OUT OF THE SHADOWS

THE BRITISH ACTOR OPENS UP ABOUT IDENTITY, CONFIDENCE AND HIS STEADY RISE TO FAME

- Olivia Harrowell

If there's a way to describe Archie Madekwe, it's that he's a creative at heart. From an early age, artistic fields drew him in. "That looked like me making magazines and being a writer, and putting on plays and being in the choir," the 30-year-old South London native told W magazine. "Anything that wasn't academics or sport."

He found his way to the renowned BRIT School, where he studied acting, before furthering his learning at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. However, his studies were cut short when he was cast in The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? on the West End in 2017.

"I thought I'd be a professional theatre actor, maybe do this 'pilot season' thing I'd seen my cousin [Ashley Madekwe] doing," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "No-one ever told me I'd be travelling all the time, living out of hotel rooms. It's like it all just happened to me."