Francesca Amewudah-Rivers

Amewudah-Rivers was born in Brighton to a Ghanaian father and Nigerian mother.^[6][7] She trained at the National Youth Theatre^[8]

She studied music at Oxford University.^[9] She was the only black person in her college year group, and set up a society for students of colour, which produced an adaptation of Medea blending poetry and music.^[7]

She appeared in two seasons of the BBC sitcom Bad Education as Blessing, alongside Jack Whitehall.^[10] She also composed the music for the short films Medea, Minutes and Messenger.^[11] She was awarded the 2021 Evening Standard Future Theatre Award for Audio Design. She was a music intern on Inua Ellams’ adaptation of Chekhov's play Three Sisters for the Royal National Theatre.^[7]

On stage, she has appeared in theatre productions of Shakespeare's Macbeth and Othello at the National Youth Theatre,^[12][13] as well an adaptation of Sophocles' Greek tragedy Antigone at the Mercury Theatre,^[14] for which The Guardian positively reviewed her "sensitively delivered" performance.^[15]

In 2024, she was cast in her first West End production, as Juliet alongside Tom Holland in Romeo and Juliet at the Duke of York's Theatre.^[16] Her casting caused a backlash, described by the play's director Jamie Lloyd as "racial abuse."^[17][18] Over 800 black actors signed an open letter in solidarity with her.^[19] Amewudah-Rivers won the Ian Charleson Award for her performance,^[4][5] and in March 2025 she also won The Jack Tinker Award for Best Newcomer at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards.^[20]

Amewudah-Rivers is a classical and jazz pianist who also plays guitar, bassoon and djembe drum.^[21]

She resides in Brixton.^[22]