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Authority control databases: Artists  |
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Francesca Amewudah-Rivers | |
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| Born | 1998 (age 26) [1] [2] Brighton, England |
| Education | Oxford University |
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| Years active | 2021–present |
Francesca Amewudah-Rivers is a British actress. She made her West End debut opposite Tom Holland in 2024 as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet , [3] and won the Ian Charleson Award for her performance. [4] [5] She also won the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Newcomer in 2025.
Amewudah-Rivers was born in Brighton to a Ghanaian father and Nigerian mother. [6] [7] She trained at the National Youth Theatre [8]
She studied music at Oxford University. [9] She was the only black person in her college year group, and set up a society for students of colour, which produced an adaptation of Medea blending poetry and music. [7]
She appeared in two seasons of the BBC sitcom Bad Education as Blessing, alongside Jack Whitehall. [10] She also composed the music for the short films Medea, Minutes and Messenger. [11] 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. [7]
On stage, she has appeared in theatre productions of Shakespeare's Macbeth and Othello at the National Youth Theatre, [12] [13] as well an adaptation of Sophocles' Greek tragedy Antigone at the Mercury Theatre, [14] for which The Guardian positively reviewed her "sensitively delivered" performance. [15]
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. [16] Her casting caused a backlash, described by the play's director Jamie Lloyd as "racial abuse." [17] [18] Over 800 black actors signed an open letter in solidarity with her. [19] Amewudah-Rivers won the Ian Charleson Award for her performance, [4] [5] and in March 2025 she also won The Jack Tinker Award for Best Newcomer at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards. [20]
Amewudah-Rivers is a classical and jazz pianist who also plays guitar, bassoon and djembe drum. [21]
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.
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