Adjoa Andoh

Adjoa Aiboom Helen Andoh HonFRSL (born 14 January 1963) is a British actress. On stage, she has played lead roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre and the Almeida Theatre. On television, she appeared in two series of Doctor Who as Francine Jones, 90 episodes of the BBC's long-running medical drama Casualty, and BBC's EastEnders. Andoh made her Hollywood debut in autumn 2009, starring as Nelson Mandela's Chief of Staff Brenda Mazibuko alongside Morgan Freeman as Mandela in Clint Eastwood's drama film Invictus. Since 2020, she portrays Lady Danbury in the Netflix Regency romance series Bridgerton. In July 2022, Andoh became an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Early life and education
Andoh was born in Clifton, Bristol. Her mother, a teacher, was English, and her father was a journalist and musician from Ghana. She has a brother. Andoh grew up in Wickwar in Gloucestershire, where her family moved after her father got a job with British Aerospace. She attended Katharine Lady Berkeley's School and then started studying law at Bristol Polytechnic, but left after two years to pursue an acting career.

Film
In film, Andoh appeared in Noel Clarke's 2008 film Adulthood and its 2016 sequel Brotherhood as the mother of Clarke's character, Sam Peel. She played Chief of Staff Brenda Mazibuko opposite Morgan Freeman's Nelson Mandela in Clint Eastwood's 2009 drama film Invictus.

Television
Her television credits include Casualty (she played Colette Griffiths (née Kierney) from 2000 until 2003), Jonathan Creek, EastEnders (where she played jazz singer Karen, the lodger of Rachel Kominski. in 1991), She played a doctor in the 1992 Series 3 episode "Sleeping Pills" of Waiting for God and The Tomorrow People (where she played Amanda James in the story The Rameses Connection in 1995).

She has appeared in Doctor Who a number of times: in 2006 as Sister Jatt in series 2 episode "New Earth" and as Nurse Albertine in the audio drama Year of the Pig. In 2007, she appeared in several episodes of the third series ("Smith and Jones", "The Lazarus Experiment", "42", "The Sound of Drums", and "Last of the Time Lords") as Francine Jones, the mother of Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman). She reprised her role in the finale of series 4 ("The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End"). Andoh's other television work includes playing the head of M.I.9 in Series 3 to Series 5 of M.I. High and D.C.I. Ford in Missing. In the American streaming television drama series Bridgerton (2020) she plays Lady Danbury. She played the guest role of Mother Nenneke in the second season of the Polish - American fantasy drama streaming television series The Witcher (2021). In April 2023, The Real Crown: Inside the House of Windsor, an ITV television documentary series on the British royal family, aired. Andoh narrates the series.

In 2021, it was announced that she was working with Bridgerton producer Julie Anne Robinson on a version of Vanessa Riley's novel, The Island Queen, for television.

She has narrated 'Chateaux DIY' on Channel 4 since 2021.

Radio / Audio
Andoh has narrated over 150 audiobooks. Andoh was a member of the BBC's Radio Drama Company. She narrated one audio book version of Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of detective novels and Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch Series trilogy (although not all of the US editions), as well as Julia Jarman's children's books, The Jessame Stories and More Jessame Stories. She also narrated the audio book version of Nnedi Okorafor's novel Lagoon with Ben Onwukwe, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah. She narrated The Power by Naomi Alderman, former President Barack Obama’s favorite book of 2017.

Her career in audio dramas has included the Voice of Planet B in the science fiction series Planet B on BBC Radio 7. In 2004, she was cast in the video game Fable. In 2017 she provided the voice of war chief Sona in the video game Horizon Zero Dawn. In 2020, it was announced that Andoh would direct Lettie Precious’ Nina Simone’s Four Negro Women as part of the Written on the Waves audio project.

Penguin Random House has given her the title of "Queen of audio and radio drama" for her extensive work in the medium.

Theatre
Andoh has worked extensively in the theatre. Her credits include His Dark Materials, Stuff Happens and The Revenger's Tragedy at the National Theatre; A Streetcar Named Desire (National Theatre Studio); Troilus and Cressida, Julius Caesar, Tamburlaine and The Odyssey (RSC); Sugar Mummies and Breath Boom (Royal Court); Richard II (Globe); Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Donmar Warehouse); Great Expectations (Bristol Old Vic); Blood Wedding (Almeida); Nights at the Circus, The Dispute and Pericles (Lyric Hammersmith); Julius Caesar (The Bridge); Purgatorio (Arcola); The Vagina Monologues (Criterion); Starstruck (Tricycle) and In The Red and Brown Water (Young Vic).

In 2019, she co-directed with Lynette Linton a production of Richard II at Shakespeare's Globe. It was the first production of the play in the UK with a cast entirely of women of color. It was praised by theatre critics. In 2023, she directed and starred in Richard III at Liverpool Playhouse and Rose Theatre Kingston. She was the only Black actress in the cast as a comment on the title character's Otherness.

Service to the Arts
Andoh is Associate Artist for the Royal Shakespeare Company and Senior Associate Artist at the Bush Theatre.

She has served on numerous awards committees, including the Women's Prize for Playwriting (2020), a judge for the inaugural BAME science fiction writer’s award for Gollancz (2020), the Literature Matters Awards for the Royal Society of Literature (2021), the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (2021–22), and she was a jury member for the Booker Prize (2023).

She has served as a judge for the Carleton Hobbs Award and the Norman Beaton Fellowship. She is a co-founder of the Future Worlds Prize for science fiction writers of color. In 2023, she hosted an event at the Black to the Future Festival in London.

Honours
Andoh is a teacher at the Royal Academy of Arts (RADA) and Rose Bruford College. In 2021, she was named an Honorary Fellow at Rose Bruford College.

In 2021, Andoh was named an Honorary Fellowship by the British Shakespeare Association. Also in 2021, she was named Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at St. Catherine’s College, University of Oxford. In 2022, she was elected to the Royal Society of Literature.

Personal life
Andoh met her husband, Howard Cunnell, in 1994 when he took over the bookshop at Battersea Arts Centre, where Andoh's theatre company Wild Iris had an office. They have been together since late 1995, married in 2001 and have two children, (b. 1996 and 1997). Andoh also has a daughter from a previous relationship, (b. 1985/86). Cunnell has worked as a lecturer, writer, scuba diving instructor and a lifeguard. The couple live in Sussex as of 2022, having previously lived in Brixton.

In October 2009, Andoh was licensed as a reader in the Church of England for the parish of Herne Hill.

Activism
In 2014, Andoh gave a TED talk at TEDxBermuda about her experience as a parent of a trans child. Andoh has spoken candidly about sexuality and racism.

She has been a Fairtrade Ambassador since 2005.

2023 Coronation comments
In May 2023, following the coronation of King Charles III, Andoh stated that the day's proceedings had "gone from the rich diversity of the Abbey to a terribly white balcony". 8,371 complaints were made to the media watchdog Ofcom, the highest number of complaints for a TV broadcast in 2023. Andoh explained that "I was talking about the day and how marvellous it was and then looking at the balcony at the end and suddenly going: 'Oh it's so white!' because the day had been so mixed. I didn't mean to upset anybody." In June 2023, Ofcom announced that they would not be taking action over the comment as it was "a personal observation".