Jimmy Akingbola
Jimmy Akingbola (born 1978) is a British television, theatre and film actor.
Jimmy Akingbola | |
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Jimmy Akingbola in Out of Darkness, 2012 short film by Manjinder Virk | |
Born | 1978 (age 41–42) |
Years active | 1999–present |
Early life
Jimmy Akingbola was born in London to parents who had emigrated from Nigeria.
In 1996, Akingbola started at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) in Wandsworth, London. He completed their 3-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. 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 in the hit play Prayer Room. 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, 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's award-winning play; it 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 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.
Television
Akingbola’s television roles started with the black BBC sitcom "The Crouches" playing the witty character of Dennis Dutton where he received favourable reviews which was rumoured to lead him being listed for a possible BAFTA nomination. 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, 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.[1] Akingbola also played the roles of Malick in Holby City and PC Johnson in Silk, both on BBC One 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. NCIS Beastmaster 2017
As of March 2020, Akingbola plays Koji in the new ITV sitcom Kate & Koji and Carter in Most Dangerous Game for Quibi. He will next reprise his role of Valentine in series 3 of In The Long Run with Idris Elba and will follow that with Ted Lasso for Apple TV+.
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2002 | Anansi | Kojo | Film |
2005 | The Car | Jarelle | Short film |
2006 | Blackbeard: Terror at Sea | Black Caesar | TV Movie |
2010 | Walls | Joshua | Short film |
2010 | Habibti | Marlon | Short film |
2012 | The Smoke | Marcus Ademola | Short film |
2012 | Glimpse | N/A | Producer |
2012 | Rage | Raymond | Short film |
2013 | Life's a Bitch | N/A | Producer |
2013 | Out of Darkness | Male | Short film |
2013 | Ambition to Live | N/A | Producer |
2013 | Mr. Invisible | Police Officer #2 | Short film |
2014 | Blood Cells | Debo | Film |
2015 | Roald Dahl's Esio Trot | Keen Pet Shop Keeper | TV Movie |
2016 | Spectral | Sgt. Steve McFadden | Film |
2017 | Abe | Matthew | Short film |
2017 | The Machine | Dr. Lubin | TV Movie |
2018 | Hero | Kwame Nkrumah | Film |
2018 | Full-Dress | Bertie | Film; post-production |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2003 | Roger Roger | Dion | Season 3, Episode 3 |
2003 - 2005 | The Crouches | Dennis Ubakema / Dennis Dutton | 9 episodes |
2003 - 2010 | Doctors (2000 TV series) | Adam Bede / Jerome Noble / Luke Kabila | 7 episodes |
2004 | Stupid! | Various characters | 8 episodes |
2006 | The Royal | Corporal Frederick Collins | Season 5, Episode 4 |
2006 - 2009 | The Bill | Dave Clayton / Paul Gilbert | 2 episodes |
2007 - 2008 | Holby Blue | PC Neil Parker | 20 episodes |
2007 - 2015 | The Wright Stuff | Himself | 8 episodes |
2009 | New Tricks | Dean Collier | Season 6, Episode 7 |
2010 - 2014 | Rev. | Mick | 10 episodes |
2011 | Silk | PC Johnson | Season 1, Episode 4 |
2011 | Twenty Twelve | Receptionist | Season 1, Episode 3 |
2011 | Planet of the Apemen: Battle for Earth | Morda | Episode 2 of 2 Neanderthal [2] |
2013 | The Key | Himself | Documentary |
2014 | Death in Paradise | Terrance Jackson | Season 3, Episode 7 |
2014 | Big School | Dr. Dalton | Season 2, Episode 2 |
2015 | Very British Problems | Himself | 3 episodes |
2015 | Sons of Liberty | Peter Salem | Season 1, Episode 2 |
2015 | Ballot Monkeys | Baz Adebalu | 5 episodes |
2015 | Fungus the Bogeyman | Reverend Jake Ruto | 3 episodes |
2015 - 2016 | Arrow | Baron Reiter | 16 episodes |
2016 | Sorry, I Don't Know | Himself | Host (1 episode) |
2017 | NCIS | Liberian Ambassador Gabriel Moore | Season 14, Episode 22 |
2017 | Living the Dream | Paul | 5 episodes |
2018 | Scorpion | Jelani | Season 4, Episode 22 |
2018 | In The Long Run | Valentine | |
2020 - Current | Kate & Koji | Koji | Series 1 |
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
- Best Supporting Actor, Theatrical Management Association Annual Awards ("Blue/Orange")[3]
- Best Male TV Actor, BEFFTA Awards (BBC’s "REV")
- Best Male Film Actor, BEFFTA Awards ("Habibti")
Nominations
- Best Male TV Actor, Screen Nation (BBC's "Holby Blue")
References
- "EastEnders up for four MVSAs". EastEnders. BBC Online. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
- "BBC Planet of the Apemen Battle for Earth 2 of 2 Neanderthal". bbc.co.uk. 2011.
- "Best Supporting Actor, Theatrical Management Association Annual Awards ("Blue/Orange")". Archived from the original on 7 July 2010.
External links
- Jimmy Akingbola on IMDb
- Five questions for Jimmy Akingbola
- Interview with TheatreVoices
- Spotlight Entry
- Holby Blue character guide
- Jimmy Akingbola
- Blue / Orange - preview
- Frantic Assembly's Othello - YouTube
- Best Supporting Performance in a Play]