Francesca Amewudah-Rivers | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1998 (age 26) [1] [2] Brighton, England |
| Education | Oxford University |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2021–present |
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 . [3] She won the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Newcomer in 2025.
Amewudah-Rivers was born in Brighton to a Ghanaian father and Nigerian mother. [4] [5] She trained at the National Youth Theatre [6] and studied Music at Oxford University. [7]
She appeared in two seasons of the BBC sitcom Bad Education as Blessing, alongside Jack Whitehall. [8] She also composed the music for the short films Medea, Minutes and Messenger. [9] 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. [5]
On stage, she has appeared in theatre productions of Shakespeare's Macbeth and Othello at the National Youth Theatre, [10] [11] as well an adaptation of Sophocles' Greek tragedy Antigone at the Mercury Theatre, [12] for which The Guardian positively reviewed her "sensitively delivered" performance. [13]
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. [14] Her casting caused a backlash, described by the play's director Jamie Lloyd as "racial abuse." [15] Over 800 black actors signed an open letter in solidarity with her. [16] In March 2025, she won The Jack Tinker Award for Best Newcomer at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards. [17]
Amewudah-Rivers 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. [5] She resides in Brixton. [18]
Actors have condemned the ongoing racist abuse of 26-year-old Francesca Amewudah-Rivers, who is soon to star alongside Tom Holland in a London production of Romeo and Juliet, in an open letter.