Francesca Amewudah-Rivers | |
|---|---|
 Amewudah-Rivers in 2024 | |
| 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]
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]
She 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. [17]
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers.
Antigone is an Athenian tragedy written by Sophocles in 441 BC and first performed at the Festival of Dionysus of the same year. It is thought to be the second oldest surviving play of Sophocles, preceded by Ajax, which was written around the same period. The play is one of a triad of tragedies known as the three Theban plays, following Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. Even though the events in Antigone occur last in the order of events depicted in the plays, Sophocles wrote Antigone first. The story expands on the Theban legend that predates it, and it picks up where Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes ends. The play is named after the main protagonist Antigone.
Shakespeare in Love is a 1998 period romantic comedy film directed by John Madden, written by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, and produced by Harvey Weinstein. It stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck and Judi Dench.
Olivia Hussey is a British-Argentine film, stage, and television actress. Her awards include a Golden Globe Award and a David di Donatello Award. The daughter of Argentine opera singer Andrés Osuna, Hussey was born in Buenos Aires but spent most of her early life in her mother's native England. She aspired to become an actress at a young age and studied drama for five years at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London.
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Francesca Annis is an English actress. She is known for television roles in Reckless (1998), Wives and Daughters (1999), Deceit (2000), and Cranford (2007). A six-time BAFTA TV Award nominee, she won the 1979 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for the ITV serial Lillie. Her film appearances include Krull (1983), Dune (1984), The Debt Collector (1999), and The Libertine (2004).
Amanda Root is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her starring role as Anne Elliot in the 1995 BBC adaptation of Persuasion. A familiar face on both stage and screen, she worked regularly with the Royal Shakespeare Company during her early career, performing as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, among other roles. In 2009, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance as Sarah in Alan Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests.
Juliet Capulet is the female protagonist in William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet. A 13-year-old girl, Juliet is the only daughter of the patriarch of the House of Capulet. She falls in love with the male protagonist Romeo, a member of the House of Montague, with which the Capulets have a blood feud. The story has a long history that precedes Shakespeare himself.
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Gugulethu Sophia Mbatha-Raw is an English actress. She began acting at the National Youth Theatre and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and gained acclaim for her roles as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Octavia in Anthony and Cleopatra in 2005 at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. She made her West End and Broadway debut portraying Ophelia in Hamlet in 2009. For her role as the titular character in Jessica Swale's 2015 play Nell Gwynn, she received an Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress nomination.
The Island is a play written by Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona.
Richard Challoner School is an all boys secondary school with a mixed sixth form that is federated with Holy Cross School, New Malden. It has academy status and is in Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. The school is named after Bishop Richard Challoner.
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Romeo & Juliet is a 2013 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy. Written by Julian Fellowes and directed by Carlo Carlei, it stars Douglas Booth, Hailee Steinfeld, Damian Lewis, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Ed Westwick, Stellan Skarsgård and Paul Giamatti. The film opened in the United Kingdom and the United States on 11 October 2013. While remaining faithful to the original plot, it uses only some of the dialogue written by Shakespeare. This has led to several critics denouncing the film on the grounds that it loses the essence of the play. The film grossed $3 million.
Romeo and Juliet is a filmed performance of the 2013 Broadway theatrical production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet starring Orlando Bloom and Condola Rashād which was produced as a 2014 film by BroadwayHD and Fathom Events.
& Juliet is a 2019 coming-of-age jukebox musical featuring the music of Swedish pop songwriter Max Martin, with a book by David West Read. The story focuses on a "what if" scenario, where Juliet does not die at the end of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Antigone is a 2019 Canadian drama film directed by Sophie Deraspe. An adaptation of the ancient Greek play Antigone by Sophocles, the film transposes the story to a modern-day refugee family in Montreal. The cast includes Nahéma Ricci as Antigone, with Rawad El-Zein, Hakim Brahimi, Rachida Oussaada, and Nour Belkhiria. It was filmed in Greater Montreal in 2018.
Golda Rosheuvel is a British actress and singer. She is known for her theatre work and a number of on-screen roles, most prominently for the portrayal of Queen Charlotte in Netflix regency romance drama series, Bridgerton and its prequel, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story.
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.