed off about the way his pledging was handled.

[NoraHuffposter]

02:27 PM on 01/20/2012

She is fantastic and will surely pull it off. She did a great job with 28 Days Later.

[Quis Custodiet]

08:58 PM on 01/22/2012

She is beautiful, intelligent, motivated, disciplined, kind hearted, and committed. Those traits will ensure that she succeeds in life.

Sidebar: Perhaps more people should aim to embody them.

[Quis Custodiet]

08:59 PM on 01/22/2012

P.S. Socialism is just another way of saying "totalitarianism" :P

[sister power]

10:16 AM on 01/13/2012

Yes, I believe Naomie can handle it if she stays "Black" with it. She is looking mighty thin these days, and doesn't seem to have much of a curvy body shape, like sistahs. But, if she stays true to her cultural roots while acting in this role, she might be able to pull it off. All the Bond women, being Black or another race had a very unique natural quality they brought to the role which made them stand out. That very unique natural quality has made all the women who have played a Bond woman very memorable. Naomie, you have to bring your unique style to the roll in order to pull this off, GOOD LUCK, BABY GIRL!!! MAKE THAT ROLL YOUR OWN.

[Morena]

07:18 PM on 01/16/2012

"But, if she stays true to her cultural roots while acting in this role, ...."

Which would be?

[Quis Custodiet]

09:03 PM on 01/22/2012

Well, having read the article you can surely ascertain that the person writing the response is of the intellectually "special" sort. Therefore I would not waste my time on positive statements because the normative responses from such individuals tend to be full-of-fail.

[Quis Custodiet]

06:27 PM on 01/20/2012

You are one frightfully ignorant person...

So apparently not only should ethnicity influence culture...but also body type?

Hi, can we cut off your welfare now?

[sister power]

11:15 AM on 01/21/2012

ITS A BLACK THANG AND YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND!!!

"QUIS CUSTODIET THE IDIOT"

[MARTYB]

05:25 AM on 01/09/2012

Yep, i like very much!!

[maliksmama]

01:06 PM on 01/07/2012

She and Thandie Newton have the same body type; large heads and skinny bodies.