Acting Theatre Fagbenle started acting at the age of 14 for the Ritual Theatre Arts and was given the lead role in an adaptation of
William Shakespeare's
Macbeth, performing at international venues and at central London's
Bloomsbury Theatre. He trained at the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts Fagbenle continued his Shakespearean roles by performing in
Romeo and Juliet as
Mercutio in a national tour culminating at the
Hong Kong Arts Festival in 2004.
The Evening Telegraph said of his performance, "O-T Fagbenle achieves the impossible by almost overshadowing the young lovers with his inspired performance of Mercutio". Fagbenle was soon offered his first leading role. Outstanding reviews preceded a
M.E.N. Theatre Award for best actor in a leading role for his portrayal of a man claiming to be
Sidney Poitier's son in
John Guare's award-winning play
Six Degrees of Separation. In 2008, Fagbenle flew to
Paris with the theatre director
Peter Brook to help workshop and develop Brook's international production of
Tierno Bokar. After John W. Bubbles in the original opera and Sammy Davis Jr. in the film, Fagbenle played the role of Sportin' Life in
Sir Trevor Nunn's production of
Porgy and Bess - The Musical at the
Savoy Theatre in the
West End of London. Fagbenle received outstanding reviews.
Variety magazine's review remarked, "There are moments everything takes wing as a musical, mostly whenever Fagbenle's splendidly serpentine, easeful Sportin' Life is around. Light on his feet, his every moment is poised and polished." In 2012 in London, England, Fagbenle took on the role of Slupianek in
The Conquest of the South Pole at the Arcola and Rose Theatres. Again Fagbenle won critical acclaim across the board for his performance, with TimeOut, The British Theatre Guide, Spoonfed, Whatsonstage.com, and industry-standard The Stage all praising his performance. Fagbenle went on to be panel nominated for Best Male Performance at the prestigious Off West End Awards. It was announced by The Royal National Theatre that Fagbenle would be cast as the lead in their 2016 production of the play ''
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom''. Fagbenle led his cast to win the Olivier Award for best revival.
Film In 2006, Fagbenle appeared as Joe in the feature film
Breaking and Entering with
Jude Law and
Juliette Binoche. He portrayed Sean, an American television star, opposite
Michelle Pfeiffer and
Paul Rudd, in
Amy Heckerling's 2007
I Could Never Be Your Woman. In 2021, he appeared as Rick Mason in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe film
Black Widow.
Television Fagbenle starred in
Little Miss Jocelyn from 2004 to 2006, as various characters in season one and as Mrs. Omwokwopopo's dead husband in season two. In 2006, Fagbenle starred in a
BBC sitcom called
Grownups and also appeared in the British TV series ''
Agatha Christie's Marple. Fagbenle played "Other Dave" in the 2008, two-part Doctor Who story, "Silence in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead". In 2008–2009, Fagbenle starred in two dramas for the BBC, including the role of Walter Tull in Walter's War'', a biopic of the first mixed-heritage officer in the
British Army, in which he again garnered outstanding international reviews. In 2009, Fagbenle played the role of Topher Kiefer in the
ITV series,
FM, and in January 2010 Fagbenle took a leading role as Chris in the
BBC One show
Material Girl, starring
Dervla Kirwan and
Lenora Crichlow. Fagbenle also appeared as Mark Lightfoot in episode six of the first season of
Death in Paradise in that same year. After appearing in the second season of HBO's
Looking, Fagbenle was cast as the lead in American crime writer
Harlan Coben's original drama series
The Five which first aired in April 2016 on
Sky 1 in the United Kingdom. On 14 November 2016 he appeared in a
BBC2 adaptation of
Zadie Smith's novel
NW. In 2017, he began the role of Luke Bankole in
Hulu's
screen adaption of Margaret Atwood's novel ''
The Handmaid's Tale'', for which he has received multiple nominations for
Screen Actors Guild awards. In 2023, Fagbenle reprised his role as Rick Mason from
Black Widow in a cameo appearance in the
Disney+ miniseries
Secret Invasion, also set in the MCU. In 2024 he was featured in Apple TV's
Loot, starring Maya Rudolph, as Sophia Salina's boyfriend. In 2024, he played Nico Della Guardia in
Presumed Innocent.
Radio For several months in 2004 he took the part of Kwame in the
BBC World Service radio
soap opera Westway. He has performed multiple times for the BBC including the lead role in
Six Degrees of Separation, playing
Marvin Gaye in a
biopic, and two roles in the
BBC Radio adaptation of
The Color Purple, which went on to win the
Sony Radio Academy Awards for Drama in 2009.
Writing and directing In April 2020 Fagbenle made history when he became the first person to write, direct, compose, star and executive produce the opening episode of a TV series on a major US network with his show
Maxxx (Hulu). In 2021 Deadline reported that following the success of
Maxxx "The multi-hyphenate currently has drama, comedy and non-scripted content in development." The film, which was a metaphor for the effect of mentally ill parenting on children, was also made a part of a number of film festivals including the official selection at the
Los Angeles Screamfest Film Festival,
New York City Horror Film Festival,
Austin Film Festival. After a being awarded a fund by the Nigerian high commission/TRSE to write and direct a teaser for his movie idea, Fagbenle was commissioned by Bafta-nominated Lutimedia to develop
Big Bad Blood, a teen comedy television series.
Music Along with a starring actor credit, Fagbenle composed the music and penned the lyrics for several songs for the
NBC drama
Quarterlife, created by
Marshall Herskovitz and Oscar-winner
Ed Zwick. In 2011 Fagbenle co-wrote the song "Storm" for Grammy nominated artist
Tyga on his
Black Thoughts Vol. 2 mixtape and received over 8 million hits on worldstarhiphop.com. ==Filmography==