Biography

Ukweli was born in 1986. Brought up in Woolwich by an English mother and Guyanese father - his name means 'Truth' in Swahili - he applied for a law course at university but turned it down in favour of acceptance to London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from where he graduated in 2009, almost simultaneously playing Tybalt in the Globe Theatre's production of "Romeo and Juliet". Since childhood, he has been a fan of dance, particularly admiring the American Nicholas Brothers, and is an accomplished street dancer, being the Artistic Director of the dance company Birdgang, touring with the Blaze International hip-hop dance show and appearing in pop videos with the likes of Mariah Carey and Kylie Minogue. He also starred in the cinema film StreetDance 3D (2010), but came to a wider audience with his first big TV role playing Tom Greening, a lawyer who also happens to be an angel in drama series Eternal Law (2012)..
- IMDb mini biography by: Ukweli Roach

[on The Wire (2002)] It's amazingly detailed - you don't get one case an episode, instead, they're spread out over a whole season or more. It's also quite epic and Shakespearean, I think. There's this battle between good and evil but you like some of the drug dealers and you dislike some of the cops; everyone has redemption. It's so layered and the second time around, I'm noticing things that I didn't pick up on at first.

[on Hustle (2004)] Adrian Lester was a big inspiration to me when I started acting but the whole cast are brilliant. It's produced by Kudos films and, like all their productions, it's slick, classy and smooth - it's very well done.