Ariyon Bakare

Ariyon Bakare
Born	London, England
Education	WAC Arts College
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1990–present
Television	Doctors Good Omens Carnival Row His Dark Materials

Ariyon Bakare () is an English actor. He has appeared in the BBC One soap opera Doctors as Ben Kwarme, the Amazon Prime television series Good Omens and Carnival Row, and the BBC One and HBO series His Dark Materials. Prior to this, Bakare made appearances on British dramas such as The Bill, Casualty, and Holby City.

Early life

Due to conflict with his father, Bakare left his family home at the age of 15, and completed his education while homeless. Years later, he returned home and "made peace" with his father. Then at the age of 17, Bakare moved from London to New York to pursue dance as a career, and trained as dancer at various conservatories including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Two years into his training, he was informed that dancers often retire at a young age. The next day, he gave dance up, and began focusing on acting. He moved back to London at the age of 20, and began studying acting at Drama Centre London. His first professional job was with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). He stated that while performing with the RSC, he also worked on jobs in Scotland, as well as learning scriptwriting and singing soul and opera music.

Career

From 2001 to 2005, Bakare portrayed the role of Ben Kwarme in the BBC soap opera Doctors. For his portrayal of the role, he was nominated for Best Actor at the 2004 British Soap Awards. After leaving Doctors, Bakare returned to direct and write several episodes. He then co-wrote and starred in the Channel drama Stealing Lives. In November 2008, he appeared as a villain in the BBC drama Spooks, and in October 2009, he made an appearance in Casualty. In 2011, Bakare played a mini-cab driver, Carl Lucas, in the last episode of the sixth series of Law & Order UK, first broadcast in 2012. He appeared in Dancing on the Edge, first broadcast in 2013, as Wesley Holt, a band manager. Bakare later appeared in Doctor Who, in the 2015 episode, "The Woman Who Lived", alongside Maisie Williams. He played the antagonist of the episode, a lion-like creature called Leandro. He had a cameo as a Rebel pilot in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. In 2019, he began appearing in the BBC TV series His Dark Materials, in the role of Lord Boreal.

Bakare's theatre credits include productions at the RSC and the Lyric Hammersmith. He was nominated for an Ian Charleson Award for the role of Florindo in Tim Supple's staging of A Servant to Two Masters at the Young Vic theatre. He starred opposite Janet Suzman in the British premiere of Dream of the Dog, where he played a South African nattily clad architect, "Look Smart".

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	After the Rain	Vusisizwe (Joseph)
1999	The Secret Laughter of Women	Rev. Fola
1999	Dead Bolt Dead	The Thug
2000–2001	Family Affairs	Adrian Scott	Series regular
2001–2005	Doctors	Ben Kwarme	Series regular
2006	Shoot the Messenger	Elroy
2008	The Dark Knight	Guard Commander
2009	Happy Ever Afters	Wilson
2012	Full Firearms	Laslo
2013	Lewis	Carl Drew	episode “Intelligent Design”
2015	Jupiter Ascending	Greeghan
2015	Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell	Stephen Black	7 episodes
2015	Dusha shpiona	Sam
2015	Doctor Who	Leandro	Episode: "The Woman Who Lived"
2016	Thirteen	Chief Superintendent Burridge	4 episodes
2016	Silent Witness	Father Daws	2 episodes
2016	Rogue One: A Star Wars Story	Blue Four
2017	Life	Hugh Derry
2019	Frankie	Ian	Film
2019	Good Omens	Ligur	Miniseries
2019–2020	His Dark Materials	Lord Boreal	Main role
2019-2023	Carnival Row	Darius	Recurring role
2022	The Amazing Maurice	Darktan	Voice
2022	Wedding season	Vince
2022	The Mosquito Coast	Richard	Series regular
2023	Black Ops	Detective Inspector Clinton Blair

Stage

Year	Title	Roles	Notes
2023	God of Carnage	Alan	Lyric Theatre

External links

• Ariyon Bakare at IMDb