Actor / Director Profile

David Oyelowo was born in Oxford in 1976. His family originates from Nigeria. David studied Theatre Studies for A level and his teacher suggested he should become an actor. After A levels David enrolled for a year on an Art foundation course before Nicholas Hytner offered him a scholarship to train at LAMDA. Having been offered television work David left LAMDA before completing the course. In December 2000 David became the first black actor to play an English monarch for the RSC taking the title role in Henry VI. His performance won him the 'Ian Charleson' Award 2001 for best newcomer in a classical play. David has become known to television audiences as Danny Hunter in the TV series "MI-5" (2002) and the critically acclaimed dramas Tomorrow La Scala! (2002), Shoot the Messenger (2006) and the Golden Globe nominated "Five Days" (2007), for which he won a 2007 Satellite Best Actor Award. He also starred in the Oscar nominated The Last King of Scotland (2006). He is married to the actress Jessica Oyelowo and they have three sons.