Kingsley Ben-Adir
Ben-Adir in 2021
Born (1986-11-20) 20 November 1986[1]
Kentish Town, London, England
OccupationActor
Years active2012–present

Kingsley Ben-Adir (born 20 November 1986) is a British actor. He has performed in several plays in London theatres. His television roles include pathologist Marcus Summer in ITV's Vera (2014–2018), private detective Karim Washington on Netflix's The OA (2019),[2][3] and Colonel Ben Younger in the BBC drama Peaky Blinders (2017–2019).

He starred as Malcolm X in the Amazon Studios film One Night in Miami... (2020), for which he won the Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Performer.

Early life and education

Ben-Adir was born in Kentish Town, London, England.[4] His maternal grandparents were from Trinidad and Tobago.[5] His paternal grandparents were born in England. He attended Rhyl Street Primary School in Kentish Town, London, NW5.

He attended secondary school at William Ellis School in Gospel Oak, Northwest London.[6] He graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2011.[7]

Career

In 2011, Ben-Adir performed in Gillian Slovo's critically acclaimed play The Riots at the Tricycle Theatre.[8] In 2012, he played Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.

In 2013, he played Borachio in Mark Rylance's production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Old Vic in London and also played in God's Property at the Soho Theatre.[9][10]

In 2014, Ben-Adir performed in the play We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884–1915 at the Bush Theatre in London.[11][12][13] The play received positive reviews.[14]

From 2017 to 2019, Ben-Adir appeared in series four and five of the BBC One television series Peaky Blinders, playing Colonel Ben Younger.[15]

In 2020, Ben-Adir starred as Malcolm X in the Amazon Studios film One Night in Miami... directed by Regina King.

In February 2022, Ben-Adir was cast as Bob Marley in the biopic Bob Marley: One Love, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and to be released February 14th 2024. [16] In April 2022, he joined the ensemble cast of Barbie.[17]

In 2023, he appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series Secret Invasion as Gravik, a Skrull rebel plotting to conquer Earth.

Acting credits

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2012 City Slacker Thug
2013 World War Z Officer Hawkins Uncredited
2016 Trespass Against Us Sampson
2017 King Arthur: Legend of the Sword Wet Stick
2018 The Commuter Agent Garcia
2019 Noelle Jake Hapman
2020 One Night in Miami... Malcolm X
2023 Barbie Basketball Ken
2024 Bob Marley: One Love Bob Marley Post-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2013 Agatha Christie's Marple Errol 1 episode
2014–2018 Vera Dr. Marcus Summer Main role, 16 episodes
2016 Midsomer Murders Bartholomew Hines 1 episode
2016 Ordinary Lies Jake 1 episode
2017 Death in Paradise Irie Johnson 1 episode
2017 Diana and I Russell Television film
2017–2019 Peaky Blinders Col. Ben Younger Main role, 5 episodes
2018 Deep State Khalid Walker 4 episodes
2019 The OA Karim Washington Main role, 6 episodes
2020 High Fidelity Russell McCormack Recurring role, 7 episodes
2020 Love Life Grant 1 episode
2020 The Comey Rule Barack Obama Miniseries, 2 episodes
2020 Soulmates Franklin 1 episode
2023 Secret Invasion Gravik Miniseries, main role, 6 episodes

Theatre

Year Title Role Venue
2011 The Riots Performer Tricycle Theatre, London
2012 A Midsummer Night’s Dream Demetrius Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, London
2013 Much Ado About Nothing Borachio The Old Vic, London
2013 God's Property Soho Theatre, London
2014 We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884–1915 Actor 2 Bush Theatre, London

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Work Result
2021British Academy Film AwardsRising Star AwardHimselfNominated
2021Screen Actors Guild AwardOutstanding Cast in a Motion PictureOne Night in MiamiNominated
2021Independent Spirit AwardRobert Altman AwardWon
2020Gotham AwardsBreakthrough ActorWon
2020Chicago Film Critics Association AwardsMost Promising PerformerNominated
2020San Francisco Film AwardsOutstanding EnsembleWon
2020Atlantic Film Critics CircleBreakthrough PerformerWon
2020Satellite AwardsBest Supporting ActorNominated
2020Indiana Film Journalists AssociationBest ActorNominated

References

  1. ↑ de Semlyen, Phil (1 April 2019). "Introducing Kingsley Ben-Adir – the breakout star of 'The OA' season 2". Time Out.
  2. ↑ "Review: Vera, ITV, 8pm Sunday " Archived 12 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine. The Journal.
  3. ↑ "Vera, series six, episode one, review: 'rescued by Blethyn'". The Telegraph, Gerard O'Donovan 31 January 2016
  4. ↑ "From Malcolm X to Barack Obama: Kingsley Ben-Adir Has the Range". 15 January 2021.
  5. ↑ "Kingsley Ben --Adir(TBA)". www.showtimes.com. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  6. ↑ Osley, Richard (5 March 2021). "How Kingsley Ben-Adir's escaped spider sparked police panic". Camden New Journal. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  7. ↑ "Kingsley Ben-Adir". gsmd.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 28 January 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  8. ↑ "Khalid Walker - Played by Kingsley Ben-Adir". EPIX
  9. ↑ "Love and Acceptance in ‘God's Property’". The Platform, Dornett Roachford, March 21, 2013
  10. ↑ "God's Property, Soho Theatre - review". Evening Standard, 27 February 2013.
  11. ↑ "We Are Proud to Present… review – 'A Pirandellian take on a little-known genocide'". The Guardian. Michael Billington, 5 March 2014
  12. ↑ "We Are Proud to Present, theatre review. Bush Theatre, London". The Independent, Paul Taylor 10 March 2014
  13. ↑ "We Are Proud To Present… at Bush Theatre takes your breath away". Metro, Siobhan Murphy. Friday 7 Mar 2014
  14. ↑ "Review: ‘We Are Proud to present…’". What's On - Africa, March 20, 2014
  15. ↑ Watson, Fay (13 November 2019). "Peaky Blinders: Why did Colonel Ben Younger star Kingsley Ben-Adir leave?". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  16. ↑ Kroll, Justin (11 February 2022). "Kingsley Ben-Adir To Play Reggae Legend Bob Marley In Paramount Biopic". Deadline Hollywood.
  17. ↑ Kroll, Justin (15 April 2022). "'Barbie': Kingsley Ben-Adir, Rhea Perlman, Emerald Fennell, Scott Evans, More Round Out Cast Of Warner Bros, Mattel And LuckyChap Pic". Deadline Hollywood.
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