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David Oyelowo (born 1 April 1976) is a British actor. He was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England; his family is of Nigerian descent. He is married to actress Jessica Oyelowo.

Oyelowo is a highly respected theatre actor, and trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Stage

His best known theatrical role was his performance as King Henry VI in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2001 productions of Shakespeare's trilogy of plays about the king, part of its season This England: The Histories. Oyelowo was the first black actor to play an English king in a major production of Shakespeare, and although this casting choice was initially criticised by some in the media, Oyelowo's performance was critically acclaimed and later won the Ian Charleson Award in the same year.

He had previously appeared in Antony and Cleopatra (1999) for the RSC, alongside Guy Henry, Frances de la Tour and Alan Bates.

As of 2006 he is working on his own theatre company in Brighton.

Prometheus Bound production 2005

Film

He is soon to appear as Adrian Lester's screen brother in Kenneth Branagh's film of As You Like It. He also appears as Dr Junju, alongside Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin, in The Last King of Scotland.

Oyelowo's next project will be a film (working title "The London Project") which will explore aspects of poverty, race, inequality, and class in Britain today. Written and directed by Dominic Savage, the film is being likened to a British version of the Oscar-winning film Crash..http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/bazbamigboye.html?in_article_id=382326&in_page_id=1794&in_a_source= The Daily Mail, April 7, 2006: "Race drama tipped as a British Crash"

TV

Oyelowo is best known for playing agent Danny Hunter in the British TV drama series Spooks (known in North America as MI5).

Others TV appearances include:

• At Christmas 2005 he also appeared on British TV in As Time Goes By.
• Mayo, 30th April 2006.
• Shoot the Messenger on BBC Two, controversial one-off drama, first broadcast 30th August 2006

References

External link

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