Early life and career

Akinnuoye-Agbaje was born in Islington, London to Nigerian parents of Yoruba origin, who were students in the UK. He is fluent in several languages including Yoruba, Italian, and Swahili. He can "get along" in a few other languages, including French. When he was only six weeks old, his biological parents gave him up to a white working-class family in Tilbury. His foster parents had at least ten African children, including Akinnuoye-Agbaje's two sisters, living in their house at certain points. His foster father made a living as a lorry driver and struggled to support the family financially.

When he was eight years old, his biological parents brought him back to Nigeria but, as he was unable to speak the Yoruba language and forbidden by his parents to speak English, he was returned to Tilbury shortly thereafter. The brief exposure to Nigeria left him struggling to reconcile his heritage with the distinctly English culture and environment he was raised in. As a teenager facing a cultural identity crisis, he joined a local skinhead gang in order to escape racial persecution at their hands. At 16 years old, having become a violent thief, his foster parents sent him to a boarding school in Surrey where he ultimately attempted suicide before coming to terms with his background and turning his life around.

He went on to earn a Law degree from King's College London and a Masters in Law from the University of London. While a university student, Akinnuoye-Agbaje worked in a clothes shop where he was introduced to the world of modeling. His modeling career eventually led him to Hollywood, where he began his acting career with a 1995 role in Congo.

His best known acting roles have been as the imposing convict Simon Adebisi in the 1990s HBO prison series Oz and as Mr. Eko on ABC's survivor drama Lost. He has numerous film credits since he began acting in 1994 and has appeared in many top films, including The Bourne Identity, in which he played a deposed African dictator, Hitu the police officer in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Lock-Nah in The Mummy Returns, and Heavy Duty in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

In 2009, Akinnuoye-Agbaje was in talks with Marvel Studios to play the superhero Black Panther in a proposed film of the same name. In an interview, he stated his excitement about the possibility, saying that "the timing is so right" for a black superhero, and "while I'm in my prime, this is the time... I'm going to keep knocking on their door." In 2014 Marvel did announce a Black Panther film, though with Chadwick Boseman in the title role.

Akinnuoye-Agbaje has also stated that he will be directing a film about his life story. More recently, he guest starred in the second episode of season 8 of Monk, and played Derek Jameson in the 2011 film The Thing. He portrayed Kurse in the Marvel Studios film Thor: The Dark World. He portrayed the character Malko in the fifth season of Game of Thrones. In 2015 it was reported that Akinnuoye-Abaje voices the lead character of Bilal, a film about the life of Bilal Ibn Rabah set to be released in the second half of the year. In 2015 it was announced that he'd joined the cast of Suicide Squad as the Batman villain Killer Croc.

Personal life

Akinnuoye-Agbaje is a Nichiren Buddhist and a member of the Soka Gakkai International Buddhist association.

Akinnuoye-Agbaje asked to be written off Lost, citing a desire to return to London after his parents' deaths and to direct a film there.

He has never married or had children.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1995	Congo	Kahega	Frank Marshall
1995	Delta of Venus	The Clairvoyant	Zalman King
1995	Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls	Hitu	Steve Oedekerk
1996	The Deadly Voyage	Emmanuel	John Mackenzie
1998	Legionnaire	Luther	Peter MacDonald
2000	Enslavement: The True Story of Fanny Kemble	Joe	James Keach
2001	The Mummy Returns	Lock-Nah	Stephen Sommers
2001	Lip Service	Sebastion	Shawn Schepps
2002	Bourne Identity, TheThe Bourne Identity	Nykwana Wombosi	Doug Liman
2004	Unstoppable	Junod	David Carson
2005	Mistress of Spices, TheThe Mistress of Spices	Kwesi	Paul Mayeda Berges
2005	On the One (Preaching to the Choir)	Bull Sharky	Charles Randolph-Wright
2005	Get Rich or Die Tryin'	Majestic	Jim Sheridan
2009	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra	Heavy Duty	Stephen Sommers
2010	Faster	The Evangelist	George Tillman, Jr.
2011	Killer Elite	The Agent	Gary McKendry
2011	Thing, TheThe Thing	Derek Jameson	Matthijs van Heijningen Jr.
2012	Best Laid Plans	Joseph	David Blair
2013	Bullet to the Head	Morel	Walter Hill
2013	Thor: The Dark World	Algrim the Strong / Kurse	Alan Taylor
2013	The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete	Pike	George Tillman, Jr.
2014	Pompeii	Atticus	Paul W.S. Anderson
2014	Annie	Nash	Will Gluck
2015	Trumbo	Virgil Brooks	Jay Roach
2015	Concussion	Dave Duerson	Peter Landesman
2016	Bilal	Bilal	Khurram Alavi	Voice only
2016	Suicide Squad	Waylon Jones / Killer Croc	David Ayer	Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1995	New York Undercover	Cliff Ramsey
1996-1999	Linc's	Winston Iwelu
1997	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea	Cabe Attucks
1997-2000	Oz	Simon Adebisi
2005-2006	Lost	Mr. Eko	Main Cast (Season 2-3): 21 episodes
2009	Monk	Samuel Waingaya
2011	Strike Back: Project Dawn
2012	Hunted	Deacon Crane
2015	Major Lazer	Major Lazer/Evil Lazer	(voice)
2015	Game of Thrones	Malko
2015	American Odyssey	Frank Majors

Music videos

• "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No)" - Dawn Penn (1994)
• "Love No Limit" - Mary J. Blige (1993)
• "I Want It All Night Long" - Heather Hunter (1993)
• "Giving Him Something He Can Feel" - En Vogue (1992)
• "Jealousy" - Pet Shop Boys (1991)
• "Talk It Over" - Grayson Hugh (1989)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]