Jimmy Akingbola

Jimmy Olatokunbo Akingbola[1](born 1978) is a British television, theatre and film actor.

Jimmy Olatokunbo Akingbola
Jimmy Akingbola in Out of Darkness, 2012 short film by Manjinder Virk
Born1978 (age 42–43)
London, England
Years active1999–present

Early life

Jimmy Akingbola was born in London to parents of the Yoruba tribe who had emigrated from Nigeria.[2]

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.[3]

Theatre

Akingbola started his career on stage at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in The Nativity for Bill Alexander.[4] He continued in a production of Baby Doll at the Royal National Theatre.[5] Next he appeared in "Naked Justice" by playwright John Mortimer at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, opposite Leslie Phillips.[6]

Akingbola played Elvis in the poignant play Behzti at the Birmingham Rep in December 2004.[7] He worked with rapper and actor Riz Ahmed in the hit play Prayer Room.[8] 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.[9]

Akingbola won his first award (TMA Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actor) for the role of Christopher in Blue/Orange,[10] 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.[11]

Akingbola later went on to star in The Cut at the Donmar Warehouse opposite Ian McKellen, directed by Michael Grandage.[12] 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. [13] The same year he played the title role of Othello for the company Frantic Assembly, which received a TMA Award.[14]

Television

Akingbola’s television roles started with the black BBC sitcom "The Crouches" playing the witty character of Dennis Dutton.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17] In 2009 he played Dean Collier in New Tricks (“Blood Is Thicker Than Water”, S6:E7).[18] 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.[19] 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.[20]

In 2015 Akingbola plays Baron Reiter in Arrow season 4. [21]

As of March 2020, Akingbola plays Koji in the new ITV sitcom Kate & Koji[22] 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[23] and will follow that with Ted Lasso for Apple TV+.

Filmography

Film
List of film performances
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
List of television performances
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 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 [24]
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")[25]
  • 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
  1. "Jimmy Olatokunbo B Akingbola". Ancestry.com. Ancestry.com. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  2. Armstrong, Stephen (19 July 2020). "Jimmy Akingbola interview: the In the Long Run actor on his rocketing career and the challenges he has faced along the way". The Times Online. The Times. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  3. "Alumni". Academy of Live & Recorded Arts. ALRA. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  4. Cavendish, Dominic (15 December 1999). "Arts: Theatre - Plain, unvarnished gospel truth". Independent. Independent. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  5. "Baby Doll". Baby Doll. Theatricala. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  6. Wood, Emily (27 February 2001). "Naked Justice". DailyInfo.co.uk. DailyInfo.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  7. "Behzti (Dishonour)". The Stage. The Stage. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  8. Walker, Lynne (2 September 2005). "Prayer Room, Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh". Independent. Independent. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  9. Gardner, Lyn (1 August 2003). "The People Next Door". The Guardian. The Guardian. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  10. Series, Guardian. "Jimmy in line for national award". East London Guardian. East London Guardian. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  11. Hickling, Alfred (11 February 2005). "Blue/Orange". The Guardian. The Guardian. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  12. McKellen, Ian. "The Cut". Ian McKellen. Ian McKellen. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  13. Spencer, Charles (4 July 2008). "Look Back in Anger: Jimmy Porter as never seen before". The Telegraph. The Telegraph. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  14. Hemming, Sarah (11 November 2008). "Othello, Lyric Hammersmith, London". Financial Times. Financial Times. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  15. "The Crouches". BBC Comedy. BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  16. Akingbola, Jimmy. "Jimmy Akingbola". IMDb. IMDb. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  17. "HolbyBlue". Characters & Actors. BBC Online.
  18. "Blood Is Thicker Than Water". New Tricks. BBC Online. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  19. "EastEnders up for four MVSAs". EastEnders. BBC Online. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  20. "Big School". Media Centre. BBC Online. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  21. Andreeva, Nellie (22 July 2015). "'Arrow' Casts Jimmy Akingbola As Oliver's Nemesis Baron Reiter". Deadline. Deadline. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  22. Kalia, Ammar (18 March 2020). "'Scroungers' and stereotypes: Kate & Koji revels in outdated prejudice". Guardian Online. The Guardian. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  23. "Idris Elba on making sure In the Long Run reflected racial realities: "We wish it could hit more people"". RadioTimes. RadioTimes Online. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  24. "BBC Planet of the Apemen Battle for Earth 2 of 2 Neanderthal". bbc.co.uk. 2011.
  25. "Best Supporting Actor, Theatrical Management Association Annual Awards ("Blue/Orange")". Archived from the original on 7 July 2010.

- Best Supporting Performance in a Play]

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