Michaela Coel

Birthday: October 1st, 1988 Place of Birth: Tower Hamlets, London, England

From Wikipedia

Michaela Coel (born 1 October 1988) is a poet, singer-songwriter, screenwriter and an award winning actress and playwright.

Coel is best known for the Channel 4 drama Top Boy and her unique run of leading roles at the National Theatre including the award nominated Home and the critically acclaimed Medea on the Olivier.

Her first play Chewing Gum Dreams was first seen at The Yard Theatre (2012), it shortly after won the Alfred Fagon Award for Best Playwright of African or Caribbean Descent in 2012. The play then went on to be produced by the Bush Theatre (2012), Royal Theatre Holland (2012), Royal Exchange Theatre (2013), and the Royal National Theatre (2014).

Coel graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2012, whilst training she won the largest Laurence Olivier Bursary Award].

As a poet and musician Coel released an album entitled Fixing Barbie in 2009, since then she has performed on stages including Wembley Arena, Bush Theatre, Nuyorican, Rotterdam De Doelen Concert Hall.

It was announced by Channel 4 in August 2014 that Coel is to star in and write a new sitcom called Chewing Gum, inspired by the play Chewing Gum Dreams, which will be aired on E4 in 2015. C4 Comedy Blaps were released as teasers in September 2014. In 2015 Coel will also appear in BBC 1 drama London Spy.