Jimmy Akingbola

James Olatokunbo Akingbola^[1] (Listen^ⓘ) (born 7 April 1978) is a Nigerian-British television, theatre and film actor.^[2] He rose to fame playing PC Neil Parker in Holby Blue, and subsequently Antoine Malick in its parent series Holby City. He has subsequently appeared as Koji in the first series of the sitcom Kate & Koji, Mick in Rev., Valentine Easmon in In the Long Run, Geoffrey Thompson in Bel-Air and DC Steve Bradshaw in The Tower.

James Olatokunbo Akingbola
Akingbola in Out of Darkness, 2012 short film by Manjinder Virk
Born	(1978-04-07) 7 April 1978 (age 46) Plaistow, London, England
Nationality	United Kingdom, Nigeria
Occupation(s)	Television, theatre and film actor
Years active	1999–present
Relatives	Fola Evans-Akingbola (niece)

Early life

Jimmy Akingbola was born in London to parents of the Yoruba tribe who had emigrated from Nigeria.^[3]

In 1996, Akingbola started at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) in Wandsworth, London. He completed their three-year, full-time acting diploma.^[4]

Theatre

Akingbola started his career on stage at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in The Nativity for Bill Alexander.^[5] He continued in a production of Baby Doll at the Royal National Theatre.^[6] Next he appeared in Naked Justice by playwright John Mortimer at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, opposite Leslie Phillips.^[7]

Akingbola played Elvis in the poignant play Behzti at the Birmingham Rep in December 2004.^[8] He worked with rapper and actor Riz Ahmed in the hit play Prayer Room.^[9] 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.^[10]

Akingbola won his first award (TMA Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actor) for the role of Christopher in Blue/Orange,^[11] 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, which was directed by Kathy Burke.^[12]

Akingbola later went on to star in The Cut at the Donmar Warehouse opposite Ian McKellen, directed by Michael Grandage.^[13] 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.^[14] The same year he played the title role of Othello for the company Frantic Assembly, which received a TMA Award.^[15]

Television

Akingbola's television roles started with the black BBC sitcom The Crouches playing the witty character of Dennis Dutton.^[16] 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.^[17] 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.^[18] In 2009, he played Dean Collier in New Tricks ("Blood Is Thicker Than Water", S6:E7).^[19] 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.^[20] 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.^[21]

In 2015, Akingbola plays Baron Reiter in Arrow season 4.^[22]

In March 2020, Akingbola played Koji, an asylum seeker, in series 1 of the ITV sitcom Kate & Koji but was not available for the filming of series 2, so Okorie Chukwu took on the role.^[23] In the same year, he played 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^[24] 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 film
2010	Walls	Joshua	Short film
	Habibti	Marlon	Short film
2012	The Smoke	Marcus Ademola	Short film
	Glimpse	—	Short film. Producer
	Rage	Raymond	Short film
2013	Life's a Bitch	—	Short film. Producer
	Out of Darkness	Male	Short film
	Ambition to Live	—	Short film. Producer
	Mr. Invisible	Police Officer #2	Short film
2014	Blood Cells	Debo	Film
2015	Roald Dahl's Esio Trot	Keen Pet Shop Keeper	TV film
2016	Spectral	Sgt. Steve McFadden	Film
2017	Abe	Matthew	Short film
	The Machine	Dr. Lubin	TV film
2018	Hero	Kwame Nkrumah	Film
	Full-Dress	Bertie	Film
2022	Rise	Kachalla	Film
	Rogue Agent	Andrew	Film

