Ariyon Bakare

Ariyon Bakare ( Listen ⓘ ) is an English actor. He has appeared in the BBC One soap opera Doctors as Ben Kwarme, the Amazon Prime television series Good Omens and Carnival Row, and the BBC One and HBO series His Dark Materials. Prior to this, Bakare made appearances on British dramas such as The Bill, Casualty, and Holby City.

Ariyon Bakare was born around 1971, of a Nigerian father. Growing up, he lived all around east London. Due to conflict with his father, Bakare left his family home at the age of 15, and completed his education while homeless for a year. He was close to his stepmother.

Six months after returning home and reconciling with his father, at the age of 17, Bakare moved from London to New York to pursue dance as a career. He trained as dancer at various conservatories, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Two years into his training, he was informed that dancers often retire at a young age. The next day, he gave dance up, and began focusing on acting. He moved back to London at the age of 20, and began studying acting at Drama Centre London.

His first professional job was with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). He stated that while performing with the RSC, he also worked on jobs in Scotland, as well as learning scriptwriting and singing soul and opera music.

From 2001 to 2005, Bakare portrayed the role of Ben Kwarme in the BBC soap opera Doctors.

After leaving Doctors, Bakare returned to direct and write several episodes. He then co-wrote and starred in the Channel drama Stealing Lives. In November 2008, he appeared as a villain in the BBC drama Spooks, and in October 2009, he made an appearance in Casualty.

In 2011, Bakare played a mini-cab driver, Carl Lucas, in the last episode of the sixth series of Law & Order UK, first broadcast in 2012. He appeared in Dancing on the Edge, first broadcast in 2013, as Wesley Holt, a band manager. Bakare later appeared in Doctor Who, in the 2015 episode, "The Woman Who Lived", alongside Maisie Williams. He played the antagonist of the episode, a lion-like creature called Leandro.

He had a cameo as a Rebel pilot in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. In 2019, he began appearing in the BBC TV series His Dark Materials, in the role of Lord Boreal.

In 2022 He played the older version of character Alex Gilrey who is a long term murder suspect in the BBC TV mini series Karen Pirie which was based on the Inspector Karen Pirie series by Val McDermid.

Bakare's theatre credits include productions at the RSC and the Lyric Hammersmith. He played Florindo in Tim Supple's staging of A Servant to Two Masters at the Young Vic theatre.[citation needed ]

He starred opposite Janet Suzman in the British premiere of Dream of the Dog, where he played a South African nattily-clad architect, "Look Smart".

For his role in Doctors, Bakare was nominated for Best Actor at the 2004 British Soap Awards.

He was nominated for an Ian Charleson Award for the role of Florindo in A Servant to Two Masters at the Young Vic.[when? ][citation needed ]