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David Harewood's Biography

 
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David Harewood was born in Birmingham in England on 8 December 1965. His father was a lorry driver and his mother a caterer.

He studied at London's National Youth Theatre and then RADA.

In 1997 David Harewood became the first black actor to play Othello at the National Theatre.

He then had a variety of roles such as that of Joe Robinson in the TV series The Vice, Captain Poison in the film Blood Diamond, and Nelson Mandela in the TV film Mrs Mandela.

On 31 December 2011 David Harewood was appointed an MBE for services to drama.

However, it was when he was cast as David Estes in Homeland that David Harewood became better known to a US audience.

Harewood would later reveal to The Radio Times, "Before Homeland, I had £80 in the bank and no idea what I was going to do."

He then gained roles as Sam Saperstein in Selfie, Hank Henshaw in Supergirl and Joel Steadman in The Night Manager.

Around the time of The Night Manager being broadcast on the BBC, Sky Arts were to show David Harewood’s F Word, as part of their Failure season.

In October 2016, David Harewood presented a documentary on ITV In The Shadow Of Mary Seacole.

In 2019, he presented a BBC documentary David Harewood: Psychosis And Me. When he was 20 years old David Harewood had a psychotic breakdown and when he was 23 he had been sectioned. The programme was nominated for a Bafta for best single documentary.

In 2023, he presented the series Get On Up: The Triumph of Black America on BBC One.

In 2024, he became President of Rada.

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