Rakie Ayola

Actor

PHOTO CREDIT: EJATU SHAW

Rakie Ayola is a BAFTA-winning Welsh actor known for her work across theatre, TV and film. Her mother was from Sierra Leone and her father was Nigerian.  She was the recipient of the BAFTA Cymru Sian Phillips Award in 2023 and has also won the BAFTA Cymru award for Best Actress (2023 for The Pact) and the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress (2021) for her role in Jimmy McGovern’s Anthony. Additional television credits include Grace, Shetland, Black Mirror and Noughts and Crosses.

In 2017 Rakie took over the role of Hermione Granger in the West End Production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The same year she founded her own production company - Shanty Productions. She is a trustee of ACT, a charity that supports actors’ children. She is also a patron of the Childhood Tumour Trust and affiliated to various charitable organisations in the arts. 

In Summer 2024 she featured as Persephone in Charlie Covell’s Netflix series Kaos starring Jeff Goldblum and Janet McTeer.