EP. 19 Jonathan & Sergey Cross the Sea To Chat with Susan Wokoma

 

Susan Wokoma – British actress and writer Susan Wokoma is one of the most brilliant and interesting young actors working today. Having already established a diverse and award winning body of work in her short career.

In January, Susan reprised the role of eccentric ‘Cynthia’ in the second series of BAFTA Award winning Chewing Gum for Channel 4. The first series of Chewing Gum, a British television sitcom series set in London, debuted on E4 in October 2015. Written by and starring Michaela Coel, Robert Lonsdale, Danielle Walters and Tanya Franks, the show centers on Beyoncé obsessed ‘Tracey Gordon’, a religious, 24-year-old shop assistant, who wants to and learn more about the world.

In October last year, Susan starred in six-part comedic horror series Crazyhead, a new series from Misfits creator Howard Overman. The dark comedy, developed by Urban Myth Films for Channel 4 in association with Netflix, is a funny and gripping programme about friendship, love and facing your demons. It follows an unlikely duo of demon hunters – Susan played ‘Raquel’, opposite Cara Theobold, a self-made demon hunter with a whole lot of baggage and an impressive lack of social skills. The cast also includes Riann Steele, Lewis, Arinze Kene and Tony Curran, and Crazy Face was broadcast on E4 in the UK and was launched on Netflix globally in December.

Also in October, Susan appeared as ‘Megan’, alongside a fantastic young British cast, including Laura Carmichael, Chloe Pirrie, Jack Farthing and Joe Dempsie, in the melancholic comedy Burn Burn Burn. The independent feature was director Chanya Button’s debut and follows two best friends as they travel across the U.K spreading the ashes of their recently deceased friend. The feature was nominated for the ‘Raindance’ Award at The British Independent Film Awards and was nominated in the category of ‘Best Film’ at the London Film Festival, both in 2015, and won awards from the LOCO Film Festival, Cinema City, Odessa International Film Festival and Umberside Cinema ahead of its UK theatrical release on 28th October. The feature was distributed globally by Netflix later in November.

In April 2014, Susan made her film debut as ‘Amala’ and alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose and John Boyega, in Biyi Bandele’s adaptation of Half of a Yellow Sun. The feature, based on the novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi, tells the tale of two sisters after they return to Nigeria right before outbreak of the 1960 Nigerian Civil War. In August 2014, Susan took on the role of ‘Della’ in The Inbetweeners 2, the box office friendly sequel of 2011 hit film, The Inbetweeners Movie. Set in Australia, the British comedy revisits the four main characters from the original as they travel to Australia for the ultimate lads’ holiday. The film became the highest grossing British film in the UK in 2014.

In 2006, Susan made her feature film debut as ‘Marie’ in the BAFTA Award-winning fictionalized documentary, That Summer Day. The special follows the lives of six school children on the day of the 7/7 London bombings in 2005. Using archived news footage, the programme was created in response to concerns about how London’s children were coping with the events of that day. The programme aired on BBC Two one year later. Susan’s other on-screen credits include ‘Jess Manning’ in the 2015 BAFTA Craft nominated BBC film The Last Hours of Laura K; ‘Lance ‘Corporal Jasmine Jaspers’ in the third season of the BBC Three’s TV series Bluestone 42 in 2015 and, a role in the TV series Uncle, also on BBC Three in the same year. She also played ‘Jessica’ in Crashing, Channel 4’s six-part British comedy, broadcast in January 2016; ‘Doctor Sensible’ in ITV’s Horrible Science; ‘Daisy’ in Hotel Trubble (2011), and ‘Roz’ in Howard Overman’s cult hit series Misfits (2013).

Her theatre work includes productions at the Royal Court, Bush Theatre, Almeida, and The Royal National Theatre. Susan also joined the New York transfers of Phyllida Lloyd’s all female Donmar Warehouse productions of Henry IV and Julius Caesar at St. Ann’s Warehouse in 2014.

Susan is currently involved in developing new comedies with Objective, 2LE Media and Lucky Giant, and also writing her own comedy series Fix You as a writer/performer with Cave Bear Productions.

In 2016, Susan won Best Supporting Actor at the BBC Audio Drama Awards for her performance in the radio adaptation of Marie NDiaye’s Three Strong Women. She was a member of The National Youth Theatre as a teenager before going on to train at RADA.