David Oyelowo is a Nigerian-British actor, screenwriter and producer who has quickly become one of Hollywood’s most sought-after talents.
David spent some of his childhood in Nigeria as his family relocated to Nigeria when he was six, but returned to the UK seven years later.
David enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and received the “Scholarship for Excellence” from Nicholas Hytner in 1998. Sir Nicholas Hytner is a renowned English theatre director, film director, and film producer, who was the former Artistic Director of London’s National Theatre.
David is a prince of the Kingdom of Awe, in Nigeria. He brought his regal bearing to the stage when he became the first black actor to portray a king in a Royal Shakespeare Company production at the age of 24. He had previously played roles such as Oroonoko in Ben Jonson’s Volpone, and Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, but it was his role as King Henry VI that propelled him to the limelight. David’s performance was critically acclaimed and he subsequently won the 2001 Ian Charleson Award for best performance by an actor under 30 in a classical play.
He then moved to Television where he is best known for his role as an MI5 officer, Danny Hunter on the British drama series Spooks (known in North America as MI-5) from 2002 to 2004. He also acted in popular TV shows such as Tomorrow La Scala, Maisie Raine, Brothers and Sisters, Born Equal, Sweet Nothing in My Ear, and many others.
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In that same year, David Oyelowo started his own independent production company, Yoruba Saxon Productions, which has co-produced movies that featured him including, Nightingale, Captive, Five Nights in Maine, and most recently, A United Kingdom.
For his performance in Nightingale, he won the Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Movie/Miniseries and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film, NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special and a Satellite Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film.
David is slated to star with Lupita Nyong’o in a film adaptation of the Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Americanah.
In 2016, Oyelowo was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) at the New Year Honours for his services to drama.
We are proud of David Oyelowo and wish him even more success in the future.