Jessica Oyelowo

Jessica Oyelowo ( Watson; born 1978) is a British-American actress and singer.

Early life
She was born Jessica Watson in Ipswich and spent her childhood in Woodbridge, Suffolk. She attended Woodbridge School as a child and was a member of the National Youth Music Theatre.

Career
In 2006, she starred as Detective Sergeant Alex Jones in Mayo and went on to appear in Murphy's Law alongside James Nesbitt, in 2007. She provided the voice of Mrs. Equiano (alongside her husband as Olaudah Equiano) in Grace Unshackled – The Olaudah Equiano Story, a radio play adapting Equiano's 1789 autobiography The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. This was first broadcast on BBC 7 on 8 April 2007.

Personal life
Oyelowo resides in Tarzana in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California, US with her husband, actor David Oyelowo. They met while attending the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. They have four children. They formerly resided in Brighton, England.

Both she and her husband are committed Christians.

Oyelowo and her husband became naturalised US citizens on 20 July 2016.

As the wife of a Yoruba tribal prince, Oyelowo is entitled to the honorific style Olori. She currently does not use it.

Stage work

 * Cyrano de Bergerac (as Roxanne) at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, 2006
 * Ana in Love (play) at Hackney Empire for Inside Intelligence 2007
 * As You Like It (Rosalind) for Inside Intelligence 1997, her professional debut