Percelle Ascott (born 10 June 1993) is a Zimbabwean-English actor and writer. He is known for his roles in the

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 ...

series ''

Wizards vs Aliens ''Wizards vs Aliens'' is a British science fantasy television programme produced by BBC Cymru Wales and FremantleMedia Enterprises for CBBC (TV channel), CBBC and created by Russell T Davies and Phil Ford (writer), Phil Ford. The series focuses ...

'' (2012–2014) and the

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 '' The Innocents'' (2018). As a trio, Ascott collaborated with

Joivan Wade Joivan Wade ( ; born 23 July 1993) is an English actor known for playing Manyou in the BBC comedy television series '' Big School'', Jordan Johnson on the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', and Cyborg (comics), Victor Stone/Cyborg in the HBO Max se ...

and Dee Kaate on the web comedy ''Mandem on the Wall'' (2011–2013), the E4 series ''

Youngers ''Youngers'' is a British comedy drama series created by Benjamin Kuffuor and Levi David Addai. It began airing on E4 on 20 March 2013. It is produced by Big Talk Productions. The series has been picked up for international distribution by BBC ...

'' (2013–2014), and the film '' The Weekend'' (2016).

Early life and education

Ascott was born in

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council cl ...

, Zimbabwe and moved to England with his family when he was three where he grew up in

Penge Penge () is a suburb of South East London, England, now in the London Borough of Bromley, west of Bromley, north east of Croydon and south east of Charing Cross. History Penge was once a small hamlet, which was recorded under the name Pence ...

, South London. He first discovered acting at the age of 11 through a school production of ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, ...

''. Ascott's drama teacher at

Woodcote High School Woodcote High School is a secondary school with academy status located in the Coulsdon area of the London Borough of Croydon, England. Woodcote is a coeducational school, of around 1200 students. The school gained Specialist Sports College an ...

helped him get into the

BRIT School The BRIT School is a British performing and creative arts school located in Selhurst, Croydon, England, with a mandate to provide education and vocational training for the performing arts, music, music technology, theatre, musical theatre, danc ...

when he was 16. It was here Ascott met his ''Mandem on the Wall'' collaborator

Career

Ascott made his television debut as Wayne in the 2010

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

television film ''Excluded'' and appeared as a guest lead in two episodes of ''

Silent Witness ''Silent Witness'' is a British crime drama television series produced by the BBC, which focuses on a team of forensic pathology experts and their investigations into various crimes. First broadcast in 1996, the series was created by Nigel McC ...

''. In 2010, Ascott and Wade were approached by Glen Murphy of Twist and Pulse to perform a comedy sketch at one of the duo's live shows. Here they met another act Dee Kaate, with whom they created the web series ''Mandem on the Wall''. The trio were then cast in the E4 series ''

'' with their ''Mandem on the Wall'' characters incorporated into the story. ''Mandem on the Wall'' culminated in a live performance at the

Hackney Empire Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as ‘the most beautiful theatre in Lon ...

in 2015. From 2012 to 2014, Ascott starred 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 ...

and Phil Ford's

science fiction series ''

'' as Benny Sherwood, best friend of the main character Tom, who defends wizardkind and Earth against the Nekross. He made his feature film debut as Mike in the 2013 musical ''Beat Girl''. He then had a supporting role as Ben in the drama film '' X+Y''. He reunited with Wade and Kaate for '' The Weekend'' and the interactive online sci-fi ''Genesis''. Ascott starred in the 2018

supernatural series '' The Innocents'' alongside

Sorcha Groundsell Sorcha Groundsell (born 15 February 1998) is a Scottish actress. She starred in the Netflix series ''The Innocents (TV series), The Innocents'' (2018) and the independent film ''Far From the Apple Tree'' (2018). Early life Her father was a gr ...

and

Guy Pearce Guy Edward Pearce (born 5 October 1967) is an Australian actor. Born in Ely, Cambridgeshire in England, and raised in Geelong, Victoria (Australia), Victoria in Australia, he started his career portraying Mike Young (Neighbours), Mike Young in ...

. That same year, he appeared in the ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' episode " The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos" and

Rapman Andrew Onwubolu , (born 6 June 1989), better known by his stage name Rapman, is a British rapper, record producer, screenwriter and film director. He is known for dealing socially conscious themes, as well as his uniquely vivid style of storytel ...

's web trilogy ''

Shiro's Story ''Shiro's Story'' is a three-part YouTube series, written, directed and narrated through the medium of rap by Rapman. It stars Joivan Wade as Shiro, Percelle Ascott as his best friend, Kyle, and has appearances from Konan, Deno, Ashley Wal ...

'' with Wade. Ascott played Cleveland in Julian Kostov's ''The Dare'' and Jesse in series 3 of the

Sky Atlantic Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group Limited broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is primarily dedicated to imported programmes from the United States, and holds the domestic rights to HBO ...

police procedural '' Tin Star''. Ascott has upcoming film roles in ''I Came By'', ''Inner Bull'', and ''Kukeri''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Web

Stage

References

External links

* * * Living people 1993 births 21st-century Zimbabwean male actors Black British male actors English male television actors English male web series actors Male actors from London People educated at the BRIT School People educated at Woodcote High School People from Bulawayo People from Penge Zimbabwean emigrants to the United Kingdom Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom {{UK-tv-actor-1990s-stub