Edun was born on 16 March 1985 in
Lagos,
Nigeria, to Nigerian financier and politician
Olawale Edun and half-
Ghanaian, half-English Amy Adwoa (née Appiah). His maternal uncle is the philosopher, cultural theorist and novelist
Kwame Anthony Appiah. His maternal grandparents were Ghanaian lawyer, diplomat and politician
Joseph Emmanuel Appiah – a
Nana of the
Ashanti people through whom Edun is a descendant of Ghanaian warrior emperor
Osei Tutu – and art historian and author
Peggy Cripps, daughter of Sir
Stafford Cripps,
Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1947 to 1950 and son of the
first Lord Parmoor. Edun moved to the United Kingdom at the age of 11. He attended
Eton College from the age of 13, before reading Classics at
Christ's College, Cambridge (
University of Cambridge). In his final year at Christ's College, he won the dissertation prize for his thesis on ''
Homer's Odyssey''. His father, a financier, encouraged Edun to enter banking as a career, and he interned with
Citigroup. He considered studying for a
Master of Philosophy degree, but decided to attend the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) instead. == Career ==