Television

List of television performances

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2003	Roger Roger	Dion	Season 3, episode 3: "Freedom's Just Another Word for Nothing Left to Lose"
	Doctors	Luke Kabila	Season 5, episode 37: "Send in the Clones"
2003—2005	The Crouches	Dennis Dutton / Dennis Ubakema	9 episodes
2004, 2006	Stupid!	Various characters	11 episodes
2006	The Royal	Corporal Frederick Collins	Season 5, episode 4: "Seeking Refuge"
	The Bill	Paul Gilbert	Season 22, episode 17: "Experience and Education"
	Doctors	Jerome Noble	Season 8, episode 61: "In the Driving Seat"
	Holby City	Guy Heron	Season 8, episode 44: "Bad Blood"
2007	Gina's Laughing Gear		Season 1, episode 3: "Driving Me Mad"
2007—2008	HolbyBlue	PC Neil Parker	20 episodes
2007—2015	The Wright Stuff	Himself - Guest Panellist	8 episodes
2008	The City Speaks	Leon	Mini-series, episode 3: "Broken Chain"
2009	New Tricks	Dean Collier	Season 6, episode 7: "Blood Is Thicker Than Water"
	The Bill	David Clayton	Season 25, episode 60: "Show of Force"
2010	Doctors	Adam Bede	Season 12, 5 episodes: "Carousel: Parts 1—5"
	Holby City	Guy Heron	Season 12, episode 48: "'Til the Grave"
2010—2014	Rev.	Mick	10 episodes
2011	Silk	PC Johnson	Season 1, episode 4: "Touch and Go"
	Twenty Twelve	Receptionist	Season 1, episode 3: "Roman Remains"
	Planet of the Apemen: Battle for Earth	Morda	Season 1, 2 episodes: "Homo Erectus" and "Neanderthal"[25]
2011—2013, 2016	Holby City	Antoine Malick	Regular until 2013, guest in 2016
2013	The Key	Himself	Documentary
2014	Death in Paradise	Terrance Jackson	Season 3, episode 7: "The Man with the Golden Gun"
	Big School	Dr. Dalton	Season 2, episode 2
2015	Very British Problems	Himself	3 episodes
	Sons of Liberty	Peter Salem	Mini-series, episode 2: "The Uprising"
	Ballot Monkeys	Baz Adebalu	5 episodes
	Fungus the Bogeyman	Reverend Jake Ruto	Mini-series, 3 episodes
2015—2016	Arrow	Baron Reiter	16 episodes
2016—present	Sorry, I Didn't Know	Himself - Host	20 episodes
2017	NCIS	Liberian Ambassador Gabriel Moore	Season 14, episode 22: "Beastmaster"
	Living the Dream	Paul	5 episodes
2018	Scorpion	Jelani	Season 4, episode 22: "A Lie in the Sand"
	MacGyver	Joseph	Season 3, episode 7: "Scavengers + Hard Drive + Dragonfly"
2018—2020	In the Long Run	Valentine	19 episodes
2019	Cheat	DI Hammond	4 episodes
2020	Kate & Koji	Koji	Season 1, 6 episodes
	Most Dangerous Game	Carter	4 episodes
	Ted Lasso	Ollie	Season 1, 2 episodes: "Pilot" and "Trent Crimm: The Independent"
2021—2023	The Tower	DC Steve Bradshaw	8 episodes[26]
2022	Jimmy Akingbola: Handle with Care	Himself	TV Special[27]
2022—present	Bel-Air	Geoffrey Thompson	20 episodes[28]
2024	Bob Hearts Abishola	Ade	Season 5, episode 11: "These Giants Are Flexible"

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Venue	Notes
1999	Ready or Not Raw	Mr. MV / Customs Officer	Theatre Royal Stratford East, Stratford, London
	Nativity	Chief of the Guard	Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Birmingham
2000	Baby Doll	Norm	Royal National Theatre, South Bank, London & Albery Theatre, West End, London
	Ramayana	Mahaparashwa	Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Birmingham
2001			Royal National Theatre, South Bank, London
	Naked Justice	Byron Williams	West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds & UK Tour
2002	Playing Fields	Pete	Soho Theatre, Soho, London
2003	Thumbelina	Hans Christian Andersen	Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, North Yorkshire
	The People Next Door	Marco	Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh & Theatre Royal Stratford East, Stratford, London
2004	Behzti	Elvis	Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Birmingham
	The Shooky	Onga	Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Birmingham	in partnership with Birmingham schools
2005	Blue/Orange	Christopher	Crucible Theatre, Sheffield & UK Tour	Winner of Best Supporting Actor, TMA Awards 2005
	Prayer Room	Bunce	Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
	After the End	Mark	Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh & Bush Theatre, Shepherd's Bush, London	Paines Plough Production
2006	The Cut	John	Donmar Warehouse, Covent Garden, London
	Henry VIII	Duke of Surrey	Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon
	White Open Spaces	Courage	Soho Theatre, Soho, London
2007	The Christ of Coldharbour Lane	Omotunde	Soho Theatre, Soho, London
2008	Look Back in Anger	Jimmy Porter	Jermyn Street Theatre, London
	Othello	Othello	Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London
2009	Everything Must Go!	Various roles	Soho Theatre, Soho, London
	Category B	Saul	Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn, London
	Detaining Justice	Alfred	Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn, London
2013	The Island	Winston	Young Vic, The Cut, London
2016	Father Comes Home from the Wars - Parts 1, 2 & 3	Homer	Jerwood Theatre, Sloane Square, London

