Michaela Coel

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Michaela Coel (born Michaela Ewuraba Boakye-Collinson in London on October 1, 1987 ) is a British poet, screenwriter and actress of Ghanaian descent. She created the television series Chewing Gum from 2015 to 2017 based on her play Chewing Gum Dreams and I May Destroy You , which was released in 2020 , for which she wrote the script and played the lead role.

Early life

Michaela Coel was born under the name Michaela Ewuraba Boakye-Collinson to Ghanaian parents who separated before she was born, and grew up with her mother and older sister in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets . There she was the only black girl in her age group in elementary school, which led to her beating and bullying others as an isolated girl. She dropped out of university twice.

At 18, Coel became a pentecostal Christian and began to be celibate . She describes her behavior as a Christian as militant and judgmental, which is why she lost her friends. To express herself about Christ, she began writing poetry in 2006, which she performed at the Hackney Empire Theater. There she was discovered by the theater writer and director Ché Walker, who then invited her to a master class that he gave at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art . Then Coel went to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama , where she dropped her religion again. She enrolled in Guildhall at Walker's suggestion, received a scholarship, and became the first black girl to enroll there in five years. She graduated in 2012.

Career

Chewing Gum Dreams and Chewing Gum

In 2012 Cole wrote her graduation project at the Guildhall: Chewing Gum Dreams , which she performed at the Yard Theater in Hackney Wick and in 2014 at the Shed (the Temporary Theater) of the Royal National Theater . In the same year she had already played there in two pieces, Home and Blurred Lines , and Medea followed as a fourth . As a one-woman show, Coel's piece is a 45-minute, semi-autobiographical monologue in the role of 14-year-old Tracey, the stage is equipped with only one chair. The play received very positive reviews: Oliver Prout from the Evening Standard and Maddy Costa from the Guardian gave it 4 out of 5 stars. Costa calls it an exuberant, good-humored performance and a cracker of monologue.

Coel was approached by the production company Retort about the idea of ​​a television series, but was still hesitant. She was initially persuaded to apply for a role in Top Boy , in which she appeared in two episodes in 2013. She then shot two comedy blaps on Channel 4 , and in August 2014 the broadcaster approved a comedy television series called Chewing Gum . It aired from October 2015 to February 2017 and shows Coel as Tracey, 24. Coel also wrote the scripts for all episodes, wrote and sang the theme song and other songs, and helped produce the second season. In the very positive reception of the series, its comedy performance is highly praised. Mike Hale of the New York Times writes that Coel is a clown in the best and traditional sense: "joyful, self-indulgent, unashamed and ready to go in any direction in search of laughter." Filipa Jodelka writes for the Guardian after the Season 1, Coels timing, warmth, and gift for body comedy make her the return of Lucille Ball . For the series, Coel received two BAFTA Awards and two Royal Television Society Awards, each for breakthrough talent and for her comedy performance.

I may destroy you

In 2015 Coel had a guest role in London Spy and in 2016 a leading role in The Aliens . She is one of the few actors to appear on more than one episode of the Black Mirror anthology series; namely in Crashed and USS Callister . In 2018 she starred on Netflix in the series Black Earth Rising and the film Been So Long .

In August 2018, at the age of thirty, Coel, the youngest person and first black woman, gave the keynote speech called the MacTaggart Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, revealing that she was writing the screenplay for the second season of Chewing Gum on the night she was writing had been sexually assaulted. On the same day, the BBC announced the order for a new series from Coel, with the working title Jan 22nd , exploring the subject of sexual consent today. In October 2019 it was announced that the series will be co-produced by HBO . Coel had turned down the offer of a streaming platform to create and lead her own series, while all ownership rights should be with the streaming service, and found new partners for the project after founding her own production company FALKNA Productions in the BBC and HBO. She also teamed up with Phil Clarke of Various Artists Limited, who was Head of Comedy on Channel 4 when she developed Chewing Gum . She wrote all twelve episodes at the same time, which took about a year and a half. On May 8, 2020, it was announced that the series would be called I May Destroy You and will premiere on HBO on June 7, 2020 and on BBC One on June 8 in the UK . Coel calls the series, in which her character is sexually abused after being stunned by knockout drops , "definitely not completely fictional" based on her own experience.

In August 2020, British Vogue named Coel on its list of influential women who influenced and shaped the year.

Publications

EP

  • 2007: May 22nd

LP

  • 2009: Fixing Barbie
  • 2011: We're the Losers

Theater script

Filmography

Personal

Coel identifies as aromantic .

