Freema Agyeman

Freema Agyeman (/ˈfriːmə ˈɑːdʒəmən/;[2] born Frema Agyeman; 20 March 1979) is an English actress who is known for playing Martha Jones and Adeola Oshodi in the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who and reprising the role of Jones in its spin-off series Torchwood, Amanita Caplan in the Netflix science fiction drama Sense8, and Dr. Helen Sharpe in the NBC medical procedural series New Amsterdam.

Freema Agyeman
Agyeman in July 2019
Born
Frema Agyeman

(1979-03-20) 20 March 1979[1]
London, England
Alma materMiddlesex University (BA)
Occupation
  • Actress
  • model
  • singer
Years active2001–present

Following her departure from Doctor Who and a role in the BBC series Little Dorrit, Agyeman held a starring role as Alesha Phillips in the crime procedural drama Law & Order: UK between 2009 and 2012. In 2013, she made her US television debut on The CW's teen drama The Carrie Diaries as Larissa Loughlin, a style editor at Interview magazine. Other television appearances include Old Jack's Boat, Silent Witness, and Survivors. Agyeman also appeared as Penny in the 2015 film North v South.

Early life

Agyeman was born in London. Her mother, Azar, is Iranian, and her father, Osei, is Ghanaian. They divorced when she was young. Agyeman has an older sister, Leila, and a younger brother, Dominic.[3] 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.[4] Agyeman attended Our Lady's Convent RC High School, a Catholic school in Stamford Hill and during the summer of 1996 she studied at the Anna Scher Theatre School in Islington and studied performing arts and drama at Middlesex University, graduating in 2000.[3]

Career
Agyeman pictured at the press launch of the third series of Doctor Who in March 2007.

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.[5]

Before securing the part of Martha Jones, Agyeman's most famous television role was playing Lola Wise in the revived series of ITV soap opera Crossroads. She also had small guest roles in other TV series such as Casualty, Mile High and The Bill, in which she appeared on two occasions as two separate characters. In 2005, Agyeman played Mary Ogden, a scene of crime officer, in an episode of Silent Witness.

Agyeman starred as Nana in the independent film Rulers and Dealers, written and directed by Stephen Lloyd Jackson.[6]

Doctor Who (2006–2010)

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".[7] 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,[8] 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 practiced horse riding, martial arts and gymnastics, a fact that the producers exploited in order to provide her with more physically arduous action scenes.[9]

"When we cast the character of Adeola, I met Freema [Agyeman] for this part—actually, I met her for two parts—and when I met her, as soon as she walked through the door, I knew she was going to be quite exceptional. When she walked in, I thought I was looking at Halle Berry English-style..."

—Graeme Harper[10]

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)[7] 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.[11] Following extensive speculation on who would replace Billie Piper, Agyeman was confirmed to the press as new companion Martha Jones on 5 July 2006.[12]

"I'd like to think that there will be more for Martha Jones, because Doctor Who has been one of the biggest experiences of my life, both in terms of my career and in terms of how it has changed my life over the last two years. I dare say a great number of people will always associate me with Martha, and that really makes me smile. It means that she lives on. That's so flattering. It's an honour. I'd love to do more with her, definitely..."

—Freema Agyeman, July 2008[13]

Agyeman began filming for the third series in August 2006 and finished in March 2007. She made her screen debut as Martha on 31 March 2007 in the episode "Smith and Jones".[14] A line of dialogue explains that Adeola was Martha's cousin. Agyeman continued to portray the character Martha throughout every episode of the 2007 series. Agyeman returned as Martha in series 4 for five episodes. Following the final episode of the fourth series, Agyeman stated that she would be open to reprising the role.[13] She later returned to the series along with several other former cast members to mark David Tennant's final appearance in "The End of Time". Concurrent with her appearance on the show, Agyeman read abridged audiobook adaptations of five of the Doctor Who New Series Adventures novels featuring Martha, namely The Last Dodo,[15] Wetworld,[16] The Pirate Loop,[17] Martha in the Mirror[18] and The Story of Martha.[19]

In between series three and series four of Doctor Who, Agyeman appeared in three episodes of series 2 of Doctor Who spin off Torchwood,[20] namely "Reset", "Dead Man Walking" and "A Day in the Death". She also had a starring role in the Torchwood radio play, Lost Souls, broadcast on BBC Radio Four on 10 September 2008 to promote the activation of the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN research facility.[21] It was later revealed by Torchwood: Children of Earth director Euros Lyn that the production team had intended for Agyeman to appear in that production, but she was already committed to Law & Order: UK.[22] In a video interview conducted at the Law and Order: UK press launch, Agyeman does not rule out a return to Torchwood, stating that "it's always a possibility."[23] Torchwood creator and head writer Russell T. Davies, also responsible for Doctor Who, subsequently affirmed that he would be open to casting Agyeman in a future series of Torchwood.[24]

