O. T. Fagbenle

Early life

Born in London to a Yoruba Nigerian father, journalist Tunde Fagbenle, and an English mother, Ally Bedford, Fagbenle was raised by his mother and lived in Nigeria, Spain, and the UK as a child. He started learning the alto saxophone and within a year joined the South Coast Jazz Band, which toured the Edinburgh Festival. In the UK he performed as a musician in big bands at the Wembley Arena and the Royal Albert Hall.

His younger brothers include actor and film producer Luti Fagbenle, and video director and producer Daps. His sister is WNBA player and Olympian Temi Fagbenle.

Career

Acting

Fagbenle started acting at the age of 14 for the Ritual Theatre Arts and was given the lead role in an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Macbeth, performing at international venues and at central London's Bloomsbury Theatre. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and graduated early to make his graduate debut at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester in Les Blancs in 2001. Fagbenle originated the role of "Perry" in the Royal Court's production of the award-winning production of Fallout.

Fagbenle continued his Shakespearean roles by performing in Romeo and Juliet as Mercutio in a national tour culminating at the Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2004. The Evening Telegraph said of his performance, "O-T Fagbenle achieves the impossible by almost overshadowing the young lovers with his inspired performance of Mercutio".

Fagbenle was soon offered his first leading role. Outstanding reviews preceded a M.E.N. Theatre Award for best actor in a leading role for his portrayal of a man claiming to be Sidney Poitier's son in John Guare's award-winning play Six Degrees of Separation.

In 2008, Fagbenle flew to Paris with the theatre director Peter Brook to help workshop and develop Brook's international production of Tierno Bokar.

After John W. Bubbles in the original opera and Sammy Davis Jr. in the film, Fagbenle played the role of Sportin' Life in Sir Trevor Nunn's production of Porgy and Bess - The Musical at the Savoy Theatre in the West End of London. Fagbenle received outstanding reviews. Variety magazine's review remarked, "There are moments everything takes wing as a musical, mostly whenever Fagbenle's splendidly serpentine, easeful Sportin' Life is around. Light on his feet, his every moment is poised and polished."

In 2012 in London, England, Fagbenle took on the role of Slupianek in The Conquest of the South Pole at the Arcola and Rose Theatres. Again Fagbenle won critical acclaim across the board for his performance, with TimeOut, The British Theatre Guide, Spoonfed, Whatsonstage.com, and industry-standard The Stage all praising his performance. Fagbenle was nominated by panel for the 2012 Offie for Best Male Performance.

Writing and directing

In April 2020 Fagbenle made history when he became the first person to write, direct, compose, star and executive produce the opening episode of a TV series on a major US network with his show Maxxx (Hulu).

In 2021 Deadline reported that following the success of Maxxx "The multi-hyphenate currently has drama, comedy and non-scripted content in development."

Fagbenle's debut short film Moth won Best Sci-fi Horror at the London Film Festival The film, which was a metaphor for the effect of mentally ill parenting on children, was also made a part of a number of film festivals including the official selection at the Los Angeles Screamfest Film Festival, New York City Horror Film Festival, Austin Film Festival.

After a being awarded a fund by the Nigerian high commission/TRSE to write and direct a teaser for his movie idea, Fagbenle was commissioned by Bafta-nominated Lutimedia to develop Big Bad Blood, a teen comedy television series.

Music

Along with a starring actor credit, Fagbenle composed the music and penned the lyrics for several songs for the NBC drama Quarterlife, created by Marshall Herskovitz and Oscar-winner Ed Zwick.

In 2011 Fagbenle co-wrote the song "Storm" for Grammy nominated artist Tyga on his Black Thoughts Vol. 2 mixtape and received over 8 million hits on worldstarhiphop.com.

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Fagbenle was the recipient of an Outstanding Achievement Award at the 13th African Film Awards. Fagbenle was nominated for the 2012 Offie for Best Male Performance; a 'charismatic' portrayal of Slupianek in The Conquest of the South Pole).

Fagbenle was awarded Best Actor in a Leading Role at the M.E.N. awards for his performance in Six Degrees of Separation. In 2015, Fagbenle was nominated for "Best Male Performance on TV" by the Screen Nation Awards for his performance as Frank on HBO's Looking.

In 2015, Fagbenle was nominated and awarded by the MViSA awards for BEST MALE ACTOR for his performance in The Interceptor.

In 2016, Fagbenle and the cast of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at the Royal National Theatre led the production to an Olivier Award, the most prestigious honour in British Theatre.

In 2018, Fagbenle collected The Handmaid's Tale's International BAFTA Award. In 2019, Fagbenle received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his role on The Handmaid's Tale.

In 2021 O-T Fagbenle received an Emmy Award nomination for his performance on the Hulu series The Handmaid's Tale. For four seasons, he has played Luke, who is the husband of June Osborne played by Elizabeth Moss.

In 2021 O-T Fagbenle was nominated for best comedy performance at the Royal Television Society Awards for the comedy Maxxx, which he also wrote and produced.

In 2021 O-T as nominated for Best Actor at the prestigious Edinburgh TV awards for his show Maxxx.

In 2021 Maxxx received a nomination for Best Scripted Comedy at the National Comedy Awards celebrating the UK's most brilliant comedy content and creators. He was also individually nominated for best comedy actor.