Freema Agyeman

Freema Agyeman (; born Frema Agyeman; 20 March 1979) is a British actress. She rose to fame with her role as the Doctor's companion Martha Jones in the BBC science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' (2007–2010), and received further recognition for playing Crown Prosecutor Alesha Phillips in the ITV crime procedural '' Law & Order: UK'' (2009–2012), Amanita Caplan in the Netflix science fiction drama ''Sense8'' (2015–2018) and Dr. Helen Sharpe in the NBC medical drama ''New Amsterdam'' (2018–2022).

Following her departure from ''Doctor Who'', Agyeman reprised her role as Martha Jones in the ''Doctor Who'' spin-off series ''Torchwood'' and had a part as Tattycoram in the BBC period miniseries ''Little Dorrit'' (both 2008). In 2013, she made her US television debut in The CW's ''Sex and the Cit''y prequel series, ''The Carrie Diaries'', as magazine editor Larissa Loughlin.

Her other television appearances include ''Old Jack's Boat'' (2013), ''Silent Witness'' (2005) and '' Survivors'' (2008). Agyeman has also appeared in films, including ''The Matrix Resurrections'' (2021), '' Eat Locals'' (2017) and ''North v South'' (2015).

Early life

Agyeman was born in London on 20 March 1979. Her mother, Azar, is Iranian Kurdish, and her father, Osei, is Ghanaian. They divorced when she was young. Agyeman has an older sister, Leila, and a younger brother, Dominic.

Although her mother was raised as a Muslim and her father was raised as a Methodist, Agyeman grew up to be a practising Roman Catholic. Agyeman attended Our Lady's Convent RC High School, a Catholic school in Stamford Hill. Later, during the summer of 1996, she attended the Anna Scher Theatre School in Islington and studied performing arts and drama at Middlesex University, graduating in 2000. She also took a theatrical course at Radford University in Virginia in 1998, even volunteering to work as a box-office assistant for student drama productions in which she was not cast.

Career

Early work

When Agyeman began her professional acting career, she chose to use a different spelling of her birth name, Frema, as her professional name, to avoid pronunciation problems.

Before securing the part of Martha Jones in ''Doctor Who'', Agyeman's most famous television role was playing Lola Wise in the revived series of the ITV soap opera ''Crossroads''. For her performance, she was nominated in two categories, Best Newcomer and Sexiest Female, at the 2003 British Soap Awards. Agyeman also had small guest roles in such TV series as BBC's long-running medical drama '' Casualty'', Sky One's airline drama ''Mile High'' and ITV's police procedural ''The Bill'', in which she appeared twice as two separate characters. In 2005, she played Mary Ogden, a scene of crime officer, in an episode of ''Silent Witness''.

Agyeman made her feature film debut in 2006, playing Nana in the independent drama ''Rulers and Dealers'' (2006), written and directed by Stephen Lloyd Jackson.

''Doctor Who'' and ''Torchwood''

Agyeman auditioned for three roles in the 2006 series of ''Doctor Who''. On 24 June 2005, she auditioned for the part of Sally Jacobs in " The Christmas Invasion", but the role went to Anita Briem, who better fitted the production team's concept of the character as an "ice cool blonde".Davies, Russell T. Companion Piece, ''Doctor Who'' Magazine: Issue 373. Agyeman later auditioned for the roles of Esme and Adeola Oshodi, in the " Rise of the Cybermen"/" The Age of Steel" and " Army of Ghosts", respectively. Esme was ultimately cut from the final script,Companion Piece, ''Doctor Who'' Magazine: Issue 373. but Agyeman was successful in her audition for Adeola. She filmed her role in the series in December 2005 and appeared on screen as Adeola on 1 July 2006. Agyeman studied dance and practised horse riding, martial arts and gymnastics, a fact that the producers exploited in order to provide her with more physically arduous action scenes.

The production team were impressed by the versatility shown by Agyeman across her three auditions and called her back as a serious candidate for the new companion. She attended another audition (ostensibly for an episode of ''Torchwood'') before a final screen test with Tenth Doctor actor David Tennant. Tennant left a reassuring note under the door of Agyeman's hotel room, and this helped calm any nerves the actress had."Meet Martha, an interview with Freema Agyeman", ''Doctor Who'' Magazine: Issue 372. Following extensive speculation on who would replace Billie Piper, Agyeman was confirmed to the press as new companion Martha Jones on 5 July 2006.
Agyeman began filming for the third series in August 2006 and finished in March 2007. She made her screen debut as medical student Martha on 31 March 2007 in the episode " Smith and Jones". A line of dialogue explains that Adeola was Martha's cousin. Agyeman continued to portray the character throughout every episode of the series. In the series finale, "Last of the Time Lords", Martha left the Doctor of her own accord after recognising how unhealthy their relationship had become, but promised that she would see him again. Agyeman also voiced the character in the animated serial '' The Infinite Quest'', which aired in twelve weekly segments during the run of the 2007 series.

In 2007, Agyeman's performance as Martha was praised at several award ceremonies. In June, she was named Best Newcomer at '' Glamour'''s Women of the Year Awards. In October, she won the People's Choice category for Favourite Female TV Star at the 5th Screen Nation Film & TV Awards and became one of the top four nominees for Most Popular Actress at the 13th National Television Awards. The role also got her nominations in the Best Actress categories at the TV Quick Awards

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