Adura Onashile is a British actor, playwright, and director. She wrote and directed the 2013 play '' Expensive Shit'' and adapted it into a film in 2020.

Early life

Onashile is of Nigerian descent and was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England.

Career

Onashile starred in the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

play ''Roadkill'' and again at the 2013 Festival in her play ''HeLa'' about

Henrietta Lacks Henrietta Lacks (born Loretta Pleasant; August 1, 1920 – October 4, 1951) Note: Some sources report her birthday as August 2, 1920, vs. August 1, 1920. was an African-American woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, ...

. She has worked with the

National Theatre of Scotland The National Theatre of Scotland, established in 2006, is the national theatre company of Scotland. The company has no theatre building of its own; instead it tours work to theatres, village halls, schools and site-specific locations, both at h ...

The Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Strat ...

, The

Lyceum The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Basic science and some introduction to ...

, The National, and the

Young Vic The Young Vic Theatre is a performing arts venue located on The Cut, near the South Bank, in the London Borough of Lambeth. The Young Vic was established by Frank Dunlop in 1970. Nadia Fall has been artistic director since 2025, succeeding ...

theatres. Her 2013 play '' Expensive Shit'' addresses themes of sexual exploitation and precarious work, drawing inspiration from real life events at The Shimmy Club in Glasgow, by then her hometown. After ''Expensive Shit'' was made into a short film, it debuted at the

BFI London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival held in London, England, in collaboration with the British Film Institute. Founded in 1957, the festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, the BFI estimated that around 240 fe ...

in 2020 and was shortlisted for a

BAFTA Scotland BAFTA in Scotland is the Scottish branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Formed in 1986, the branch holds two annual awards ceremonies recognising the achievement by performers and production staff in Scottish film, televis ...

award for short documentaries. It was praised by Andrea Arhagba writing in ''Empire'' for highlighting gender dynamics in nightclubs. ''Expensive Shit'' won the audience and the critics award at the Glasgow International Film Festival. Her 2021 immersive theatrical production of ''Ghosts'' was created with the National Theatre of Scotland and incorporates

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR), also known as mixed reality (MR), is a technology that overlays real-time 3D computer graphics, 3D-rendered computer graphics onto a portion of the real world through a display, such as a handheld device or head-mounted ...

delivered via app that informs the audience of the history of slavery in Glasgow. In 2022, she produced the film ''

Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. While the term ''girl'' has other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.com, "Girl"'' Retrieved January 2, 2008. '' daughter'' or '' girlfriend'' regardless of age ...

'', which stars

Déborah Lukumuena Déborah Lukumuena (born 4 December 1994) is a French actress. She is best known for her debut role in the 2016 drama film '' Divines'', for which she won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress. Career After her baccalaureate, she obtain ...

. New Europe Film Sales bought the rights to ''Girl'' later the same year. Also in 2022, she started in Liz Lochhead’s Scots language production of ''

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; ; ) is the daughter of Aeëtes, King Aeëtes of Colchis. Medea is known in most stories as a sorceress, an accomplished "wiktionary:φαρμακεία, pharmakeía" (medicinal magic), and is often depicted as a high- ...

''.

Personal life

As of 2023, Onashile lives in Glasgow.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onashile, Adura Living people Black British actresses Actresses from Glasgow Actresses from London Black British filmmakers British theatre directors British women theatre directors Year of birth missing (living people)