BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY
Wunmi Mosaku
Wunmi Mosaku
Wunmi Mosaku.jpg
Mosaku at The Old Vic, Sunday, 14 November, 2010
Born Oluwunmi Olapeju Mosaku
31 July 1986 (age 30)
Zaria, Nigeria
Occupation Actress
Years active 2006–present
Wunmi Mosaku (born 31 July 1986) is a Nigerian-born British actress,[1] best known for her role as Joy in the 2009 BBC Two miniseries Moses Jones, for which she was awarded "Best Actress in a Miniseries" at the Roma Fiction Festival.
Contents
1 Early life
2 2007 to Present
3 Personal life
4 Filmography
4.1 Television
4.2 Film
5 Radio
Early life
Mosaku was born in Zaria, Nigeria, and subsequently emigrated to Manchester, England, where she attended Trinity Church of England High School and Xaverian Sixth Form College. She also sang for eleven years in the Manchester Girls Choir.
2007 to Present
Mosaku graduated from RADA in 2007 and made her stage debut at the Arcola Theatre in a production of Pedro Calderón de la Barca's The Great Theatre of the World. Since then she has also appeared in Rough Crossings, directed by Rupert Goold and based on the book by Simon Schama, at the Lyric Hammersmith; The Vertical Hour by David Hare and Truth and Reconciliation, both at the Royal Court Theatre and Mules at the Young Vic. In 2009 she appeared in Katrina a verbatim play which told six people's stories of their struggles of survival when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans August 2005. Mosaku was originally cast as Sophie in the UK premiere of Ruined by Lynn Nottage at the Almeida Theatre but had to pull out due to an injury.
In 2008, she appeared in the first of the UNDEREXPOSED exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery designed to raise the profile of black role models and celebrates the talent that exists among the Black British community. Her photo also appeared on Commercial Way, Peckham, London, as part of the exhibition.
She featured on the front cover of Screen International magazine June–July 2009 as one of the UK Stars of Tomorrow, and in 2011 was featured in Nylon Magazine's 2011 Young Hollywood issue.
In 2010 Wunmi Mosaku was named one of The Seven Fresh Faces of Toronto International Film Festival, for I Am Slave,[2] in which she starred. She plays Malia, a girl who has been kidnapped from her village in Sudan, and sold into slavery. For her performance Mosaku won awards such as Best Actress at the Birmingham Black Film Festival, Best Onscreen performance at the Cultural Diversity Awards and Best Female performance at the Screen Nation Awards. In 2011 Mosaku joined Vera and played the role of Holly Lawson but left the show after just one year.
In 2015, Mosaku played the part of Quentina, a traffic warden, in the three-part BBC series Capital based on John Lanchester's novel of the same name.[3]
Personal life
When asked to list her personal heroes, Mosaku included her grandmother Anike Adisa, whom she described as having "taught me so many lessons", actor Albert Finney who Mosaku said was her inspiration for attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, her colleague and former instructor at RADA, William Gaskill, Paul Newman who she stated she admired not just for his acting but also for his philanthropic efforts with Newman's Own, and Oprah Winfrey who Mosaku said she considers "a superwoman."[4]
Filmography
Television
Year Show Role Notes
2007 *Sold: Episode #1.5 Firefighter ITV
2008 Never Better: "First Week Euphoria" Server BBC Two
2008 Doctors: "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding?" Nurse Kelly Strathairn BBC One
2008 The Bill: "Trial and Error: Part 1" Sophie Oduya ITV
2009 Moses Jones Joy BBC Two
2010 Silent Witness Charlie Gibbs BBC One
2010 One Night in Emergency Beautiful Nurse BBC Scotland television film
2010 Father & Son Stacey Cox RTÉ One, ITV
2010 Law & Order: UK Tamika Vincent ITV
2011 Vera Holly Lawson ITV
2011 32 Brinkburn Street Joy BBC One
2011 The Body Farm Rosa Gilbert BBC One
2011 Jo Angélique Alassane
2013 Dancing on the Edge Carla BBC Two
Truckers BBC One
2014 In the Flesh Maxine Martin BBC Three
2015 Don't Take My Baby Belinda BBC Three
Capital Quentina BBC One
Film
Year Film Role Director Notes
2006 The Women of Troy Helen of Troy Phil Hawkins
2010 Honeymooner Seema Col Spector
2010 Womb Erica Benedek Fliegauf
2010 I Am Slave Malia Gabriel Range
2011 Stolen Sonia Carney Justin Chadwick
2011 Citadel Marie Ciaran Foy
2013 Philomena Young nun Stephen Frears
2015 Don't Take My Baby Belinda Ben Anthony TV Movie
2016 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Kahina Ziri Zack Snyder
Radio
Drama on 3: The Vertical Hour (2008), on BBC Radio 3, as Terri Scholes
Drama on 4 Normal and Nat (2009) on BBC Radio 4 as Shanice
Drama on 4 Amazing Grace (2010) on BBC Radio 4 as Grace
Wunmi Mosaku
Wunmi Mosaku.jpg
Mosaku at The Old Vic, Sunday, 14 November, 2010
Born Oluwunmi Olapeju Mosaku
31 July 1986 (age 30)
Zaria, Nigeria
Occupation Actress
Years active 2006–present
Wunmi Mosaku (born 31 July 1986) is a Nigerian-born British actress,[1] best known for her role as Joy in the 2009 BBC Two miniseries Moses Jones, for which she was awarded "Best Actress in a Miniseries" at the Roma Fiction Festival.
