Adjoa Andoh

Adjoa Andoh
Andoh in 2020
Born	Adjoa Aiboom Helen Andoh (1963-01-14) 14 January 1963 Clifton, Bristol, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1984–present

Adjoa Andoh (born 14 January 1963) is a British film, television, stage and radio actress. She is known on the UK stage for lead roles at the RSC, the National Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre and the Almeida Theatre, and is a familiar face on British television, notably in two series of Doctor Who as companion Martha's mother Francine Jones, 90 episodes of the BBC's long-running medical drama Casualty as Staff Nurse (later Sister) Colette Griffiths (née Kierney) and a year in the BBC's EastEnders. Andoh is the voice of Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency; she won "Audio Book of the Year" for Tea Time for the Traditionally Built.

She made her Hollywood debut in autumn 2009 starring as Nelson Mandela's Chief of Staff Brenda Mazibuko alongside Morgan Freeman as Mandela in Clint Eastwood's Invictus.

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), Jonathan Creek, 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).

She has appeared in Doctor Who a number of times: in 2006 as Sister Jatt in series 2 episode "New Earth" and as Nurse Albertine in the audio drama Year of the Pig. In 2007, she appeared in several episodes of the third series ("Smith and Jones", "The Lazarus Experiment", "42", "The Sound of Drums", and "Last of the Time Lords") as Francine Jones, the mother of Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman). She reprised her role in the finale of series 4 ("The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End").

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.

Theatrical work

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).

Personal life

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. 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.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
1991	London South West	Marion
1995	What My Mother Told Me	Jesse
2004	Every Time You Look at Me	Mrs. Berry
2007	The Shadow in the North	Jessie Saxon
2008	Adulthood	Mrs Peel
2009	Invictus	Brenda Mazibuko
2016	Brotherhood	Mrs Peel
2019	Fractured	Dr. Jacobs

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1990–1991	EastEnders	Karen	10 episodes
1992–2004	The Bill	Mrs. Hughes, Diana Holt, Mrs. Baptiste	3 episodes: "A Blind Eye", "Grey Area", "236"
1992	Waiting for God	Dr. Angela Avery	1 episode: "Sleeping Pills"
1993, 2000–2003	Casualty	Maggie (1 episode, 1993), Colette Kierney/Griffiths	73 episodes
1994	The Brittas Empire	Reporter	1 episode: "High Noon"
1995	Health and Efficiency	Sister Beth Williams	2 episodes: "The Old Dope Peddler", "Five Have Plenty of Fun"
	The Tomorrow People	Amanda Jones	3 episodes
1996	Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's…	Defence Counsel	1 episode: "Twelve Angry Men"
	Testament: The Bible in Animation	Ruth	1 episode (Voice)
1997	Peak Practice	Dr. Nixon	2 episodes: "Letting Go", "The Price"
1998	Close Relations	April	Mini-Series
	A Rather English Marriage	Mandy Hulme	TV movie
1999	Jonathan Creek	Anthea Spacey	1 episode: "The Curious Tale of Mr. Spearfish"
2006	Doctor Who	Sister Jatt	1 episodes: "New Earth"
2007–2008	Doctor Who	Francine Jones	7 episodes: "Smith and Jones", "The Lazarus Experiment", "42", "The Sound of Drums", "Last of the Time Lords", "The Stolen Earth", "Journey's End"
2007	Wire in the Blood	Celeste Davies	1 episode: "The Colour of Amber"
2009–2011	M.I. High	Head of MI9	Recurring character
2009	Missing	DCI Lauren Ford	Recurring character, 3 episodes
2011	Scott & Bailey	Janice	Guest star
	Law & Order: UK	Pathologist	Recurring character, 3 episode
2012	Julius Caesar	Portia	TV movie. Made by the Royal Shakespeare Company for the BBC.
2014	Wizards vs. Aliens	Old Bethesta	The two-part story "Daughters of Stone".
2015	Broadchurch	Julie	Recurring character, 1 episode (to date)
2015	Cucumber	Marie	Recurring character, 2 episodes (to date)
2015–2020	Thunderbirds Are Go	Colonel Casey	Recurring character, 7 episodes
2016	Line of Duty	Prosecutor	2 episodes: "The Process", "Snake Pit"
2018	Death in Paradise	Celeste Jones	1 episode: "Dark Memories" S7: E7
2020	Silent Witness	DI Nina Rosen	2 Episodes "Deadhead"
2020	Bridgerton	Lady Danbury

Selected radio

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1991	The Blade of the Poisoner	Dorina	Carver's target
2009	Planet B	Voice of Planet B	Narrator of the series
2019	The Archers	Fiona Lloyd	Alistair's sister

Video games

Year	Title	Role(s)	Notes
2001	Wave Rally
2004	Fable (2004 video game)
2005	Kameo	Lenya
2008	Age of Conan
2008	Fable II
2010	Dante's Inferno (video game)	Background Shades / Innocents of Acre / Semiramis
2010	Fable III
2012	The Secret World	Zhara / Additional Voices
2012	Fable: The Journey
2014	Dreamfall Chapters	Shepherd / Mother Utana / Adala
2017	Horizon Zero Dawn	Sona / Cpl. Vandana Sarai

External links

• Adjoa Andoh at IMDb
• "What determines who we are? | Adjoa Andoh | TEDxBermuda". TEDx Talks, 8 December 2014.