Rakie Ayola
Biography
Rakie Olufunmilayo Ayola is a Welsh actress. She was born in Cardiff in May 1968, to a Sierra Leonean mother and a Nigerian father, and was raised by her mother's cousin and his wife in the Ely district of the city. She studied at 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 went on to attend the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, studying for a three-year acting diploma. In 2023 Rakie Ayola was the 18th recipient of the prestigious 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 on which she was an Executive Producer. In 2021 Rakie Ayola won BAFTA Best Supporting Actress for BBC1 film Anthony by Jimmy McGovern. Ayola has appeared in television shows including Kaos, The Pact Season 1, Grace, Shetland, No Offence, Midsomer Murders, Black Mirror, Noughts + Crosses, Doctor Who, Silent Witness and EastEnders, a number of Shakespearean theatrical performances and feature films such as Been So Long, Now Is Good, Great Moments in Aviation, The i Inside, Dredd, and Sahara. She appeared as Kyla Tyson in the BBC medical drama Holby City from its eighth to eleventh series.
Known For
All Movies (18)
- Bad Apples2026 · as Sylvia
- National Theatre at Home: The Authenticator2026 · as Abi
- Diamond Sky2025 · as Suzzane Kirk
- Hope Is Lost2025 · as Hope (voice)
- Mothers, Missiles and the American President2021 · as Narrator
- Anthony2020 · as Gee Walker
- Brexit: The Uncivil War2019 · as Camilla
- Been So Long2018 · as Martina
- King Lear2016 · as Goneril
- Under Milk Wood2014 · as Voice
- Now Is Good2012 · as Phillippa
- Dredd2012 · as Chief Judge
- Sahara2005 · as Mrs. Nwokolo
- The I Inside2004 · as Nurse Clayton
- The Secret Laughter of Women1999 · as Talking Drum
- Great Moments in Aviation1994 · as Gabriel Angel
- Black Church Bay—
- Hedgehog— · as Consultant
All TV Shows (30)
- Falling2026 · as Muriel
- KAOS2024 · as Persephone
- Saving Lives in Cardiff2024 · as Self - Narrator
- The Pact2021 · as DS Holland
- The Pact2021 · as Christine Rees
- Grace2021 · as ACC Alison Vosper
- Alex Rider2020 · as Jo Byrne
- Flowers2016 · as Morag
- No Offence2015 · as Nora Attah
- Code of a Killer2015 · as Helena Adarkwa
- Shetland2013 · as Olivia Lennox
- Black Mirror2011 · as Shelly
- Vera2011 · as Amber Haleford
- My Almost Famous Family2009 · as Shalondra
- Bargain Hunt Famous Finds2008
- Doctor Who2005 · as Hostess
- Sea of Souls2004 · as Yemi
- Canterbury Tales2003 · as Nicky Constable
- Being April2002 · as Taneshia
- Waking the Dead2001 · as Pauline
- Murder in Mind2001 · as Cally
- Holby City1999 · as Kyla Tyson
- Maisie Raine1998 · as D.C. Helen Tomlin
- Midsomer Murders1997 · as Alice Winning
- Scarlett1994 · as Pansy
- Ready, Steady, Cook1994 · as Self - Guest
- Nightshift1993
- Soldier Soldier1991 · as Bernie Roberts
- Screen Two1985 · as Gabriel Angel
- Question Time1979 · as Self - Panellist