Amara Okereke

Okereke was born in North Tyneside in 1996, the only daughter of two Nigerian medical professionals.^[2] She grew up in Adel, Leeds^[3] and attended the Grammar School at Leeds.^[4] As a teenager, Okereke joined the National Youth Music Theatre. She went on to study at the Arts Educational School (ArtsEd) in West London, graduating in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in musical theatre.^[5]

In 2012, Okereke made her debut in the West End as a child actress, playing Cassie in 13 at the Apollo Theatre.^[6] Upon graduating from ArtsEd in 2018, she returned to the West End and joined the cast of Les Misérables at the Queen's Theatre.^[7] For her performance as Cosette, Okereke won Best Actress in a Musical at The Stage Debut Awards.^[8][9]

This was followed by roles as Laurie in Oklahoma! at Chichester Festival Theatre,^[10] Polly Browne in The Boy Friend at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2019,^[11] and Wendla in Spring Awakening at the Almeida Theatre in 2021.^[12]

In 2022, Okereke became the first black actress to star as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady in its West End revival at the London Coliseum, alongside Harry Hadden-Paton and Vanessa Redgrave.^[13][14] For her performance, Okereke won the Black British Theatre Award for Outstanding Performance in a Musical.^[15][16] That same year, she made her television debut as Becky Fox in the BBC Three horror series Red Rose and appeared in The Light in the Piazza at Alexandra Palace.^[17][18]