Susan Wokoma, 35, was born in Peckham to Nigerian parents. She made her TV debut on CBBC aged 14, was a member of the National Youth Theatre and trained at Rada. She was named a Bafta breakthrough Brit in 2017. Her TV roles include Chewing Gum, Crashing and Cheaters. Film credits include Half of a Yellow Sun and Enola Holmes. She has extensive stage experience, including Phyllida Lloyd’s acclaimed all-female Shakespeare trilogy, and now stars in Chichester festival theatre’s world premiere of Deborah Frances-White’s debut play, Never Have I Ever.
You’ve concentrated on screen work in recent years. Why return to theatre?
Not that anyone cares, but I sort of semi-retired from doing theatre. It was like “I’m retiring”. “Yeah, whatever, see you later.” I fell in love with acting by doing youth theatre but just wasn’t finding the right challenges, so I quiet-quit. Then my friend Deborah Frances-White, with whom I’ve collaborated a lot on The Guilty Feminist, said: “I’ve written you this amazing part.” I read it and was like, “I’m coming out of retirement, guys!”
