Adjoa Andoh
Adjoa Andoh is a British film, television, stage and radio actress. She is known on the UK stage for lead roles at the RSC, the National Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre and the Almeida Theatre, and is a familiar face on British television, notably in two series of Doctor Who as companion Martha's mother Francine Jones, 90 episodes of the BBC's long-running medical drama Casualty as Staff Nurse Colette Griffiths and a year in the BBC's EastEnders. Andoh is the voice of Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency; she won "Audio Book of the Year" for Tea Time for the Traditionally Built.
She 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 Invictus.
Career
Andoh was a member of the BBC's Radio Drama Company. Her television credits include Casualty, Jonathan Creek, EastEnders, and The Tomorrow People.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 as Francine Jones, the mother of Martha Jones. She reprised her role in the finale of series 4.
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.
She is also known for narrating the audio book versions of Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of detective novels and Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch Series trilogy, as well as Julia Jarman's children's books, The Jessame Stories and More Jessame Stories. She is also known for narrating the audio book version of Nnedi Okorafor's 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 Planet B on BBC Radio 7. In 2004, she was cast in the video game Fable.
Andoh also appeared in Noel Clarke's 2008 film Adulthood as the mother of Clarke's character, Sam Peel.
She can be seen in cinemas as Chief of Staff Brenda Maziubo opposite Morgan Freeman's Nelson Mandela in Clint Eastwood's Invictus. The film tells of how Mandela brought the Afrikaner population on side for Project Rainbow Nation through his support and inspiration for the 1995 World Cup-winning South African Springbok rugby union team, and his moving relationship with team captain Francois Pienaar, played by Matt Damon. Andoh describes the filming experience as extremely positive, saying that it was unlike any set she had ever filmed on.
Theatrical work
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 ; Troilus and Cressida, Julius Caesar, Tamburlaine and The Odyssey ; Sugar Mummies and Breath Boom ; Richard II ; Les Liaisons Dangereuses ; Great Expectations ; Blood Wedding ; Nights at the Circus, The Dispute and Pericles ; Julius Caesar ; Purgatorio ; The Vagina Monologues ; Starstruck and In The Red and Brown Water.Personal life
Andoh was born in Clifton, Bristol. Her mother, a teacher, was English, and her father was a journalist and musician from Ghana. Andoh grew up in Wickwar in Gloucestershire, and attended Katharine Lady Berkeley's School. She started studying law at Bristol Polytechnic, but left after two years to pursue her acting career. She and her husband, lecturer Howard Cunnell, have three children.In October 2009, Andoh was licensed as a Reader in the Church of England.
In November 2019, along with other public figures, Andoh signed a letter supporting Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn describing him as "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world" and endorsed him in the 2019 UK general election.
Filmography
Film
Television
Selected radio
Video games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2001 | Wave Rally | ||
| 2004 | Fable | ||
| 2005 | Kameo | Lenya | |
| 2008 | Age of Conan | ||
| 2008 | Fable II | ||
| 2010 | Dante's Inferno | Background Shades / Innocents of Acre / Semiramis | |
| 2010 | Fable III | ||
| 2012 | The Secret World | Zhara / Additional Voices | |
| 2012 | |||
| 2014 | Dreamfall Chapters | Shepherd / Mother Utana / Adala | |
| 2017 | Horizon Zero Dawn | Sona / Cpl. Vandana Sarai |