English actor
Ariyon Bakare
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Born
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Education
| WAC Arts College
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Occupation
| Actor
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Years active
| 1990?present
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Television
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Ariyon Bakare
(
Listen
ⓘ
) is an English actor. He has appeared in the
BBC One
soap opera
Doctors
as
Ben Kwarme
, the
Amazon Prime
television series
Good Omens
and
Carnival Row
, and the BBC One and
HBO
series
His Dark Materials
. Prior to this, Bakare made appearances on British dramas such as
The Bill
,
Casualty
, and
Holby City
.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Ariyon Bakare was born around 1971, of a Nigerian father. Growing up, he lived all around
east London
. Due to conflict with his father, Bakare left his family home at the age of 15, and completed his education while homeless for a year. He was close to his stepmother.
[1]
Six months after returning home and reconciling with his father, at the age of 17, Bakare moved from
London
to
New York
to pursue dance as a career. He trained as dancer at various conservatories, including
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
. Two years into his training, he was informed that dancers often retire at a young age. The next day, he gave dance up, and began focusing on acting. He moved back to London at the age of 20, and began studying acting at
Drama Centre London
.
[1]
His first professional job was with the
Royal Shakespeare Company
(RSC). He stated that while performing with the RSC, he also worked on jobs in Scotland, as well as learning scriptwriting and singing soul and opera music.
[1]
Career
[
edit
]
Film and television
[
edit
]
From 2001 to 2005, Bakare portrayed the role of
Ben Kwarme
in the
BBC
soap opera
Doctors
.
[2]
After leaving
Doctors
, Bakare returned to direct and write several episodes. He then co-wrote and starred in the Channel drama
Stealing Lives
. In November 2008, he appeared as a villain in the BBC drama
Spooks
, and in October 2009, he made an appearance in
Casualty
.
[3]
In 2011, Bakare played a mini-cab driver, Carl Lucas, in the last episode of the sixth series of
Law & Order UK
, first broadcast in 2012. He appeared in
Dancing on the Edge
, first broadcast in 2013, as Wesley Holt, a band manager. Bakare later appeared in
Doctor Who
, in the 2015 episode, "
The Woman Who Lived
", alongside
Maisie Williams
. He played the antagonist of the episode, a lion-like creature called Leandro.
[4]
He had a cameo as a Rebel pilot in
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
. In 2019, he began appearing in the
BBC
TV series
His Dark Materials
, in the role of
Lord Boreal
.
[1]
In 2022 He played the older version of character Alex Gilrey who is a long term murder suspect in the BBC TV mini series Karen Pirie which was based on the Inspector Karen Pirie series by Val McDermid.
Stage
[
edit
]
Bakare's theatre credits include productions at the
RSC
and the
Lyric Hammersmith
. He played Florindo in
Tim Supple
's staging of
A Servant to Two Masters
at the
Young Vic
theatre.
[
citation needed
]
He starred opposite
Janet Suzman
in the British premiere of
Dream of the Dog
, where he played a South African nattily-clad architect, "Look Smart".
[5]
Awards and nominations
[
edit
]
For his role in
Doctors
, Bakare was nominated for
Best Actor
at the
2004 British Soap Awards
.
[6]
He was nominated for an
Ian Charleson Award
for the role of Florindo in
A Servant to Two Masters
at the Young Vic.
[
when?
]
[
citation needed
]
Filmography
[
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]
Stage
[
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
edit
]
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International
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National
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People
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