Awards

  • Laurence Olivier Bursary Award 2011
  • Alfred Fagon Award 2012: Best Black Playwright, for Chewing Gum Dreams

for Chewing Gum :

  • British Academy Television Awards 2016: Best Female Comedy Performance
  • British Academy Television Craft Awards 2016: Breakthrough Talent
  • RTS Television Awards 2016: Breakthrough, Comedy Performance

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Sam Hattenstone: Filthy, funny and Christian: the many sides of Chewing Gum's Michaela Coel . In: The Guardian . October 4, 2015. Accessed March 9, 2020.
  2. ↑ a b c Gabriel Tate: Meet Michaela Coel: the rising star behind Chewing Gum, E4's new drama about London estate life . In: Evening Standard . September 18, 2015. Accessed March 10, 2020.
  3. ↑ Kev Geoghegan: Michaela Coel: A rising star at the National Theater . In: BBC News . March 25, 2014.
  4. ↑ Oliver Prout: Chewing Gum Dreams, National's Shed - theater review . In: Evening Standard . March 20, 2014. Accessed March 10, 2020.
  5. ↑ Maddy Costa: Chewing Gum Dreams review: An effervescent look at adolescence . In: Guardian . March 19, 2014. Accessed March 10, 2020.
  6. ↑ Interview with Michaela Coel . In: Channel 4 . September 16, 2015. Accessed March 10, 2020.
  7. ↑ Michaela Coel explains why the music she recorded for Chewing Gum isn't getting released . In: fader . January 12, 2017. Accessed March 8, 2020.
  8. ↑ Mike Hale: Review: In 'Chewing Gum,' a Young Woman Hilariously Tries to Lose Her Virginity . In: The New York Times . April 7, 2017. Accessed March 9, 2020.
  9. ↑ Filipa JODEŁKA: Council Estate of Mind: Michaela Coel's Chewing Gum is smart, bawdy and brilliant . In: The Guardian . October 6, 2015. Accessed March 9, 2020.
  10. ^ Michaela Coel wins two Royal Television Society Awards, Screen Nation Award, BAFTA Breakthrough Nomination for Chewing Gum . In: Retort . March 24, 2016. Accessed March 9, 2020.
  11. ↑ Maija Kappler: Why Everyone Is Obsessed With Michaela Coel And 'I May Destroy You' . In: Huffpost Canada . July 7, 2020. Accessed July 10, 2020.
  12. ↑ Ben Dowell: Michaela Coel reveals she was sexually assaulted while writing TV show . In: RadioTimes . August 22, 2018. Accessed June 2, 2020.
  13. ↑ Ben Dowell: Michaela Coel to explore sexual consent in modern relationships in BBC2 drama series . In: RadioTimes . August 22, 2018. Accessed June 2, 2020.
  14. ↑ Peter White: HBO To Co-Produce Michaela Coel Drama 'January 22nd' As Series Casts Rising British Stars . In: Deadline . October 23, 2019. Accessed June 2, 2020.
  15. ↑ Kimberly Bond: Why Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You is your next much-watch show . In: Evening Standard . June 2, 2020. Accessed June 2, 2020.
  16. ↑ Peter White: 'I May Destroy You': HBO Sets Premiere For Michaela Coel Sexual Consent Drama . In: Deadline . May 8, 2020. Accessed June 2, 2020.
  17. ↑ Flora Carr: Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You is a biting and brave look at consent . In: RadioTimes . June 2, 2020. Accessed June 2, 2020.
  18. ↑ The Vogue 25: The Women Shaping 2020 . In: British Vogue . August 7, 2020. Accessed August 10, 2020.
  19. ↑ Ann Lee: Michaela Coel On London and Love in Netflix Musical 'Been So Long' . In: culture trip . November 15, 2018. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
  20. ↑ 2012 Awards . In: Alfred Fagon Award . Retrieved March 10, 2020.
  21. ^ Female Performance in a Comedy Program . In: BAFTA . Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  22. ^ Television Craft . In: BAFTA . Retrieved March 8, 2020.
  23. ↑ RTS Program Awards 2016 . In: Royal Television Society . Retrieved March 9, 2020.
personal data
SURNAME Coel, Michaela
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Boakye-Collinson, Michaela Ewuraba (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British poet, screenwriter and actress
DATE OF BIRTH 1st October 1987
PLACE OF BIRTH London , England, UK