2008–present

Agyeman appeared several times on The Bedtime Hour on CBeebies reading the story broadcast shortly before 7.00pm. She narrated the first series of BBC Three's hospital documentary series Bizarre ER which ran from 14 February 2008[25] to 3 April 2008 and[26] also provided the narration for a second series which began airing on Tuesday 21 April 2009.[27] Agyeman hosted a Doctor Who-themed portion of the BBC Proms on 27 July.[28] A one-hour cut-down version of the prom made its TV début on BBC1, New Year's Day, 2009.

Agyeman played foundling girl Tattycoram in the Emmy Award winning 2008 BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit, which began on 26 October 2008, starring alongside her fellow Torchwood stars Eve Myles and Ruth Jones.[29] Some of Agyeman's scenes for the first episode were shot in the grounds of Deal Castle, Kent, which doubled for Marseille, France.[30] Agyeman was delighted to have appeared in Little Dorrit, as it had always been a dream of hers to appear in a period drama.[31] In 2008 Agyeman also appeared in Survivors, a BBC 1 remake of the cult 1970s TV series, as Jenny Walsh (surname originally reported to be Collins), although her character was killed off in the first episode in a shock twist despite featuring prominently in promotional materials for the series.[32][33] Between 2009 and 2012, Agyeman starred as Crown Prosecutor Alesha Phillips in Law & Order: UK, a UK adaptation and spin-off from the US Law & Order franchise.[34] Agyeman is a self-professed "massive fan" of the original Law & Order series, especially Seasons 3 and 4. In preparation for the role, Agyeman sat in on live trials, toured the Old Bailey, and conferred with her law-degree holding sister, Leila: "She's great and really patient at explaining things to laymen, because I was coming at it completely blind. She's been a good source."[35] She remained with the programme for its first six series departing the cast before the seventh series due to other filming commitments.[36]

In March 2012, it was announced that Agyeman would play Larissa, "an easy-going party girl who works at Interview magazine" in the pilot of Sex and the City prequel The Carrie Diaries.[37] In early 2013, she starred in the Cbeebies television series Old Jack's Boat as Shelley.[38]

Agyeman appears in the Netflix series Sense8, released in June 2015, created by J. Michael Straczynski and Lilly and Lana Wachowski. She is a series regular and plays Amanita, the girlfriend of Nomi, a sensate.[39][40]

In 2018, Freema became a member of the cast of the NBC medical procedural series New Amsterdam, playing the role of Dr. Helen Sharpe.

Awards and recognition

In June 2007, Agyeman was named "Best Newcomer" at the 2007 "Glamour Women of the Year Awards".[41] The same year she won the 2007 People's Choice category for "Female TV Star" in the 5th annual Screen Nation Film and TV Awards, held on 15 October 2007 at the Hilton Metropole in London.[42]

The Observer had an interview with Agyeman in December 2007 and named her as a "face of 2007".[43]

Nominations

In 2003, Agyeman was nominated in two categories in the British Soap Awards for her role as Lola Wise in Crossroads, as "Best Newcomer" and "Sexiest Female".[44]

In 2007, Agyeman was one of the top four nominations for best actress in the National Television Awards, for playing Martha Jones in the 2007 series of Doctor Who. She was also nominated for Best Actress in the TV Quick Awards the same year for her role in Doctor Who.

Agyeman was also longlisted for the 2010 National Television Awards for best dramatic performance for her role as Crown Prosecutor, Alesha Phillips.

In 2009, Agyeman was also nominated for Best Actress at the Birmingham Black International Film Festival's Music, Video and Screen Awards (MVSAs).[45]

In 2016, Agyeman was also nominated for "Female Performance in a Film" at the Screen Nation Film and TV Awards for her performance in North v South [46] and for the "Female Performance in TV" Award for her performance in Sense8 [46]

Personal life

The tattoo Agyeman has on her upper arm is symbolic of her ancestry, containing the Persian word "raha", meaning "free", under an image of a butterfly.[47]

Agyeman is a Catholic, but isn't a regular churchgoer, saying doing good is her way of believing in God and expressing Catholic Christianity.[48]

