Samuel Adewunmi (born 1994) is a British actor. He won Most Promising Newcomer at the

British Independent Film Awards The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports and promotes British independent cinema and filmmaking talent in United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early November, ...

as well as receiving a

Best Actor Best Actor is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actors in a film, television series, television film or play. The term most often refers to th ...

nomination for his role in the film '' The Last Tree'' (2019). He was nominated for a BAFTA for his role in the BBC drama '' You Don't Know Me'' (2021). He was named a 2019 ''

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...

'' Star of Tomorrow.

Early life

Adewunmi was born in

Camden, London The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St ...

to a single Nigerian Yoruba mother, a chef. He and his brother grew up on the

Maiden Lane Estate The Maiden Lane Estate is a housing estate in London Borough of Camden, Camden, located beside York Way and several railway lines. It was designed by the architects George Benson and Alan Forsyth, and built between 1979 and 1982. Notable resid ...

just north of King's Cross and St Pancras stations, the same estate where ''Tin Luck'' was filmed. He first discovered drama through a school play in year three, and was eight when he put on a community play at the Camden People's Theatre. He trained at

Identity School of Acting Identity School of Acting is a part-time drama school that was founded in London, England by Femi Oguns in 2003. A second branch and campus opened in Los Angeles, California in 2018. Identity School of Acting began in 2003 with 10 students at ...

Career

In 2016, Adewunmi played Benedict in the third series of the CBBC Online web series '' Dixi''. He made his feature film debut as Isaac in the 2017 crime film ''

The Hatton Garden Job ''The Hatton Garden Job'', also known as ''One Last Heist'', is a 2017 British crime film. The film is a dramatization of real-life events in April 2015, when the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Company, based underground in the Hatton Garden area o ...

'' and guest starred in the ''Doctor Who'' series 10 episode "

The Eaters of Light "The Eaters of Light" is the tenth episode of the tenth series of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was written by Rona Munro and broadcast on 17 June 2017 on BBC One. Munro previously wrote ''Survival'', the final ...

" Adewunmi led the film '' The Last Tree'' and signed with

United Talent Agency United Talent Agency (UTA) is a global talent agency based in Beverly Hills, California. Established in 1991, it represents artists and other professionals across the entertainment industry. , the company has more than 1,400 global employees. U ...

(UTA) shortly after its premiere at the

2019 Sundance Film Festival The 2019 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 24 to February 3, 2019. The first lineup of competition films was announced on November 28, 2018. Films U.S. Dramatic Competition * '' Before You Know It'' by Hannah Pearl Utt * ''B ...

. For his performance, he won Most Promising Newcomer at the

and was nominated for

. He also received two

National Film Awards UK The National Film Awards UK are presented in an annual award show hosted by the National Film Academy (NFA). As of 2015, it has taken place in Central London at the Porchester Hall. The 5th National Film Awards UK was held on 27 March 2019. Hi ...

nominations. In 2020, he starred as Carcer Dun in the

BBC America BBC America is an American basic cable network that is jointly owned by BBC Studios and AMC Networks. The channel primarily airs sci-fi and action series and films, as well as selected programs from the BBC (such as its nature documentary ser ...

adaptation of

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his ''Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first nov ...

's '' The Watch'' and the short film ''Tin Luck''. In 2021, Adewunmi starred in the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

thriller '' Angela Black'' and led the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

adaptation of '' You Don't Know Me'' as Hero. For the latter, he was nominated for the

British Academy Television Award for Best Actor This is a list of the British Academy Television Awards for Best Actor. The Best Actor award was initially given as an "individual honour", without credit to a particular performance, until 1962, when Rupert Davies won for his performance in ''Maig ...

. Adewunmi will make his professional stage debut starring in the world premiere of ''Trouble in Butetown'' at the

Donmar Warehouse The Donmar Warehouse is a 251-seat, not-for-profit theatre in Covent Garden, London, England. It first opened on 18 July 1977. Sam Mendes, Michael Grandage and Josie Rourke have all served as artistic director, a post held since 2019 by Micha ...

in February 2023.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adewunmi, Samuel Living people 1994 births 21st-century English male actors Alumni of the Identity School of Acting Black British male actors English male film actors English male television actors English people of Nigerian descent English people of Yoruba descent Male actors from London People from the London Borough of Camden People from St Pancras, London