Adjoa Andoh


*The following article is written from an Out of Universe perspective.*

Adjoa Andoh (born 14 January 1963) played the Fifteenth Doctor from 2016 onwards.

Outside of Doctor Who, she appeared in the BBC medical drama Casualty as Colette Griffiths from 2001 to 2003.

Biography

Prior to Doctor Who

Andoh was born in Clifton, Bristol. Her mother, a teacher, was English, and her father was a journalist and musician from Ghana. Andoh grew up in Wickwar in Gloucestershire, and attended Katharine Lady Berkeley's School. She started studying law at Bristol Polytechnic, but left after two years to pursue her acting career.

Andoh was a member of the BBC's Radio Drama Company. Her television credits include Casualty (she played Colette Griffiths (née Kierney) from 2000 until 2003), EastEnders (where she played jazz singer Karen, the lodger of Rachel Kominski in 1991), and The Tomorrow People (where she played Amanda James in the story The Rameses Connection in 1995).

Andoh's other television work includes playing the head of M.I.9 in Series 3 to Series 5 of M.I. High and D.C.I. Ford in Missing.

She is also known for narrating the audio book versions of Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series of detective novels and Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch Series trilogy (although not all of the US editions), as well as Julia Jarman's children's books, The Jessame Stories and More Jessame Stories. She is also known for narrating the audio book version of Nnedi Okorafor's Lagoon (novel) with Ben Onwukwe, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Americanah. She narrated The Power by Naomi Alderman, former President Barack Obama’s favorite book of 2017. Her career in audio dramas has included the Voice of Planet B in Planet B on BBC Radio 7. In 2004, she was cast in the video game Fable.

Andoh also appeared in Noel Clarke's 2008 film Adulthood as the mother of Clarke's character, Sam Peel.

She can be seen in cinemas as Chief of Staff Brenda Maziubo opposite Morgan Freeman's Nelson Mandela in Clint Eastwood's Invictus. The film tells of how Mandela brought the Afrikaner population on side for Project Rainbow Nation through his support and inspiration for the 1995 World Cup-winning South African Springbok rugby union team, and his moving relationship with team captain Francois Pienaar, played by Matt Damon. Andoh describes the filming experience as extremely positive, saying that it was unlike any set she had ever filmed on.

Andoh has worked extensively in the theatre. Her credits include His Dark Materials, Stuff Happens and The Revenger's Tragedy at the National Theatre; A Streetcar Named Desire (National Theatre Studio); Troilus and Cressida, Julius Caesar, Tamburlaine and The Odyssey (RSC); Sugar Mummies and Breath Boom (Royal Court); Richard II (Globe); Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Donmar Warehouse); Great Expectations (Bristol Old Vic); Blood Wedding (Almeida); Nights at the Circus, The Dispute and Pericles (Lyric Hammersmith); Julius Caesar (the Bridge); Purgatorio (Arcola); The Vagina Monologues (Criterion); Starstruck (Tricycle) and In The Red and Brown Water (Young Vic).

Work on Doctor Who

In 2015, Andoh was cast as the Fifteenth Doctor, first appearing at the end of part 1 of The Third Planet. She went on to play the role until the Season 53 finale.

After Doctor Who

To be added.

Personal Life

She and her husband, lecturer Howard Cunnell, have three children.

In October 2009, Andoh was licensed as a Reader (a lay preacher) in the Church of England.

In November 2019, along with other public figures, Andoh signed a letter supporting Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn describing him as "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world" and endorsed him in the 2019 UK general election.

Credits

Actor

Doctor Who