Rakie Ayola Bio, Age, Husband, Children, Height, Net Worth – Rakie Ayola is one of the most prominent actresses in the world, especially in the United Kingdom.

She has starred in quite a number of movies and in this article, we will be taking a look at her life including her career, awards, husband, and children.

Rakie Ayola Biography

Welsh actress Rakie Olufunmilayo Ayola is well-known for her roles in theater and television.

Ayola has made appearances in a number of Shakespearean theatrical productions, as well as television shows like Black Mirror, Noughts + Crosses, Doctor Who, Silent Witness, and EastEnders, as well as feature films like Sahara, The I Inside, and Great Moments in Aviation. From the eighth to the eleventh series of the BBC medical drama Holby City, she played Kyla Tyson.

Ayola was created in Cardiff by a Nigerian father and a Sierra Leonean mother. She was raised in Ely, Cardiff, by the mother’s cousin and his wife.

Despite not speaking Yoruba, Ayola is of Yoruba descent and this is due to her family’s rich African history.

In addition to participating in the Orbit Youth Theatre, South Glamorgan Youth Theatre, South Glamorgan Youth Choir, and the National Youth Theatre of Wales, Ayola attended Windsor Clive Primary and Glan Ely High School.

She dropped out of high school before taking her A Levels in order to pursue her acting career. While still in primary school, she performed in her first acting performance for the Welsh Eisteddfod as a lady-in-waiting at King Arthur’s court.

The well-known actress once claimed that Barbra Streisand’s portrayal of Dolly in Hello, Dolly! inspired her to act as a child, but she attributes her adoptive mother’s encouragement to her desire to pursue acting as a career.

Selling jeans at Cardiff’s Bessemer Road Market was Ayola’s first job. While attending drama school, she worked as a chambermaid. Six weeks before graduating, she was offered a position with the “Made in Wales” theater company, which allowed her to get her union card.

Rakie Ayola age

Rakie Ayola was born in May 1968 and this means that she is 54 years old, however, her face might be deceiving because looking at her face you might be tempted to say that she is in her twenties.

Rakie Ayola Husband

Ayola first met her future husband, Adam Smethurst, a fellow actor who was performing in a 1998 production of Hamlet. Adam is the son of Love Thy Neighbor actor Jack Smethurst. They reconnected during the production of Twelfth Night two years later, and they later started dating. The couple wed in May 2004.

Rakie Ayola children

Her first child, Tansy, was born in July 2004, a few months after the talented and award-winning actress’s marriage. Shani, her second child, was born in January 2009.

Rakie Ayola Net worth

Rakie Ayola has not only made a name for herself but she has also made some good money. Her enviable reputation in the movie industry has made sure that she has some good money sitting in her account. Her current net worth is around two (2) million dollars.

Rakie Ayola height

Rakie is not the tallest of ladies and her height is reported 1.65 m.

Rakie Ayola career

Ayola started her acting career by appearing in several Shakespearean plays, including Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, and The Merchant of Venice.

She portrayed Hazel in John Godber’s Up ‘n’ Under in 1991 at Cardiff’s Sherman Theatre. Ayola has also played the leading roles of Olivia and Viola in Twelfth Night.

She has additionally appeared in contemporary productions, taking the lead in Dido, Queen of Carthage at the Globe Theatre in London in 2003, a role she called “a dream part.” She has stated that Isabella from Measure for Measure would be her ideal role.

Rakie Ayola awards

For her performance as Kyla Tyson in Holby City, Ayola was nominated and placed on the shortlist for the ‘Female Performance in TV’ award at the 2006 Screen Nation Awards. The following year, she was nominated again for the same role and received Honourable Mention.

Ayola was named the 29th sexiest woman in Wales by WalesOnline in 2005. Rakie serves as a trustee for the Actors’ Children’s Trust and a PIPA (Parents in Performing Arts) ambassador.