Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje

Known predominantly for his portrayal of menacing and formidable characters on screen owing to his muscular build and an imposing voice, Adewale Akinnuoye Agbaje’s life story is one with twists and turns. Adewale was born on August 22, 1967, in Islington, to Nigerian parents who were University students at the time in the United Kingdom. They gave him up to be fostered by a white family in Tilbury.

He was brought up with about ten other African kids that his parents had in their house, including two of Agbaje’s sisters who had also been given up by his biological parents. Agbaje, a Buddhist, was unfortunate to have witnessed racism at a very early age in his childhood. When he was eight years old, Agbaje’s biological parents took him(and his sisters) to Nigeria where he had a horrible experience due to not being able to speak the local language. Interestingly, he is now fluent in Italian, Yoruba, Swahili and English and even speaks French.

After a year in Nigeria, he was sent back to his foster parents in England. After a few years, the constant threat of physical attack in a white society led him to become a skinhead. His strapping frame aided him, and he soon became a bully and a thief. Skeptical of his future, he was sent to a boarding school in Surrey, with the expenses being paid by his biological father. Agbaje did not fit in the academic environment and attempted suicide. But as fate would have it, he went on to get a Masters in Law from the famous King’s College in London.

During his university years, Agbaje stepped into the world of modeling. After a successful career in Milan and Paris, the modeling job would land him a role in a Hollywood movie ‘Congo’ in 1995. Agbaje has worked in a number of successful movies with ‘ The Mummy Click to look into! >> Read More... ,’ ‘ Suicide Squad Click to look into! >> Read More... ,’ ‘ The Bourne Identity Click to look into! >> Read More... ,’ and ‘G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra’ being some of the most popular ones. He has generally played characters who are African. He is best known for his roles of ‘Simon Adebisi’ in the TV series ‘Oz’ and ‘Mr. Eko’ in the drama ‘Lost.’

He has prominently played African characters on screen. He has won the Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance and has been nominated numerous times for his versatile roles. Adewale has been working on a project to make a movie based on his life story. It is to be named ‘Farming,’ and he has received the Annenberg Film Fellowship Grant for the film.