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Factsheet

• As a child, lived for seven years in Nigeria, where his parents were born and his family descended from royalty.
• Was a member of London's National Youth Music Theatre, which is where he met his wife.
• Played King Henry VI in a 2001 Royal Shakespeare Company trilogy of the Bard's plays, and was the first black actor to portray an English king in an RSC production.
• For his role in the British spy drama Spooks, he met with British-intelligence officers.
• Cowrote a 2006 romantic comedy-drama for the BBC called Graham and Alice, about two London loners who decide to rob a betting shop.
• Fulfilled a bucket-list wish by working with Steven Spielberg on 2012's Lincoln.
• As part of the training for his role as a WWII Tuskegee Airman in 2012's Red Tails, he got to fly in vintage P-51 Mustangs.
• Appointed an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2016 New Year Honours.