David Oyelowo (born 1 April 1976 in Oxford) is an English actor. His family are of Nigerian descent. He is married to actress Jessica Oyelowo and they have one son.
Oyelowo first went to drama classes since he fancied a girl who was also going. He then studied Theatre Studies for A level and his teacher suggested he should become an actor. After A levels Oyelowo enrolled for a year on an Art foundation course before being funded through training at LAMDA by Nicholas Hytner. Having been offered television work Oyelowo left LAMDA before completing the course.
His best known theatrical role was his performance as King Henry VI in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2001 productions of Shakespeare's trilogy of plays about the king - part of its season This England: The Histories. In a major landmark for colour-blind casting, Oyelowo was the first black actor to play an English king in a major production of Shakespeare, and although this casting choice was initially criticised by some in the media, Oyelowo's performance was critically acclaimed and later won the Ian Charleson Award for best performance by an actor under 30 in a classical play, in the same year. (A few years later, in comparison, Adrian Lester's casting as Henry V drew little comment.) Oyelowo said of this experience:
"It's fascinating to work with a company of actors of such different ages, experience and talents. I'm one of a generation brought up on television whose acting is more 'naturalistic', whereas with some of the older generation it's more heightened. But I think there's room for both styles." (His IMDB page.)
He had begun his stage career in 1999 when he was offered a season with the RSC playing roles in Volpone, as the title character in Oroonoko (in which he also performed in the BBC radio adaptation) an Antony and Cleopatra (1999) alongside Guy Henry, Frances de la Tour and Alan Bates.
In 2005 he appeared in a production of Prometheus Bound, and as of 2006 is working on his own theatre company in Brighton.
He is soon to appear as Adrian Lester's screen brother in Kenneth Branagh's film of As You Like It. He also appears as Dr Junju, alongside Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin, in The Last King of Scotland.
Oyelowo is best known for playing agent Danny Hunter in the British TV drama series Spooks (known in North America as MI-5).
He had before that appeared in Tomorrow La Scala (2002), Maisie Raine (1998) and Brothers and Sisters (1998).
Oyelowo appeared in a film exploring aspects of poverty, race, inequality, and class in Britain today. Written and directed by Dominic Savage, the film is being likened to a British version of the Oscar-winning film Crash.. Its working title was London/The London Project, but by the time of its broadcast on BBC 1 on 17th December 2006 it had been renamed Born Equal. He appeared alongside Nikki Amuka-Bird (a co-star from "Shoot the Messenger") as a couple fleeing persecution in Nigeria.
Other TV appearances include:
