Meet Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (LLM, 1992)

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who graduated with Master’s in Law from King’s College London in 1992. He has made significant contributions in the realms of acting, writing, directing, and music. He is renowned for his roles including Oz, Lost and Game of Thrones, The Mummy Returns, Get Rich or Die Tryin’, Suicide Squad, Thor: The Dark World, The Bourne Identity and many more.

Commencing his master’s in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at King’s College London in 1991, Adewale achieved a remarkable feat, considering the challenges he had to surmount. He was born in Islington to Nigerian parents who struggled to support him while pursuing their own studies in London during the 1960s. They therefore, resorted to a common Nigerian practice; advertising for a nurturing family in a local paper. A couple in Tilbury, Essex, responded, becoming Adewale’s informal foster parents, where he grew up alongside his four sisters.

The truth is, as the film depicts, I had quite a rough childhood. Unwanted and wrestling with an identity crisis, I had skirmishes with the law as an adolescent in street gangs, in a desperate attempt to be accepted and find belonging. 

intouch King’s College London – Spring/Summer 2020

His early life experience served as the catalyst for Adewale’s achievements, propelling him towards success as a student, an actor, and ultimately, a filmmaker. In 2019, his autobiographical film “Farming” was unveiled, offering a glimpse into Adewale’s formative years.

A really important part of the film is that it depicts how I’ve used education to empower myself as an individual and how it became a tool to improve my self-worth. My approach to academia formed the template for how I approach acting. 

intouch King’s College London – Spring/Summer 2020

Farming portrays Adewale’s immersion in a challenging life, showcasing his determination to break free. Over time, education provided his escape route, leading him to take a place at King’s and initiating a new phase. He transitioned from student to working in a designer clothes shop, then, achieved success as a model, and ultimately became a Hollywood actor.

More about Farming

“Farming” is a British film, released in 2018. This film based on Adewale’s own life story in 1980s England. The plot revolves around a young Nigerian boy of Yorubá descent who got entrusted to a white working-class family, and struggled to find an identity and eventually fell in with a white skinhead gang which led by a white supremacy leader.

Sources:

https://kcl-was-intalumni-dev-uks-1.azurewebsites.net/spring-summer-2020/what-ive-learned/