James Olatokunbo Akingbola (born 7 April 1978) is an English television,

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

and

film actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), ...

Early life

Jimmy Akingbola was born in London to parents of the Yoruba tribe who had emigrated from

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. In 1996, Akingbola started at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) in Wandsworth, London. He completed their three-year, full-time acting diploma.

Theatre

Akingbola started his career on stage at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in ''The Nativity'' for Bill Alexander. He continued in a production of ''Baby Doll'' at the

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

. Next he appeared in "Naked Justice" by playwright John Mortimer at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, opposite Leslie Phillips. Akingbola played Elvis in the poignant play ''Behzti'' at the Birmingham Rep in December 2004. He worked with rapper and actor

Riz Ahmed Rizwan Ahmed (; ; born ) is a British actor and rapper. As an actor, he has won an Emmy Award and has received nominations for a Golden Globe and three British Independent Film Awards, and as a rapper he has won an Academy Award for the short ...

in the hit play ''

Prayer Room A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common type ...

''. Akingbola earned four-star reviews for his performance as Bunce. Akingbola acted in the production of Roxanne Silbert's play ''People Next Door,'' in which he gave a memorable performance alongside actor Fraser Ayres’ character as his best friend Marco. Akingbola won his first award (TMA Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actor) for the role of Christopher in ''

Blue/Orange ''Blue/Orange'' is a play written by English dramatist, Joe Penhall. The play is a sardonically comic piece which touches on race, mental illness and 21st-century British life. Productions The play premiered in the Cottesloe Theatre at the ...

'', first produced at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre; the production then went on a national tour. He played opposite Roger Lloyd-Pack and Shaun Evans in

Joe Penhall Joe Scott Penhall (born 1967) is an English-Australian playwright and screenwriter, best known for his award-winning stage play '' Blue/Orange'', the award-winning West End musical ''Sunny Afternoon'' and creating the Netflix original series ' ...

's award-winning play, which was directed by Kathy Burke. Akingbola later went on to star in '' The Cut'' at the Donmar Warehouse opposite Ian McKellen, directed by Michael Grandage. Additional roles include Akingbola playing anti-hero Jimmy Porter in the John Osborne play of ''Look Back in Anger'' at the

Jermyn Street Theatre Jermyn Street Theatre is a performance venue situated on Jermyn Street, in London's West End. It is an off-west end studio theatre. History Jermyn Street Theatre opened in August 1994. It was formerly the changing rooms for staff at a Spaghetti ...

in July 2008; he was the first black actor to play the role. The same year he played the title role of ''Othello'' for the company Frantic Assembly, which received a

TMA Award The UK Theatre Awards, established in 1991 and known before 2011 as the TMA Awards, are presented annually by UK Theatre (formerly the Theatrical Management Association) in recognition of creative excellence and outstanding work in regional theat ...

Television

Akingbola's television roles started with the black BBC sitcom "The Crouches" playing the witty character of Dennis Dutton. He has since played roles in ''Stupid'', ''The Bill'', ''The Royal'', ''The South Bank Show'', ''Roger Roger'', ''Holby City'', ''Doctors'', '' New Tricks'', ''Comedy Lab'', and ''Longford''. Akingbola secured his first permanent major television role appearing in BBC's police drama series '' HolbyBlue'', starring alongside Kacey Ainsworth and

Tim Pigott-Smith Timothy Peter Pigott-Smith, (13 May 1946 – 7 April 2017) was an English film and television actor and author. He was best known for his leading role as Ronald Merrick in the television drama series '' The Jewel in the Crown'', for which he wo ...

, as PC Neil Parker alongside his on screen colleague PC Kelly Cooper, played by Chloe Howman. In 2009, he played Dean Collier in ''New Tricks'' ("Blood Is Thicker Than Water", S6:E7). Akingbola returned to show his comedy talent in 2010, starring in the BBC2 hit series '' Rev.'' where he played the popular character "Mick", alongside Tom Hollander and Olivia Colman. For his role as Mick, Akingbola was nominated for "Best TV Comedy Performance" at the Black International Film Festival and Music Video & Screen Awards. Akingbola also played the roles of Malick in ''Holby City'' and PC Johnson in ''Silk'', both on

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, ...

in 2011. In 2014, Akingbola played blind geography teacher Dr Dalton in episode 2 of the second series of BBC One sitcom '' Big School''. In 2015, Akingbola plays Baron Reiter in '' Arrow'' season 4. In March 2020, Akingbola played Koji, an asylum seeker, in the first series of the ITV sitcom '' Kate & Koji'' but wasn't available for the filming of series two so Okorie Chukwu took on the role. In the same year, he played Carter in '' Most Dangerous Game'' for Quibi. He will next reprise his role of Valentine in series 3 of ''

In the Long Run ''In the Long Run'' is a British comedy-drama television series created by Idris Elba which premiered on Sky One on 29 March 2018. Loosely based on Elba’s childhood, the show is set in the 1980s on the gritty, fictitious Eastbridge Estate i ...

'' with Idris Elba and will follow that with '' Ted Lasso'' for Apple TV+.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

Audio/Radio

Akingbola is the voice in several popular computer games for electronics game brands including EA, Disney, PlayStation and Funcom. Games titles include; Dead Space 2, Pirates of the Caribbean, Gangs of London, Age of Conan, The Secret World, Dirt 2, James Bond: Golden Eye, Brink and Dirty Bomb. Akingbola works with BBC Radio as a regular voice over contributor to several shows including BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4 and 7.

Awards and nominations

Nominations

* Best Male TV Actor, Screen Nation (BBC's "Holby Blue")

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Akingbola, Jimmy 1978 births 21st-century English male actors Alumni of the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts Black British male actors English adoptees English male film actors English male soap opera actors English male stage actors English people of Nigerian descent English people of Yoruba descent Living people People from Plaistow, Newham Yoruba male actors