Audio/radio

Akingbola is the voice in several popular computer games for electronics game brands including EA, Disney, PlayStation and Funcom. Game 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 and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2005	TMA Awards	Best Supporting Actor	Blue/Orange	Won	[11]
2008	Screen Nation Film and Television Awards	Best Male Performance in TV	HolbyBlue	Nominated	[29]
2010	BEFFTA Awards	Best TV Actor	Rev.	Won	[30]
		Best Film Actor	Habibti	Won	[30]
2011	Screen Nation Film and Television Awards	Best Male Performance in TV	Holby City	Nominated	[31]
	Movie, Video & Screen Awards	Best TV Actor		Won	[32]
	BEFFTA Awards	Best TV Actor		Won	[33]
2012	Screen Nation Film and Television Awards	Favourite Male TV Star		Nominated	[34]
		Best Male Performance in TV		Nominated	[35]
	Nigerian Entertainment & Lifestyle Awards	Best TV Actor		Won	[36]
	Movie, Video & Screen Awards	Best Comedy Performance in TV	Rev.	Won	[37]
2014	Screen Nation Film and Television Awards	Favourite Male TV Star	Holby City	Won	[38]
	Movie, Video & Screen Awards	Best Comedy Performance	Rev.	Won	[39]

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. Moore, Camille (1 February 2021). "10 Things You Didn't Know about Jimmy Akingbola". TVOvermind. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
3. 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.
4. "Alumni". Academy of Live & Recorded Arts. ALRA. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
5. Cavendish, Dominic (15 December 1999). "Arts: Theatre - Plain, unvarnished gospel truth". Independent. Independent. Archived from the original on 8 June 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
6. "Baby Doll". Baby Doll. Theatricala. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
7. Wood, Emily (27 February 2001). "Naked Justice". DailyInfo.co.uk. DailyInfo.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
8. "Behzti (Dishonour)". The Stage. The Stage. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
9. Walker, Lynne (2 September 2005). "Prayer Room, Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh". Independent. Independent. Archived from the original on 8 June 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
10. Gardner, Lyn (1 August 2003). "The People Next Door". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
11. "Jimmy in line for national award". East London Guardian. 13 November 2005. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
12. Hickling, Alfred (11 February 2005). "Blue/Orange". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
13. McKellen, Ian. "The Cut". Ian McKellen. Ian McKellen. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
14. Spencer, Charles (4 July 2008). "Look Back in Anger: Jimmy Porter as never seen before". The Telegraph. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
15. Hemming, Sarah (11 November 2008). "Othello, Lyric Hammersmith, London". Financial Times. Financial Times. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
16. "The Crouches". BBC Comedy. BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
17. Akingbola, Jimmy. "Jimmy Akingbola". IMDb. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
18. "HolbyBlue". Characters & Actors. BBC Online.
19. "Blood Is Thicker Than Water". New Tricks. BBC Online. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
20. "EastEnders up for four MVSAs". EastEnders. BBC Online. 4 October 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
21. "Big School". Media Centre. BBC Online. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
22. Andreeva, Nellie (22 July 2015). "'Arrow' Casts Jimmy Akingbola As Oliver's Nemesis Baron Reiter". Deadline. Deadline. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
23. Weston, Christopher (16 March 2022). "Why was the Koji actor replaced in Kate and Koji season 2?". HITC. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
24. Daly, Helen (18 July 2020). "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.
25. "BBC Planet of the Apemen Battle for Earth 2 of 2 Neanderthal". bbc.co.uk. 2011.
26. "DNA Family Secrets". metro.co.uk. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
27. "Jimmy Akingbola Handle with Care". itv.com/presscentre. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
28. "'Fresh Prince of Bel-Air' Drama Reboot at Peacock Sets Main Cast". variety.com. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
29. Screen Nation Awards Souvenir Brochure 2008/09. Screen Nation. 7 February 2009. p. 36. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
30. "HISTORY/PAST WINNERS". BEFFTA. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
31. Screen Nation Awards Souvenir Brochure 2010/11. Screen Nation. 16 October 2011. p. 36. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
32. "Holby City's Jimmy Akingbola Wins M Visa". YouTube. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
33. "BEFFTA 2011 WINNERS ANNOUNCED". BEFFTA. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
34. Screen Nation Awards Souvenir Brochure 2012/13. Screen Nation. 17 February 2013. p. 41. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
35. Screen Nation Awards Souvenir Brochure 2012/13. Screen Nation. 17 February 2013. p. 45. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
36. "UK NEWS: HOLBY CITY STAR JIMMY AKINGBOLA WINS 'BEST ACTOR' AT THE NEL AWARDS". Mad News UK. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
37. "MVSA 2012: Jimmy Akingbola". YouTube. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
38. Screen Nation Awards Souvenir Brochure 2014. Screen Nation. 23 February 2014. p. 43. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
39. "Jimmy Akingbola". Hamilton Hodell. Retrieved 2 October 2021.

External links

• Jimmy Akingbola at IMDb