Kwame Kwei-Armah

Kwame Kwei-Armah (born Ian Roberts; 24 March 1967 in Hillingdon, London) is a British actor, playwright, director and broadcaster. In 2005, Kwei-Armah became the second black Briton to have a play staged in the West End of London when his award-winning piece ''Elmina's Kitchen'' transferred to the Garrick Theatre. He was the first black Briton to head a major British national theater, when he took the directorship of the Young Vic in 2018. Kwei-Armah was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to drama.

Brought up in Southall, West London, he changed his name at the age of 19, after tracing his family history, through the slave trade back to his ancestral African roots in Ghana. His parents were born in Grenada. He has four children.

As an actor, Kwei-Armah is probably best known for playing paramedic Finlay Newton in the BBC medical drama ''Casualty'' from 1999 until 2004. He served as the chancellor of the University of the Arts London from 2011 to 2015. and was the artistic director of Baltimore's Center Stage Theater in the United States from 2011 to 2018. From 2018, he was artistic director of the Young Vic theatre in London, announcing his departure in February 2024. Provided by Wikipedia