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Rakie Ayola
Acting
Biography
Rakie Olufunmilayo Ayola is a Welsh actress.
She was born in Cardiff in May 1968, to a Sierra Leonean mother and a Nigerian father, and was raised by her mother's cousin and his wife in the Ely district of the city.
She studied at Glan Ely High School, and was a member of the Orbit Youth Theatre, South Glamorgan Youth Theatre, South Glamorgan Youth Choir and the National Youth Theatre of Wales.
She went on to attend the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, studying for a three-year acting diploma. In 2023 Rakie Ayola was the 18th recipient of the prestigious BAFTA Cymru Siân Phillips Award. At the same ceremony she also won the Bafta Cymru Best Actress Award for her performance in BB…
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Rakie Olufunmilayo Ayola is a Welsh actress. She was born in Cardiff in May 1968, to a Sierra Leonean mother and a Nigerian father, and was raised by her mother's cousin and his wife in the Ely district of the city. She studied at Glan Ely High School, and was a member of the Orbit Youth Theatre, South Glamorgan Youth Theatre, South Glamorgan Youth Choir and the National Youth Theatre of Wales. She went on to attend the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, studying for a three-year acting diploma. In 2023 Rakie Ayola was the 18th recipient of the prestigious BAFTA Cymru Siân Phillips Award. At the same ceremony she also won the Bafta Cymru Best Actress Award for her performance in BBC1 series The Pact Season 2 on which she was an Executive Producer. In 2021 Rakie Ayola won BAFTA Best Supporting Actress for BBC1 film Anthony by Jimmy McGovern. Ayola has appeared in television shows including Kaos, The Pact Season 1, Grace, Shetland, No Offence, Midsomer Murders, Black Mirror, Noughts + Crosses, Doctor Who, Silent Witness and EastEnders, a number of Shakespearean theatrical performances and feature films such as Been So Long, Now Is Good, Great Moments in Aviation, The i Inside, Dredd, and Sahara. She appeared as Kyla Tyson in the BBC medical drama Holby City from its eighth to eleventh series.
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BODY OF WORK
Rakie Ayola's Filmography
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Black Church Bay
as Mrs Munroe
Bad Apples
as Sylvia
National Theatre Live: The Authenticator
as Abi
Diamond Sky
as Suzzane Kirk
Hope Is Lost
as Hope (voice)
Gavin & Stacey: The Finale
as Registrar
Hedgehog
as Consultant
Mothers, Missiles and the American President
as Narrator
Anthony
as Gee Walker
Brexit: The Uncivil War
as Camilla
Been So Long
as Martina
King Lear
as Goneril
Under Milk Wood
as Voice
Now Is Good
as Phillippa
Dredd
as Chief Judge
Sahara
as Mrs. Nwokolo
The I Inside
as Nurse Clayton
The Secret Laughter of Women
as Talking Drum
Great Moments in Aviation
as Gabriel Angel
No Poster
Unmanned
as Voice Assistant