Kodjo Akolor (born 15 June 1981) is a Swedish TV/

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

personality and

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

Career

He started as a

in 2005 and after two years became a regular on

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music Music genre, genre, originating from African Americans, African-American musicians in the 1980s that combines rhythm and blues with elements of Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, funk, Hip-hop, ...

themed

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

''The Voice''. In 2008 Akolor became a reporter for ''Vakna med the voice'' a TV and radio show multi-cast on TV-channel Kanal 5 and ''The Voice radio network''. He also hosted the TV-show ''Kodjos värld'' (Kodjos world) on ''The Voice TV'' where he combined humor and music videos. During the 2008 spring, he became the co-host of ''Talang'' (Talent) the Swedish version of the ''

Got Talent ''Got Talent'' is a British talent show TV format conceived and owned by Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment. It has spawned spin-offs in over 60 countries, in what is now referred to as the 'Got Talent' format, similar to that described by Frema ...

'' series. The producers originally contacted comedian

Björn Gustafsson Lars Björn Gustafsson (born 19 February 1986) is a Swedish comedian and actor. He is known from TV shows such as '' Parlamentet'' and '' Stockholm Live''. Early and personal life Gustafsson was born in Gothenburg, Sweden. He studied at the ...

, but his schedule was too busy and recommended his friend Kodjo Akolor. Since 2008, he has also been one of the three regular show hosts on Radio P3's popular morning show ''Morgonpasset''. He is frequently featured on Kanal 5's ''RAW comedy club'' and high-profile comedy show ''

Parlamentet ''Parlamentet'' () is a satirical panel gameshow on TV4 (Sweden), TV4, which parodies Sweden, Swedish political debate. It was first broadcast in 1999 and is currently in its 23rd series. The current presenter is Anders S. Nilsson, who has hoste ...

''. In the summer of 2010, Akolor was the host and MC at the largest '' Twilight Saga'' fan event in

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

(at the Ericsson Globe Arena) featuring

Taylor Lautner Taylor Daniel Lautner ( ; born February 11, 1992) is an American actor. He is best known for playing werewolf Jacob Black in ''The Twilight Saga (film series), The Twilight Saga'' film series (2008–2012). His accolades include a Scream Awar ...

and

Kristen Stewart Kristen Jaymes Stewart (born April 9, 1990) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and a César Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe ...

. Kodjo has also been part of the ''

Musikhjälpen ''Musikhjälpen'' (; ) is a Sweden, Swedish Live television, televised benefit performance Radio program, radio show marathon. The annually recurring show is a Charity (practice), charity Fundraising, fundraiser for a chosen cause, the cause is c ...

'' several times. In the spring of 2012, he co-hosted a ''

Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series created by David Benioff and for HBO. It is an adaptation of ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of high fantasy novels by ...

'' discussion show on SVT. In 2014, he was voted the Best Male Host of the year at the Swedish Radio Awards. In 2015 he was inducted into the Stockholm Hall of Fame On 26 October 2018, SVT announced that Akolor will host all six shows of

Melodifestivalen 2019 Melodifestivalen 2019 was the 59th edition of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen and was held from 2 February to 9 March 2019. Presenters were Sarah Dawn Finer, Kodjo Akolor, Marika Carlsson and Eric Saade. Edward af Sillén retur ...

alongside

Eric Saade Eric Khaled Saade (; , ; born 29 October 1990) is a Swedish singer-songwriter. He spent two years with the boy band What's Up!, leaving the band in February 2009 to pursue a solo career. Saade represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest, Sw ...

Marika Carlsson Marika Aychesh Carlsson (born 19 March 1973) is a Swedish standup comedian and television presenter. Background Carlsson was born in Ethiopia and was adopted by a Swedish couple at age two. She grew up in the town of Lund in Sweden's Skåne pr ...

and

Sarah Dawn Finer Sarah Dawn Finer (born 14 September 1981) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and actress. She is also known for playing Lynda Woodruff, a character created by Edward af Sillén to be a parody spokesperson of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) i ...

Personal life

Both of Kodjo Akolor's parents were born in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

and moved to Sweden in the 1970s thanks to his father getting a scholarship to study business. He says his family were the only black family in

Vallentuna Vallentuna is the seat of Vallentuna Municipality in Stockholm County, Sweden, with 33,219 inhabitants in 2018. Vallentuna's cultural landscape is well preserved, and human habitation in the area has been traced back as far as the Stone Age. Arche ...

when he grew up. It was not until

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

that he met others with a similar background. He has a university degree in

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from Södertörns Högskola and lists

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

history as one of his

hobbies A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time. Hobbies include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic pursuits, playing sports, or pursuing other ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akolor, Kodjo 1981 births Living people Swedish male comedians Swedish people of Ghanaian descent Swedish radio personalities Swedish television presenters People from Vallentuna Municipality