Malachi Kirby

Malachi Kirby (born September 20, 1989 in London ) is a British actor .

Life

Malachi Kirby was born in London, the only second generation child of Jamaican immigrants, and grew up in a council estate in Battersea , south London. When Kirby was six years old, his father died. His mother worked for the government. Because Kirby was rather closed-back, she enrolled him in a theater company at Battersea Arts Center at the age of 14. Kirby later studied acting part-time at the Identity School of Acting, which was founded by the actor Femi Oguns especially for minorities and Kirby could afford it. Other graduates of the school included actors John Boyega and Michaela Coel .

After a worldwide casting, Kirby got the lead role in a remake of the television series Roots based on a book by Alex Haley in 2015 , which aired from May 2016. Kirby can be seen in the role of Kunta Kinte . Kirby had to do a diet and gymnastics, go canoeing and learn the Mandinka language and their manners and customs and also learn to ride bareback. While the series was nominated several times at the Emmy Awards in 2016 , Kirby came away empty-handed.

Filmography

• 2012: My Brother the Devil
• 2012: Payback - Day of Vengeance (Offender)
• 2013: Gone Too Far
• 2014: EastEnders (TV series, 8 episodes)
• 2014: The Last Showing
• 2014: Kajaki
• 2015: Dough
• 2016: Roots (TV series)
• 2016: Black Mirror (TV series, episode 3x05)
• 2016: Fallen - Angel's Night (Fallen)
• 2017: The Machine
• 2019: Curfew (TV series, 8 episodes)
• 2019: Devils (TV series, 10 episodes)

Awards (selection)

Black Reel Award

• 2017: Nomination for Best Actor in a Miniseries ( Roots )

NAACP Image Award

• 2017: Nomination for Best Actor - TV Film / Miniseries (Roots)

Screen Nation Awards

• 2016: Award as a Rising Star

Web links

• Malachi Kirby in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Malachi Kirby in conversation with Liz Shannon Miller (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jörg Seewald: 'Roots': Interview with Malachi Kirby: 'Every single day of shooting was hard' In: Der Tagesspiegel, April 14, 2017.
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Steve Rose: Malachi Kirby on remaking Roots: 'I could feel the pain, hear the screams' In: The Guardian, May 24, 2016.
3. ↑ http://www.blackfilm.com/read/2015/08/british-actor-malachi-kirby-cast-as-kunta-kinte-in-roots-remake/
4. ↑ 'Roots': On the Suffering of Slaves In: Focus Online, April 13, 2017.
5. ↑ Jen Chaney: Emmys 2016. 2016 Emmy Nominations: The Snubs and Surprises In: vulture.com, July 14, 2016.
6. ↑ 17th Annual Black Reel Awards Nominations In. blackreelawards.com, December 14, 2016.
7. ↑ Ruth Kinane: Beyoncé leads the pack of 2017 NAACP Image Awards nominees In: Entertainment Weekly, December 13, 2016.