O-T Fagbenle | |
---|---|
Born |
Olatunde Olateju Olaolorun 22 January 1981 London, England |
Alma mater | Royal Academy of Dramatic Art |
Occupation | Actor, songwriter, director |
Years active | 2002–present |
Olatunde Olateju Olaolorun "O. T." Fagbenle, also spelled O-T and O.T, is a British actor, writer and director. He has appeared in several films, stage and television productions.
Born in London to a Nigerian journalist father and a British mother, Fagbenle moved to Spain as a child and started learning the alto saxophone. Within a year he was playing for the South Coast Jazz Band and toured the Edinburgh Festival. He moved back to England where he continued to perform as a musician in big bands at the Wembley Arena and the Royal Albert Hall. His name "Olatunde" means "Wealth comes again" in Yoruba. His younger brother is actor and film producer Luti Fagbenle.
He started acting at the age of 14 for the Ritual Theatre Arts and was given the lead role in an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Macbeth, performing at international venues and at central London's Bloomsbury Theatre. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and graduated early to make his graduate debut at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester in Les Blancs in 2001.
Fagbenle continued his Shakespearean roles performing in Romeo and Juliet as Mercutio in a national tour culminating at the Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2004. The Evening Telegraph said of his performance, "O-T Fagbenle achieves the impossible by almost overshadowing the young lovers with his inspired performance of Mercutio".
Fagbenle was soon offered his first all out lead. Outstanding reviews preceded a M.E.N. Theatre award for best actor in a leading role for his portrayal of a man claiming to be Sidney Poitier's son in John Guare's award-winning play Six Degrees of Separation.