DeObia Oparei

DeObia Oparei (born 7 December 1971) is an English actor. They are best known for playing the Gunner in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Rongo in Dumbo (2019), Loki Hayes in Santa Clarita Diet (2017), and Boastful Loki in Loki (2021).

Early life Oparei was born on 7 December 1971 in Hackney, London, to parents of Nigerian ancestry.

Career Oparei began their career working for various British theatre companies, like The Royal Shakespeare Company and The National Youth Theatre. Oparei's film debut was a small supporting role in Alien 3. After playing the lead role of American playwright John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation, Oparei scored their next supporting film role, as "Le Chocolat", in the Baz Luhrmann film Moulin Rouge!. In 1993, they appeared in an episode of the popular British television series Minder as 'Winston', a worker for Arthur Daley.

Operai moved to Sydney, Australia in 1995, where they co-hosted the regular night 'Magic' upstairs at Kinselas with Basil, and performed Operai's Queen bitch rap in cLUB bENT at The Performance Space, with Darren Spowart and Matthew Bergin.

Oparei is also a playwright. Their first play, Crazyblackmuthafuckin'self, a dramedy about race, sexuality and identity, opened to critical acclaim at the Royal Court Theatre in 2002. The Guardian'''s Michael Billington described the play as "wild, raunchy and funny". The play later toured to Sydney, Australia, as part of the 2003 Company B Belvoir International Playreading Series, at the Belvoir Street Downstairs Theatre, on 11 August 2003.

In 2015, Oparei joined the cast of the HBO epic fantasy series Game of Thrones in its fifth season, portraying the character Areo Hotah. In 2017, they joined the cast of Santa Clarita Diet as Loki Hayes, and in 2019 joined the cast of Loki'' (2019) as Boastful Loki, the latter role in reference to the former.

Personal life On 5 June 2020, they came out as gay on Instagram.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1992 Alien 3 Arthur 1998 Dark City Train Passenger 2001 Moulin Rouge! Le Chocolat 2002 Dirty Pretty Things Mini-Cab Driver The Four Feathers Idris-Es-Saier 2003 The Foreigner Richard 2004 Thunderbirds Mullion 2005 7 Seconds Spanky Direct-to-video; Credited as Dhobi Oparei Doom Sergeant Gannon "Destroyer" Roark 2009 Thick as Thieves Rawls Green Street 2: Stand Your Ground Derrick Jackson Direct-to-video 2010 Mr. Nice Tee Bone Taylor Death Race 2 Big Bill The Presence Woodsman 2011 Your Highness Thundarian Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Gunner 2012 Dredd TJ the Paramedic 2013 Tula: The Revolt Hacha 2016 Independence Day: Resurgence Dikembe Umbutu 2019 Dumbo Rongo Jumanji: The Next Level Gromm Credited as Deobia Oparei 2021 Wrath of Man Brad 2022 The Gray Man Dulin

Television Year Title Role Notes 1990 Blood Rights Winston 3 episodes Desmond's Willy Episode: "Auntie Susu" Medics King Episode: "Iraj" 1992 Between the Lines Ruby Episode: "Nothing Personal" 1993 Minder Winston Episode: "Cars and Pints and Pains" 1998 Wildside Bernice Trial & Retribution DC Palmer 2002 Holby City Dave Whellan Episode: "Hearts and Minds" 2015 Proof Mr. Oumandi 2 episodes 2015–2016 Game of Thrones Areo Hotah 6 episodes 2017 Emerald City Sullivan Episode: "Mistress - New - Mistress" Santa Clarita Diet Loki Hayes 2 episodes The Orville Captain Vorak Episode: "About a Girl" 2019 Sex Education Mr. Effiong 2021 Loki Boastful Loki Episodes: "The Nexus Event" and "Journey into Mystery"

Shorts 2015: Clones

Synchronisations 2009: League of Legends 2018: World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth