Rakie Ayola

Rakie Olufunmilayo Ayola (born 11 May 1968) is a Welsh actress known for her work in theatre and television. She is best known for her role as Kyla Tyson in the BBC medical drama Holby City from its eighth to eleventh series. Ayola has also appeared in television shows including Kaos, Grace, Shetland, No Offence, Midsomer Murders, Black Mirror, Doctor Who, Silent Witness and EastEnders, a number of Shakespearean theatrical performances and feature films such as Now Is Good, Great Moments in Aviation, The i Inside, Dredd, and Sahara. She has won a BAFTA and two BAFTA Cymru for her work in the BBC 1 drama Anthony and The Pact.

In 2017, Ayola took over the role of Hermione Granger in the West End production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. In 2020, she won the Best Female Actor in a Play award at the Black British Theatre Awards for her performance in On Bear Ridge for National Theatre Wales and the Royal Court.

Ayola is an advocate of increased ethnic representation in the entertainment industry, and in 2001 founded her own production company, producing the short film Persephone's Playground for the Cannes Film Festival in order to further her campaign.

Early life Ayola was born in Cardiff on 11 May 1968 to a Sierra Leonean mother and a Nigerian father. She was raised by her mother's cousin and his wife in Ely, Cardiff. Ayola's heritage means she is Yoruba by descent, although she does not speak the language. Ayola studied at Windsor Clive Primary and Glan Ely High School, and was a member of the Orbit Youth Theatre, South Glamorgan Youth Theatre, South Glamorgan Youth Choir and the National Youth Theatre of Wales. She explains: "I've always wanted to act. I decided at 16 I wanted to make my living acting, but even if I couldn't, I’d be in an amateur theatre company." She worked as a chambermaid whilst attending drama school, and, six weeks prior to graduation, was offered a job with the 'Made in Wales' theatre company which enabled her to obtain her union card. She has identified her dream role to be that of Isabella in Measure for Measure, as she once lost out on the part and would like to prove herself capable of playing it. Ayola recalls having been daunted at the prospect of working alongside so many established names, but has said it was a "wonderful experience". thriller The i Inside, filmed in Sully Hospital, Cardiff, and starring Ryan Phillippe, Ayola says of her film career: "I really like doing film [but] I've not done enough big films though to really know the difference between film and television." She went on to appear in Gone With the Wind sequel Scarlett, She has spoken critically of the way the BBC treated the soap, moving it around the schedules and declining to commission a second series. She posed nude but for a pair of yellow rubber gloves to promote the show's launch, and was highly critical of the BBC when the show was cancelled midway through its second series. soap opera EastEnders (2001), Waking the Dead (2001), London's Burning (2001), Murder in Mind (2003), The Canterbury Tales (2003) and Sea of Souls (2004). In 2009, Ayola starred in the CBBC musical comedy My Almost Famous Family. She stated: "The script made me laugh out loud when I read it. [...] I also like the fact that there were a lot of correct boxes being ticked, but the writers and producer haven't been restrained by that. "So, instead of bowing to this altar, they've said, 'Okay, we have this family that's half-black, half-white, half-American, half-British. We have a mix of boys and girls, one character who's mixed-raced and deaf – but we're not going to be restrained by any of that. We're not going to tiptoe around Martha's disability or anything.' I liked that. It wasn't some sort of reverential hands-off approach to what we're presenting." She has also been cast in the film Dredd. In 2016 she played Amber Haleford in "Tuesday's Child", S6:E2 of Vera. She joined the cast of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre, London from 24 May 2017, playing the role of Hermione Granger. In 2017 Ayola founded Shanty Productions with her husband Adam Smethurst.

In 2020, she won the Best Female Actor in a Play award at the Black British Theatre Awards for her performance in On Bear Ridge for National Theatre Wales and the Royal Court.

Holby City From 2006 to 9 2008, Ayola starred in BBC medical drama Holby City as nurse Kyla Tyson. She had previously appeared in Holby City sister show Casualty, She was approached about returning to the show in a more permanent role by BBC casting director Julie Harkin. After a series of three meetings, a year after the birth of her first child, she agreed to assume the role of Kyla, despite being "nervous about signing such a long contract", stating: "I've been someone who's loved the uncertainty of acting. I've loved that one month it's Sahara in Morocco and the next I'm doing a stage play, then it's a six-part telly thing. But last summer I started thinking it would be really nice not to have to look for a job every couple of weeks. It would be nice just to stay put for a while. If I'm going to be a working mum I'd rather just be one rather than be one intermittently. And then Holby came along, so I'm very grateful".

Ayola signed a three-year contract to play Kyla, and described herself as "very similar" to her character, speaking positively about her working relationship with co-stars Jaye Jacobs and Sharon D. Clarke, as well as the "dream" storylines her character was given.

Race and charity work Throughout her career, Ayola has been outspoken on the subject of racial discrimination in the entertainment industry. Describing her motivation, she states: "I am not an overtly political person. I just want fairness". Ayola believes that black actors receive less recognition than their white counterparts, explaining; "If you get a show with six stars and one is black you are more likely to see interviews with the five white actors. [...] They are not being sold as a reason to watch." She believes that her career would have taken her in a different direction were she not Black, stating: "I could not have played any of the roles I have played on TV if I was white [...] I am very aware of where the glass ceiling is and it's still very low and expectations are still very low". She has noted having casting directors accept the notion of characters being both black and Welsh to be a particular problem, explaining that: "I get offered a lot of very different roles, but they're never Welsh. [...] The one time I was asked to play a Welsh character on screen was in Tiger Bay for BBC Wales, but I know if that series had been called Radyr Park or Cyncoed Close I wouldn't have been in it". In 2001, Ayola founded a production company and directed a short film entitled Persephone's Playground. She presented the film at the Cannes film festival, using it as part of her campaign for increased black representation in theatre, films and television. In 2008, Ayola offered her support to the Action for Southern Africa campaign Dignity! Period, aiming to provide affordable sanitary protection to Zimbabwean women.

Awards Ayola was nominated and shortlisted for the 'Female Performance in TV' award in the 2006 Screen Nation Awards, for her role as Kyla Tyson in Holby City. She received Honourable Mention for the same role the following year, and was shortlisted again in 2008. In 2005, WalesOnline voted Ayola the 29th sexiest woman in Wales, saying of her: "One of our favourite thesps, she's black, beautiful and the term "yummy mummy" should have been made for her." She placed 40th in 2008, with the Western Mail noting: "the last 15 years have only seen Rakie become more beautiful and more successful". Ayola placed 17th in the awards in 2009. Rakie is a Trustee of ACT, the Actors' Children's Trust, and an Ambassador of PIPA, Parents in Performing Arts. In 2021, she won a BAFTA for her role in the BBC One drama Anthony. In 2023, Ayola was the 18th recipient of the BAFTA Cymru Siân Phillips Award. At the same ceremony she also won the BAFTA Cymru Best Actress Award for her performance in BBC1 series The Pact Season 2.

Personal life

Ayola has a collection of troll dolls, and played the Moomintroll character Too-Ticky in BBC Radio 4's production of Tove Jansson's Moominland Midwinter.

She has an interest in travel, and has visited places such as Peru and Kenya. She has "a romantic notion of travelling around Europe in a camper van". describing herself as "an Ely girl through and through". She was made a Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2003.

During a 1998 production of Hamlet, Ayola met her future husband, fellow actor Adam Smethurst, son of Love Thy Neighbour star Jack Smethurst. The pair married in May 2004, and Ayola gave birth to their first daughter in July that year. Their second daughter was born in January 2009.

Filmography Ayola has undertaken the following roles from her screen and televisual debut in 1993, to the present day.

Film roles

Television roles Year Title Role Notes 1993 Nightshift Soldier Soldier Bernie Roberts Series 3 Going Underground: A Better Life Than Mine Lauren 1994 Scarlett Pansy Mini-series 1997 Tiger Bay Helen Jarrett 8 episodes 1998 Casualty Karen Goddard "Trapped", series 13 episode 19 Maisie Raine DC Helen Tomlin 12 episodes 2001 London's Burning Nina Series 13 episode 1 Waking the Dead Pauline Episode "A Simple Sacrifice" parts 1 & 2 The Green-Eyed Monster Leila EastEnders Miss French The Armando Iannucci Shows 3 episodes Double Yellow Presenter 2002 Being April Taneshia 6 episodes Offenders Tyla 6 episodes 2003 Holby City Marianne Lawson "By Any Other Name", series 5 episode 32 Murder in Mind Cally Episode "Stalkers" The Canterbury Tales Nicky Constable Episode "The Man of Law's Tale" 2004 Sea of Souls Yemi Adeoya Episode "That Old Black Magic" parts 1 and 2 2006 The Window Mojisola Holby City Kyla Tyson Series 8-11 2008 Doctor Who Hostess "Midnight", series 4 episode 10Bargain Hunt Famous Finds Self Series 1, episode 8, with Jack Smethurst 2009 My Almost Famous Family Shalondra Swann 2011 Black Mirror Shelly "The National Anthem"2012 Stella Hilary Episode 9 Silent Witness Annie Farmer Episode "Paradise Lost" 2015 Midsomer Murders Alice Winning Episode 17.3 " The Ballad of Midsomer County" 2017 No Offence Nora Attah Series 2 2019 Shetland Olivia Lennox Series 52021 Grace Assistant Chief Constable Vosper Noughts and Crosses Prime Minister Opal Folami The Pact Ds Holland 6 Episodes 2022 The Pact Christine Rees Series 2 6 Episodes 2024 Kaos Persephone 2024 Gavin & Stacey The Finale The Registrar

Video games