Akai Osei (born 12 April 1999) is a British actor, dancer, presenter and musician, who is best known for winning the first series of ''

Got to Dance ''Got to Dance'', originally titled ''Just Dance'', is a British dance competition that was broadcast on Sky 1 in the United Kingdom from 20 December 2009 to 28 December 2014. Auditions for the show were held in specially built "Dance Domes" and ...

'' in February 2010 It is reported that he was inspired by

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

Diversity Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to: Business *Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce *Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers * ...

, Flawless and Chris Brown. Akai joined the acting scene shortly after winning ''

''. He appears in the film ''

StreetDance 3D ''StreetDance 3D'' (also called ''StreetDance'') is a 2010 British 3D dance comedy-drama film which was released on 21 May 2010. The film was released in RealD 3D, XpanD 3D, and Dolby 3D with Max Giwa and Dania Pasquini directing it. ''Britain's ...

'' alongside Diversity,

George Sampson George William Sampson (born 29 June 1993) is an English street dancer, television presenter, singer, and actor. He won the second series of ''Britain's Got Talent'' on 31 May 2008 at the age of 14. He is an official ambassador of the United D ...

and Flawless, and its sequel, ''

StreetDance 2 ''StreetDance 2'' is a 2012 3D British dance drama film and the sequel to ''StreetDance 3D'' (2010). The film has been released in RealD 3D, XpanD 3D and Dolby 3D with Max Giwa and Dania Pasquini returning to direct. ''Britain's Got Talent'' st ...

''. Osei also appeared in Boy Blue Entertainment's street dance hip hop show ''Pied Piper – A Hip-Hop Dance Revolution''. Osei appeared in the music video for the

N-Dubz N-Dubz are an English hip hop trio from Camden Town, London, consisting of cousins Dappy and Tulisa, and Fazer. After winning a MOBO Award for Best Newcomer in 2007, N-Dubz briefly signed to Polydor Records before joining All Around the Wor ...

song "

We Dance On "We Dance On" is a song performed by British hip hop group N-Dubz, released as the group's eleventh overall single and the lead single from their third studio album, ''Love.Live.Life''. The song was also the second single released from the sound ...

" in 2010, which was the main song on the soundtrack for the film ''StreetDance 3D''. He also appeared in an advert for Ministry of Sound Street Dance 2010 CD. Osei has joined the cast of ''

Into the Hoods ''Into the Hoods'' -- "An Urban Fairy Tale" is a hip hop/ musical created by London-based hip hop dance troupe ZooNation, and conceived and directed by the choreographer Kate Prince. The basic premise of the show is a hip-hop take on the Steph ...

''. Osei also appeared on '' Blue Peter'' in mid 2010. Osei also featured in annual dance show "Streets Ahead" in London 2010, which featured many dance crews and schools, including Peridot. He is featured in the song by

Wretch 32 Jermaine Sinclaire Scott (born 9 March 1985), better known by his stage name Wretch 32, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter from Tottenham, North London. He was a member of the grime collective Combination Chain Gang, before forming The M ...

, ''Unorthodox'', featuring Example. He is seen dancing on a rooftop. In July 2011, Akai was a judge on a talent show on Disney Channel, called ''Shake It Up Dance Dance''. His most recent work was starring in

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

's ''

4 O'Clock Club ''4 O'Clock Club'' is a British comedy drama and musical children's television series set in a secondary school, which premiered on 13 January 2012 on CBBC. A second series began airing on 4 January 2013, and the third series premiered on 20 D ...

'' playing Josh's cousin, Nero. From Series 4 to Series 7, he stars as the show's main character as to previously being a series regular in the third series. He also made a guest appearance in Series 8 His character left in the fourth episode of Season 7, because his character was moved to America with his temporal guardian and his girlfriend but he returned as a guest appearance in Series 8 as well as appearing in the Flashbacks for Series 7 and 8 (2018–2020).

Television

Filmography

Awards and nominations

, - , 2011 , Honorary Award , Young Achiever Award , BEFFTA , , , , - , 2014 , ''

'' , Best Children's Performer , '' BAFTA'' , , Role: Nero Johnson ,

References

1999 births Living people British hip hop dancers English male rappers Black British male rappers English people of Ghanaian descent People from Lambeth Rappers from London 21st-century British dancers {{England-bio-stub