Jude Akuwudike
Born in Nigeria, West Africa, Akuwudike came to Britain and was educated at St Augustine's College in Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, an independent Roman Catholic boarding school. In 1985, he began to train for an acting career at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 1987. In 1988, Akuwudike played Captain Watkin Tench in "Our Country's Good" at the Royal Court Theatre. His first film appearance was in the same year, as a priest in "A World Apart". An early leading role came in 1989 in the play "The Fatherland" by Murray Watts, at the Bush Theatre at Riverside, and his first significant part on television was as Sergeant Gummer in the drama serial "Virtual Murder" (1991). Throughout his career, Akuwudike has worked mainly on stage, including appearing in several productions for the National Theatre, notably "Not About Nightingales", "Moon on a Rainbow Shawl", and "Ion". He has also appeared for the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as working on Broadway. He has also had many roles in film and television and is a voice actor. In 1998, in the first British production of "Not About Nightingales" by Tennessee Williams, directed by Trevor Nunn at the National Theatre, Akuwudike originated the part of "the Queen", a gay prisoner. In 2002 he played the black pimp in a Royal National Theatre production of "Edmond", with Kenneth Branagh in the title role. From February to May 2011, Akuwudike was Abel Magwitch in an English Touring Theatre production of "Great Expectations" (adapted by Tanika Gupta), with Lynn Farleigh as Miss Havisham. In the Cary Joji Fukunaga film "Beasts of No Nation" (2015), Akuwudike played Supreme Commander Dada Goodblood, leader of an unnamed West African country torn by civil war. In September 2018, it was announced that Akuwudike had been cast alongside Joe Cole and Sope Dirisu in a new Cinemax television serial called "Gangs of London", then in production.
Career
He has appeared in productions of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre.