Akiya Henry

Akiya Henry
Born	London, England, United Kingdom
Alma mater	Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2001–present

Akiya Henry is a British actress. She is best known for her theatre work, winning a WhatsOnStage Award and earning a Laurence Olivier Award nomination.

Early life and education

Akiya Henry was born in London. At six months old, she was placed in foster care with her siblings, and raised in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, by a British-Maltese couple named Joyce and George Dymock. ^{[1] [2]}

Henry joined the National Youth Music Theatre, and later earned a scholarship to study at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut. ^{[3] [4]} She also trained with Gail Gordon, then head of dance at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.^{[ citation needed ]}

Career

In 2001, Henry made her professional stage debut as one of Billie's Babes in the Pet Shop Boys musical Closer to Heaven at the Arts Theatre. Henry also featured as a vocalist on the original cast recording. The following year, she made her television debut with a guest appearance in an episode of the BBC medical soap opera Doctors . Henry had roles in the ensemble of Anything Goes and then in Love's Labour's Lost at the National Theatre in 2002 and 2003 respectively, and in Trevor Nunn's Skellig at the Young Vic.

In 2004, Henry made her feature film debut with a small role in De-Lovely and appeared in A Midsummer Night's Dream in Chichester in 2004 as Hermia, a role she would reprise on tour in 2013. She played the Zebra in the musical Just So , also in Chichester, and featured on the cast recording, originated the role of Toby in Helen Edmundson's 2005 play Coram Boy at the National Theatre, and appeared in the comedy film Unhitched . This was followed by role in Coriolanus and Under the Black Flag at Shakespeare's Globe in 2006. ^[5]

Henry appeared in every episode of the 2008 CITV series Captain Mack . In 2009, she played Miranda in The Tempest and Minnie Fay in the London revival of Hello, Dolly , both at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.

Henry voiced Amma in the CBeebies series Bing from 2014 to 2019, and Jolli and Willi in the CBBC series Bottersnikes and Gumbles from 2015 to 2017. Her stage work at the time includes Deposit at the Hampstead Theatre ^[6] and The Little Match Girl back at Shakespeare's Globe. ^[7] She starred in Medea at Bristol Old Vic in 2018. ^[8]

Also in 2018, Henry starred as Lady Macbeth opposite Mark Rowley in Kit Monkman's film adaptation of Macbeth. ^[9] She would play Lady Macduff in The Tragedy of Macbeth at the Almeida Theatre in 2021. For her supporting performance in the latter, Henry won a WhatsOnStage Award ^[10] and was nominated a for Laurence Olivier Award. She also starred in Giles Terera's The Meaning of Zong at Bristol Old Vic had a number of voice roles in the Disney series 101 Dalmatian Street , CITV series The Rubbish World of Dave Spud , and the Sky series Moominvalley . She went on to star in Much Ado About Nothing at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre as Beatrice ^[11] and Mad House at the Ambassadors Theatre in 2022, ^[12] and Phaedra at the National in 2023. ^[13]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2004	De-Lovely	Chorus
2005	Unhitched	Bride
2018	Macbeth	Lady Macbeth
	Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures	Various	Voice role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	Doctors	Echo Doyle	Episode: "Shattered Dreams"
2005	Casualty	Mona Rachu	2 episodes
	Little Britain	Rochelle	1 episode
2007	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Lissa Borden	Episode: "Smile"
2008	Captain Mack	Yolanda Yummy / Rosie Raucous / Wendy Whizz	52 episodes
2009	Noddy in Toyland		Voice role, 5 episodes
2010	Silent Witness	Ruth Gardiner	2 episodes
2011	Tinga Tinga Tales	Woodpecker	Voice role, episode: "Why Caterpillar is Never in a Hurry"
2014–2019	Bing	Amma	Voice role, 41 episodes
2015–2017	Bottersnikes and Gumbles	Jolli / Willi	11 episodes
2016	Obsession: Dark Desires	Jeneane	Episode: "Beauty in the Bronx"
	Holby City	Blake Summerton	Episode: "Song of Self: Part Two"
2018–2020	101 Dalmatian Street	Various	Voice role, 10 episodes
2019–present	Moominvalley	Snorkmaiden	Voice role
2019–present	The Rubbish World of Dave Spud	Little Sue	Voice role
2020	Shaun the Sheep: Adventures from Mossy Bottom	Stash	Voice role
	Hilda	Additional Voices	Voice role, 13 episodes
2021	Dodo	Kayla Madani	Voice role, 7 episodes [14]
	Ninja Express		Voice role
2022	Best & Bester	Rocky	Voice role
2022–present	Supertato	Broccoli	Voice role
2024	Death in Paradise	Oona Martin	Episode: "#13.2"
2025	Protection	DS Sue Beardsley

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Closer to Heaven	Babe	Arts Theatre, London
2002	The Singing Group		Chelsea Theatre, London
	Anything Goes	Ensemble	Royal National Theatre, London
2003	Love's Labour's Lost	Moth
	Skellig	Mina	Young Vic, London
2004	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Hermia	Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester
	Ain't Misbehavin		Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
2005	Just So	Zebra	Chichester Festival Theatre, Chichester Cast recording
	Coram Boy	Toby	Royal National Theatre, London
2006	Coriolanus	Valeria	Globe Theatre, London
	Under the Black Flag
	The Enchanted Pig	Dot / Day	Tour
2007	Safe	Dionne	West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds
	Carmen Jones	Myrt	Southbank Centre, London
2008	Varjak Paw	Varjak Paw	Linbury Theatre, London
2009	The Tempest	Miranda	Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, London
	Hello, Dolly!	Minnie Fay
2010	Swallows and Amazons	Titty Walker	Vaudeville Theatre, London
2011	Oat's Beggar's Opera	Jenny Diver	Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, London
	The Colored Museum		Talawa Theatre Company, Victoria & Albert
2012	Mottled Lines	The Sparkle	Orange Tree Theatre, London
2013	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Hermia	Tour
2014	Perseverance Drive	Joylene Gillard	Bush Theatre, London
	The Nutcracker and the Mouse King	Marie	Unicorn Theatre, London
2015	Deposit		Hampstead Theatre, London
	Sense of an Ending	Sister Alice	Theatre503, London
2016	Cake and Congo	Amba
	A Pacifist's Guide to War on Cancer		UK tour
	The Little Match Girl	Various	Globe Theatre, London
2017	Medea	Medea / Maddy	Bristol Old Vic, Bristol
2018, 2019	The Dark		Ovalhouse, London / Tron Theatre, Glasgow
2019	Dirty Crusty	Jeanine	Yard Theatre, London
2021	The Meaning of Zong		Bristol Old Vic, Bristol
	The Tragedy of Macbeth	Lady Macduff	Almeida Theatre, London
2022	Much Ado About Nothing	Beatrice	Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
	Mad House	Lillian	Ambassadors Theatre, London
2023	Phaedra	Omolara	Royal National Theatre, London

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Ref.
2022	WhatsOnStage Awards	Best Supporting Actress in a Play	The Tragedy of Macbeth	Won	[15]
	Laurence Olivier	Best Actress in a Supporting Role		Nominated	[16]

References

1. Sutherland, Gill (12 March 2012). "Interview: Akiya Henry on her inspirational upbringing and playing a fiesty Beatrice in the RSC's Much Ado About Nothing". Stratford Herald. Archived from the original on 28 August 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
2. Fox, Killian (24 July 2022). "'Every one of us has a different story': a historic portrait of care system success". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
3. "Pride Loves… Akiya Henry In 'Sense Of An Ending'". Pride. 3 June 2015. Archived from the original on 28 August 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
4. Maxwell, Dominic (2 February 2022). "Meet the RSC's new Beatrice and Benedick". The Times. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
5. "Akiya Henry". BBA Shakespeare. Archived from the original on 28 August 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
6. Peterson, Tyler (20 February 2015). "Ben Addis, Akiya Henry & More to Star in DEPOSIT at Hampstead Downstairs". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
7. "Akiya Henry". Shakespeare's Globe. Archived from the original on 28 August 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
8. Booth, Martin (13 March 2019). "My Bristol Favourites: Akiya Henry". Bristol 24/7. Archived from the original on 1 September 2023. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
9. "An interview with actor Akiya Henry (part one)". Macbeth. 1 May 2018. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
10. Bell, Amy (7 July 2022). "Akiya Henry". ReVamp. Archived from the original on 1 September 2023. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
11. "Akiya Henry lead actor in RSC's Much Ado About Nothing talks about "this whole beautiful Afro-futuristic concept"". Alt-Africa. 1 March 2022. Archived from the original on 1 September 2023. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
12. Millward, Tom (6 May 2022). "Akiya Henry and more to join David Harbour and Bill Pullman in Mad House". WhatsOnStage. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
13. "Akiya Henry". National Theatre. January 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
14. "Singer Ricky Wilson, 'Derry Girls' Dylan Llewellyn Join 'Dodo'". www.animationmagazine.net. Archived from the original on 2025-01-25. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
15. Wood, Alex (9 December 2021). "Nominees for 22nd Annual WhatsOnStage Awards announced". WhatsOnStage. Archived from the original on 21 February 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
16. Underwood, Kitty (8 March 2022). "Nominations Announced for the Olivier Awards 2022 with Mastercard". Society of London Theatre . Archived from the original on 8 March 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2022.

External links

• Akiya Henry at IMDb
• Akiya Henry at United Agents