Francesca Amewudah-Rivers

Francesca Amewudah-Rivers is a British television and stage actress, musician and composer. She made her West End debut opposite Tom Holland in 2024 as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet.

Early life
Amewudah-Rivers was born in Brighton to a Ghanaian father and Nigerian mother. She trained at the National Youth Theatre and studied Music at Oxford University.

Career
She appeared in two seasons of the BBC sitcom Bad Education as Blessing, alongside Jack Whitehall. She also composed the music for the short films Medea, Minutes and Messenger. She was awarded the 2021 Evening Standard Future Theatre Award for Audio Design. She was a music intern on Inua Ellams’ adaptation of Chekhov's play Three Sisters for the Royal National Theatre.

On stage, she has appeared in theatre productions of Shakespeare's MacBeth and Othello at the National Youth Theatre, as well an adaptation of Sophocles' Greek tragedy Antigone at the Mercury Theatre,  for which The Guardian positively reviewed her "sensitively delivered" performance.

In 2024, she was cast in her first West End production as Juliet alongside Tom Holland in Romeo and Juliet at the Duke of York's Theatre. Her casting caused a backlash, described by the play's director Jamie Lloyd as "racial abuse." Over 800 black actors signed an open letter in solidarity with her.

Personal life
She is a classical and jazz pianist who also plays guitar, bassoon and djembe drum. While studying music at Oxford, she struggled with feeling alienated for being the only black person in her college year group. She resides in Brixton.