Ukweli Roach
BA Acting Graduate 2009
‘I loved it. [RADA] I really loved it.’
Why did you come to RADA?
From about the age of 14 I knew that I wanted to be an
actor, but where I grew up there were no links to acting or
theatre. I started to wonder ‘how do people become actors’?
None of my friends or family knew so I asked my English
teacher and she mentioned drama schools. She said that
there was a good school called RADA, so I looked it up and
just applied…!
I had been to a summer school in Greenwich and I had done
National Youth Theatre as well so I had an idea of how to do
classical and contemporary monologues which helped for
the audition. I took English Literature for my A-Levels as well
so I had studied Shakespeare. If I’d never come into contact
with Shakespeare then it might have been a challenge!
I didn’t know about other drama schools, so I didn’t apply
to any apart from RADA. Luckily I got in! I wasn’t nervous at
all during my audition because I didn’t know the gravitas of
RADA, so I didn’t know to be nervous. If I auditioned now I
would definitely be nervous.
Did you enjoy your time here?
I loved it. I really loved it. The first year was a bit of a cultural
adjustment but in the second and third year I think I really
blossomed. I moved into Bonham-Carter house literally
next door to RADA which made it so much easier as
well. Coming from South London for my first year was a
nightmare. I was doing a lot of dancing at the time as well,
so after RADA I would go and rehearse until 11pm so I ended
up being exhausted for a lot of first year.
The work changes; in the first year, there’s a lot of laying the
groundwork. But, in second year you have the fight tests
(which was my favourite thing) and you start doing actual
work. I think I had quite a good instinct for acting but I didn’t
know the technical side of things. Some of which were
useful to me, and some weren’t, but everyone gets different
things from their training here. It became more practical as
the years went on and that’s what I liked: I like doing shows
and actually acting, as opposed to talking about acting.
Tell us about your dance company.
My dance company is growing from strength to strength. I
choreographed a show with a friend of mine that went on
at the Young Vic, and now we’re associate partners there.
One of my pieces did a tour of the UK and we’re going to
do a tour of the US later this year. I think of dancing as a
side-line hobby. When things aren’t ‘good’ (which inevitably
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happens in acting), it’s good to have something to take your
mind off it. Dance is something that I enjoy and keeps me fit.
What projects are you currently working on?
I will be in something called Dickensian on BBC1 which will
be a combination of Charles Dickens stories, where the
characters all live in the same world. So Ebenezer Scrooge
might meet Miss Havisham.
I go to New York in June to film an NBC series called
Blindspot, which I shot the pilot for in March. I’ll be
spending quite a lot of time in the States. This year was
the first time I’ve done ‘pilot season’ over there and it’s
a really different industry.
Do you see a shift in British actors doing a lot more work in
the US?
It seems like it. The Brits have always done very well over
there. In the US, you just have to speak and they think
because you’re British you’re a) more intelligent and
b) you must be classy and dress better! None of which is
necessarily true, but that’s the stereotype. Obviously having
somewhere like RADA on your CV doesn’t hurt wherever
you go!
Because the training in the UK is so good, it’s kind of a
given that will have to change our dialect, our appearance –
whereas in the States its focused so much around film and
TV that many US actors can’t change their accent, of course
there are exceptions. Actors from other places seem to be
so much more adaptable.
Do you prefer working in America?
Well Blindspot will be my first long haul job over there, so
to be honest I don’t know! I mean I like the UK and I have no
plans to move to the US even though I have representation
over there. They’ve already proposed to me that I move over
there, but I don’t want to!
[email protected]
+44 (0)20 7636 7076