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
2004 Aisha the American Shaheen Short film
2006 Rulers and Dealers Nana
2015 North v South Penny
2017 Eat Locals Angel

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2003 Crossroads Lola Wise Unknown episodes
2004 The Bill Jenna Carter Episode: "Episode 232"
2004 Casualty@Holby City Kate Hindley Episode: "Casualty@Holby City: Part One"
2005 Mile High Girl #1 Series 2, episode 26
2005 Silent Witness Mary Ogden Episode: "Choices: Part 1"
2006 The Bill Shakira Washington 2 episodes
2006 Doctor Who Adeola Oshodi Episode: "Army of Ghosts"
2007–2008, 2010 Martha Jones Series 3, Series 4, 2008–10 specials
2007–2008 Doctor Who Confidential Herself Recurring role
2007 Totally Doctor Who Herself 7 episodes
2007 The Infinite Quest Martha Jones (voice) 13 episodes
2007 The Omid Djalili Show Herself Series 1, episode 3
2008 Torchwood Martha Jones 3 episodes
2008–2010 Bizarre ER Herself Narrator (series 1–3); 30 episodes
2008 Torchwood Declassified Herself 2 episodes
2008 Little Dorrit Tattycoram Miniseries; 8 episodes
2008 Survivors Jenny Walsh 2 episodes
2009–2012 Law & Order: UK Alesha Phillips Main cast (series 1–6); 39 episodes
2013–2015 The Carrie Diaries Larissa Loughlin Main cast; 22 episodes
2013–2015 Old Jack's Boat Shelly Periwinkle Main cast (series 1); 12 episodes
2013 Rubenesque Trudy One-off drama
2015–2018 Sense8 Amanita Caplan Main cast
2017 Panorama Narrator Episode: "When Kids Abuse Kids"
2018–present New Amsterdam Dr. Helen Sharpe Main cast

Audio and radio
Year Title Role Notes
2007 The Last Dodo Narrator Doctor Who audiobook
2007 Wetworld Narrator Doctor Who audiobook
2007 The Pirate Loop Narrator Doctor Who audiobook
2008 Martha in the Mirror Narrator Doctor Who audiobook
2008 Lost Souls Martha Jones Full cast audio drama
2008 The Story of Martha Narrator Doctor Who audiobook
2014 Six Degrees of Assassination: An Audible Drama Ellen Townsend
2020 Torchwood: Dissected Martha Jones Full cast audio drama

Theatre
Year Title Role Notes
2001–2002 When Snow Falls[49] T By Chris Elwell
2001 Twisted Roots[50][51] Anya Starr By Emily Nightingale
2002 Lords and Ladies[52] Various roles Originally by Terry Pratchett
2008 Doctor Who Prom Host Musical celebration, 27 July 2008
2017 Apologia[53] Claire By Alexi Kaye Campbell
gollark: Yes.
gollark: That is a texture pack and a half.
gollark: hi.
gollark: They don't, as far as I know.
gollark: And Minecraft mods are all perpetually in alpha, regardless of what they claim.

References
  1. "Thank You Letter From Freema Agyeman". Archived from the original on 10 May 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2008.
  2. Agyeman, Freema. AfterBuzz TV Interviews Freema Agyeman @ CW's The Carrie Diaries Premiere. AfterBuzz TV.
  3. Jury, Louise (23 March 2007). "From council estate to Tardis: rise of the Timelord's sidekick". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 19 October 2007. Retrieved 18 September 2007.
  4. Deeley, Laura (16 February 2008). "Dr Who's sidekick, Freema Agyeman". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  5. Hugo, Simon (June 2008). "Where's Your Head At? Freema Agyeman". Torchwood Magazine. p. 60.
  7. Davies, Russell T. Companion Piece, Doctor Who Magazine: Issue 373.
  8. Companion Piece, Doctor Who Magazine: Issue 373.
  9. "Get to know: Freema Agyeman - 3 Things to Know About 'The Carrie Diaries' Actress" Archived 12 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Clutch.
  10. "Doomsday!! Gaspode Chats Up The Director of WHO's Second-Season Finale!!". Ain't It Cool News. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  11. "Meet Martha, an interview with Freema Agyeman", Doctor Who Magazine: Issue 372.
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  13. "Freema Agyeman — She walks in her own way", Doctor Who Magazine: Issue 398.
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  35. http://www.itv.com/documents/doc/L&O%20PP.doc
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  38. Methven, Nicola (2 August 2012). "More stories: Veteran Jackanory star Bernard Cribbins to make a children's TV comeback". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
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  48. https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/20450365.html
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