Russell Glynn Nii Odartei Evans (born 4 June 1980) is a British-

Ghanaian The Ghanaian people are a nation originating in the Gold Coast (region), Ghanaian Gold Coast. Ghanaians predominantly inhabit the Republic of Ghana and are the predominant cultural group and residents of Ghana, numbering 34 million people as of ...

actor, writer, filmmaker and voiceover artist best known for his work as a

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

announcer.

Education

He attended the

University of Bedfordshire The University of Bedfordshire is a Public university, public research university with campuses in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England. The university has roots in further and higher education from 1882: it gained university status in 19 ...

and studied Software Engineering. He lived with and is best friends with Kiss FM DJ's

Melvin Odoom Melvin Kuuku Odoom (born 30 July 1980) is a British radio DJ and television presenter. Alongside Rickie Haywood-Williams and Charlie Hedges, he presented the Kiss (UK radio station), Kiss FM breakfast show (2009–2018) and since then, on BBC R ...

and

Rickie Haywood Williams Richard Haywood-Williams (born 3 June 1980) is a British radio DJ and television presenter best known for his work with Melvin Odoom and Charlie Hedges on Kiss FM, later BBC Radio 1 and the 2016 TV series ''Bang on the Money'' on ITV. Early ...

Career

Nii Odartei Evans first acted on stage in 2003 in an amateur production of a remake of

George C Wolfe George Costello Wolfe (born September 23, 1954) is an American playwright and director. His accolades include two Tony Awards for directing the play '' Angels in America: Millennium Approaches'' and the musical '' Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'd ...

’s The Coloured Museum. The play “Black My Story” was adapted by his wife. Nii joined the Identity Drama School in 2009 and then joined their agency which included actors such as

John Boyega John Adedayo Bamidele Adegboyega (born 17 March 1992), known professionally as John Boyega, is a British actor and producer. He first gained recognition in Britain for his role as a teenage gang leader in the comedy horror film ''Attack the B ...

and

Letitia Wright Letitia Michelle Wright (born 31 October 1993) is a British actress. She began her career with guest roles in the television series ''Top Boy'', '' Coming Up'', '' Chasing Shadows'', ''Humans'', ''Doctor Who'', and ''Black Mirror''. For the lat ...

. In 2005 Nii started his voiceover career at the BBC - initially voicing trails and idents for popular shows on

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts Black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been ...

. By 2008, he had become the station voiceover and was also featuring on BBC Radio 1 as well as other regional BBC Stations. In 2014 Nii produced a pilot written by Yonah Odoom (sister to Melvin Odoom) and Moshana Khan. The pilot, entitle
YOMO (You Only Marry Once)
was loosely based on the ladies dating stories. Nii's voice credit's are varied and include brands such as

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

and

Lebara Lebara is a telecommunications company providing services using the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) business model in the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland and Australia. Lebara p ...

mobile as well as voicing for animation. After viewers contacted '' Points of View'' to complain about his London accent, Nii wrote a piece in the Guardian entitled "Those who ridiculed my accent highlighted their ignorance – not mine".

Personal life

Evans was born to

parents, and is active in the

community. In 2006 he founded the Ghana Black Stars Network which was aimed at empowering young Ghanaians in the diaspora to reconnect with Ghana. Evans is married to a woman with whom he co-founded �
Love YaaYaa
�� - a business which sells handmade Leather Obi Belts, Accessories and Head Wraps. They live in East London and have two boys together.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Nii Odartei 1980 births Living people 21st-century British male actors Alumni of the University of Bedfordshire Black British male actors British male voice actors British people of Ghanaian descent Place of birth missing (living people)