Contents
1 Early life
2 2007 to Present
3 Personal life
4 Filmography
4.1 Television
4.2 Film
5 Radio
Early life
Mosaku was born in Zaria, Nigeria, and subsequently emigrated to Manchester, England, where she attended Trinity Church of England High School and Xaverian Sixth Form College. She also sang for eleven years in the Manchester Girls Choir.
2007 to Present
Mosaku graduated from RADA in 2007 and made her stage debut at the Arcola Theatre in a production of Pedro Calderón de la Barca's The Great Theatre of the World. Since then she has also appeared in Rough Crossings, directed by Rupert Goold and based on the book by Simon Schama, at the Lyric Hammersmith; The Vertical Hour by David Hare and Truth and Reconciliation, both at the Royal Court Theatre and Mules at the Young Vic. In 2009 she appeared in Katrina a verbatim play which told six people's stories of their struggles of survival when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans August 2005. Mosaku was originally cast as Sophie in the UK premiere of Ruined by Lynn Nottage at the Almeida Theatre but had to pull out due to an injury.
In 2008, she appeared in the first of the UNDEREXPOSED exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery designed to raise the profile of black role models and celebrates the talent that exists among the Black British community. Her photo also appeared on Commercial Way, Peckham, London, as part of the exhibition.
She featured on the front cover of Screen International magazine June–July 2009 as one of the UK Stars of Tomorrow, and in 2011 was featured in Nylon Magazine's 2011 Young Hollywood issue.
In 2010 Wunmi Mosaku was named one of The Seven Fresh Faces of Toronto International Film Festival, for I Am Slave,[2] in which she starred. She plays Malia, a girl who has been kidnapped from her village in Sudan, and sold into slavery. For her performance Mosaku won awards such as Best Actress at the Birmingham Black Film Festival, Best Onscreen performance at the Cultural Diversity Awards and Best Female performance at the Screen Nation Awards. In 2011 Mosaku joined Vera and played the role of Holly Lawson but left the show after just one year.
In 2015, Mosaku played the part of Quentina, a traffic warden, in the three-part BBC series Capital based on John Lanchester's novel of the same name.[3]
Personal life
When asked to list her personal heroes, Mosaku included her grandmother Anike Adisa, whom she described as having "taught me so many lessons", actor Albert Finney who Mosaku said was her inspiration for attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, her colleague and former instructor at RADA, William Gaskill, Paul Newman who she stated she admired not just for his acting but also for his philanthropic efforts with Newman's Own, and Oprah Winfrey who Mosaku said she considers "a superwoman."[4]
Filmography
Television
Year Show Role Notes
2007 *Sold: Episode #1.5 Firefighter ITV
2008 Never Better: "First Week Euphoria" Server BBC Two
2008 Doctors: "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding?" Nurse Kelly Strathairn BBC One
2008 The Bill: "Trial and Error: Part 1" Sophie Oduya ITV
2009 Moses Jones Joy BBC Two
2010 Silent Witness Charlie Gibbs BBC One
2010 One Night in Emergency Beautiful Nurse BBC Scotland television film
2010 Father & Son Stacey Cox RTÉ One, ITV
2010 Law & Order: UK Tamika Vincent ITV
2011 Vera Holly Lawson ITV
2011 32 Brinkburn Street Joy BBC One
2011 The Body Farm Rosa Gilbert BBC One
2011 Jo Angélique Alassane
2013 Dancing on the Edge Carla BBC Two
Truckers BBC One
2014 In the Flesh Maxine Martin BBC Three
2015 Don't Take My Baby Belinda BBC Three
Capital Quentina BBC One
Film
Year Film Role Director Notes
2006 The Women of Troy Helen of Troy Phil Hawkins
2010 Honeymooner Seema Col Spector
2010 Womb Erica Benedek Fliegauf
2010 I Am Slave Malia Gabriel Range
2011 Stolen Sonia Carney Justin Chadwick
2011 Citadel Marie Ciaran Foy
2013 Philomena Young nun Stephen Frears
2015 Don't Take My Baby Belinda Ben Anthony TV Movie
2016 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Kahina Ziri Zack Snyder
Radio
Drama on 3: The Vertical Hour (2008), on BBC Radio 3, as Terri Scholes
Drama on 4 Normal and Nat (2009) on BBC Radio 4 as Shanice
Drama on 4 Amazing Grace (2010) on BBC Radio 4 as Grace
