Fisayo Akinade (born 28 December 1987) is a British actor, best known for his roles as Dean Monroe in ''

Cucumber Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated Vine#Horticultural climbing plants, creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical Fruit, fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.

Banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

'' on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

and Mr. Ajayi in the popular

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series '' Heartstopper'', as well as his work in theatre.

Early life and education

Akinade was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. He spent four years of his childhood in Nigeria before returning to the UK where he grew up in the

Fallowfield Fallowfield is a suburb of Manchester, England, with a population at the 2011 census of 15,211. Historically in Lancashire, it lies south of Manchester city centre and is bisected east–west by Wilmslow Road and north–south by Wil ...

and

Moss Side Moss Side is an Inner city, inner-city area of Manchester, England, south of the Manchester city centre, city centre, It had a population of 20,745 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census. Moss Side is bounded by Hulme to the north, Cho ...

areas of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. He wanted to be a gymnast growing up. However, after suffering injury, and the closure of the place where he practiced, Akinade began attending drop-in drama classes at the

Contact Theatre Contact is an arts organisation in Manchester, England that focuses on youth leadership. History Contact was founded in 1972 by Barry Sheppard (General Manager of what was then Manchester University Theatre) and Hugh Hunt (Professor of Drama) ...

, later joining the Contact Young Actors Company, and workshops at the

Royal Exchange Theatre The Royal Exchange is a grade II listed building in Manchester, England. It is located in the city centre on the land bounded by St Ann's Square, Exchange Street, Market Street, Cross Street and Old Bank Street. The complex includes the Royal ...

. He went on to train at the

Royal Central School of Speech and Drama The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama was founded by Elsie Fogerty in 1906, as The Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art, to offer a new form of training in speech and drama for young actors and other students. It became a ...

in London.

Career

Akinade's television breakthrough came in 2015, when he starred as Dean Monroe in

Russell T Davies Stephen Russell Davies (born 27 April 1963), better known as Russell T Davies, is a Welsh screenwriter and television producer whose works include '' Queer as Folk'', '' The Second Coming'', ''Casanova'', the 2005 revival of the BBC One scie ...

' drama ''

'' and its offshoots ''

'' and ''

Tofu Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super firm ...

''. In 2016, Akinade starred alongside

Glenn Close Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress. Throughout her career spanning over four decades, Close has garnered numerous accolades, including two Screen Actors Guild Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards ...

Gemma Arterton Gemma Christina Arterton (born 2 February 1986) is an English actress and producer. After her stage debut in Shakespeare's ''Love's Labour's Lost'' at the Globe Theatre (2007), Arterton made her feature film debut in the comedy ''St Trinian's'' ...

and

Paddy Considine Patrick George Considine (born 5 September 1973) is an English actor, director, and screenwriter. He frequently collaborates with filmmaker/director Shane Meadows. He has received two British Academy Film Awards, three Evening Standard Britis ...

in ''

The Girl with All the Gifts ''The Girl with All the Gifts'' is a science-fiction novel by M. R. Carey, published in June 2014 by Orbit Books. It is based on his 2013 Edgar Award-nominated short story ''Iphigenia In Aulis'' and was written concurrently with the screenplay ...

. In February 2022, Akinade starred in

Alistair McDowall Alistair McDowall is an English playwright who grew up in Great Broughton, North Yorkshire, Great Broughton in North Yorkshire. His play ''Brilliant Adventures'' was awarded a Bruntwood Prize in 2011. His plays include ''The Glow'', ''all of it'' ...

's play ''The Glow''. The play was performed at

Royal Court Theatre Downstairs The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, Englan ...

. Akinade featured in the

series '' Heartstopper'', which was released in April 2022. In the series, he plays Nathan Ajayi. In November 2022, Akinade starred as Chevalier de Saint-Jacques in

Starz Starz (stylized as STARZ since 2016; pronounced "stars") is an American premium cable and satellite television network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment, and is the flagship property of parent subsidiary Starz Inc. Programming on Starz consist ...

drama ''

Dangerous Liaisons ''Dangerous Liaisons'' is a 1988 American period romantic drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Christopher Hampton, based on his 1985 play ''Les liaisons dangereuses'', itself adapted from the 1782 French novel of the sam ...

'', alongside

Alice Englert Alice Allegra Englert (born 15 June 1994) is an Australian actress, director, writer, singer, and songwriter. She is best known for her roles as Rosa in the film ''Ginger & Rosa'' (2012) and Lena Duchannes in the film '' Beautiful Creatures'' ( ...

, Nicholas Denton and

Lesley Manville Lesley Ann Manville (born 12 March 1956) is an English actress known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films ''Grown-Ups'' (1980), '' High Hopes'' (1988), '' Secrets & Lies'' (1996), ''Topsy-Turvy'' (1999), '' A ...

. ''Dangerous Liaisons'' was picked up for a second series.

Personal life

Akinade is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Video games

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Akinade, Fisayo Living people 1987 births 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century British actors 21st-century LGBT people Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama Black British male actors English gay actors English people of Nigerian descent English LGBT actors LGBT Black British people Male actors from Liverpool Male actors from Manchester People from Fallowfield People from Moss Side