British-Nigerian actress (born 1986)
Wunmi Mosaku |
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 Mosaku at The Old Vic, 2010 |
| Born | Oluwunmi Mosaku
1986 (age 37–38)[1]
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| Nationality | British, Nigerian |
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| Education | Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (BA) |
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| Occupation | Actress |
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| Years active | 2006–present |
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Oluwunmi Mosaku Listenⓘ (born 1986)[1] is a Nigerian-born British actress.[2][3] She is known for her roles as Joy in the BBC Two miniseries Moses Jones (2009) and Holly Lawson in the ITV series Vera (2011–2012). She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Gloria Taylor in the TV film Damilola, Our Loved Boy (2016). In 2019, she starred in the fifth series of Luther.[4] In 2020, she starred as Ruby Baptiste in HBO's Lovecraft Country, and starting in 2021, starred as Hunter B-15 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) television series Loki.
She was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Actress and won the BIFA Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a British Independent Film for her role as Rial in the film His House (2020).[5]
Early life
Mosaku was born in Zaria, Nigeria,[6] and subsequently emigrated to Manchester, England, when she was one year old. She attended Trinity Church of England High School and Xaverian Sixth Form College. She also sang for eleven years in the Manchester Girls Choir. Her parents were both professors in Nigeria but were unable to do the same jobs in the UK. Her mother started a business and her father ended up returning to Nigeria.[4] Mosaku studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art,[7] graduating in 2007, with a BA in Acting Degree (H Level).[7]
Career
Mosaku made her professional stage debut in 2007, at the Arcola Theatre in a production of Pedro Calderón de la Barca's The Great Theatre of the World.[1] In 2008, she o appeared in Rough Crossings, directed by Rupert Goold and based on the book by Simon Schama, at the Lyric Hammersmith;[1] The Vertical Hour (2010),[1] by David Hare, and Truth and Reconciliation (2011),[1] both at the Royal Court Theatre.[1]
In 2008, she appeared in the first of the UNDEREXPOSED exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery, designed to raise the profile of black role models and celebrates the talent that exists among the Black British community.[1] Her photo also appeared on Commercial Way, Peckham, London, as part of the exhibition. In 2009, she starred in the BBC Two series Moses Jones, for which she won Best Actress in a Miniseries at the Rome Fiction Festival.[8]
She featured on the front cover of Screen International magazine June–July 2009, as one of the UK Stars of Tomorrow, and in 2011 was featured in Nylon Magazine's 2011 Young Hollywood issue. In 2010, Wunmi Mosaku was named one of The Seven Fresh Faces of Toronto International Film Festival, for I Am Slave,[9] in which she starred. She plays Malia, a girl who has been kidnapped from her village in Sudan, and sold into slavery.[9] For her performance Mosaku won awards such as Best Actress at the Birmingham Black Film Festival, Best Onscreen performance at the Cultural Diversity Awards and Best Female performance at the Screen Nation Awards.[9]
In 2011, Mosaku playing the role of Holly Lawson in Vera.[6] In 2015, Mosaku played the part of Quentina, a traffic warden, in the three-part BBC series Capital based on John Lanchester's novel of the same name.[10] In 2016, she appeared in Playtest, an episode of the anthology series Black Mirror.[6]
Mosaku won the 2017 BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing Gloria Taylor in the TV film Damilola, Our Loved Boy.[11]
Personal life
When asked to list her personal heroes, Mosaku included her grandmother Anike Adisa, whom she described as having "taught me so many lessons"; actor Albert Finney, who was her inspiration for attending the RADA; her colleague and former instructor at RADA, William Gaskill; Paul Newman, whom she admired, not just for his acting, but also for his philanthropic efforts with Newman's Own; and Oprah Winfrey, who Mosaku considers "a superwoman".[12]
