Nonso Anozie ( ; born 17 November 1978) is an English actor. On television, he is known for his roles as Xaro Xhoan Daxos in the HBO series Game of Thrones (2012), R.M. Renfield on the Sky series Dracula (2013), Abraham Kenyatta on the CBS series Zoo (2015–2017), and Tommy Jepperd on the Netflix series Sweet Tooth (2021–2024). For the latter, he won a Children's and Family Emmy Award and was nominated for a BAFTA award.
He led the film Cass (2008). His films since include RocknRolla (2008), The Grey (2011), Ender's Game (2013), Cinderella (2015), and Guava Island (2019).
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Early life and education
Anozie was born on 17 November 1978 in north London to Nigerian Igbo parents. Anozie attended St Aloysius College, Highgate. He graduated from the Central School of Speech and Drama in 2002, and in the summer of the same year he played the title role in William Shakespeare's King Lear, and won the Ian Charleson Award in 2004 for his performance in Othello.
Career
Anozie was hired in 2006 to provide the voice for the armoured bear Iorek Byrnison in the film adaptation of Philip Pullman's Northern Lights. Anozie was replaced by Ian McKellen two months before the film was set to be released. The film's director, Chris Weitz, told Empire: "It was a studio decision ... You can understand why you would cast Ian McKellen for anything. But letting go of Nonso was one of the most painful experiences on this movie for me. I need to say about Nonso that he is one of the most promising and soulful young actors I have encountered in England and I've worked here for quite a bit now and he's actually in the next Mike Leigh [film] ... But it was, uh, that was kind of a dark day for me. I kinda wanna go out of my way to point out how much I love Nonso's work. And that's that."
