Kingsley Ben-Adir
Early life and education[edit]
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[6] in Kentish Town, London, NW5.
He attended secondary school at William Ellis School in Gospel Oak, Northwest London.[7] He graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2011.[8]
Career[edit]
In 2011, Ben-Adir performed in Gillian Slovo's play The riots at the Tricycle Theatre.[9] 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.[10][11] 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.[12][13][14] The play received positive reviews.[15] From 2017 to 2019, Ben-Adir appeared in series four and five of the BBC One television series Peaky Blinders, playing Colonel Ben Younger.[16]
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 on 14 February 2024.[17][18][19] In April 2022, he joined the ensemble cast of Barbie.[20] In 2023, he appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series Secret Invasion as Gravik, a Skrull rebel plotting to conquer Earth.