Vivian Nneka O. Oparah (born 30 December 1996) is a British actress and musician. For her performance in the film '' Rye Lane'' (2023), she won a

British Independent Film Award The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports, and promotes British independent cinema and film-making talent in the United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early Nov ...

and received a

British Academy Film Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to f ...

nomination. On television, she is known for her roles in the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'' spin-off ''

Class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

'' (2016) and the

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime (styled as prime) is a paid subscription service of Amazon which is available in many countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services inclu ...

series '' Dead Hot'' (2024).

Early life

Oparah was born in Camden and grew up in

Tottenham Tottenham (, , , ) is a district in north London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, ...

, London. She attended

The Latymer School The Latymer School is a Voluntary aided school, voluntary aided, Selective school, selective, Mixed-sex education, co-educational grammar school located in Edmonton, London. It was founded in 1624 by the will of Edward Latymer to provide educat ...

, where she took

A Levels The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational a ...

in media, English literature, product design and biology. During her media coursework in 2014, she formed a band called NTLS along with other students. Their debut single and video ''Heart Skipped a Beat'' was uploaded by someone to YouTube. Her older brother also works in music. Oparah joined the

National Youth Theatre The National Youth Theatre of Great Britain (NYT) is a youth theatre and charity in London, created with the aim of developing young people's artistic skills via theatrical productions and other creative endeavours. Founded in 1956 as the world ...

, where she did a two-week summer course.

Career

While deferring her acceptance to UCL, Oparah was cast in the

''Doctor Who'' spin-off ''

'' as Tanya Adeola, marking her television debut. Oparah later said that Class was her first audition. When she auditioned she only knew that the series was linked to the Doctor Who universe, but she did not imagine that it was such a big production until she got the job and started filming. During the production of the series Oparah lived in Cardiff, in the same building as actress

Sophie Hopkins Sophie Lisa Hopkins is a British actress and model. She is best known for her role as April MacLean in the BBC Three ''Doctor Who'' spin-off ''Class'' (2016). Early life Hopkins was born in Singapore and grew up in the East Yorkshire Wolds, Engla ...

. Oparah named an Emerging Talent at the 2017 Screen Nation Film and Television Awards. That same year, she starred as Minnie in the play '' An Octoroon'' at the

Orange Tree Theatre The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style. Th ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

. For her performance, she was nominated for Best Supporting Female in a Play at

Off West End Theatre Awards The Off West End Theatre Awards, nicknamed The Offies, were launched in 2010 to recognise and celebrate excellence, innovation and ingenuity of independent Off West End theatres across London. Over 80 theatres participate in the awards, with more ...

. In 2018, Oparah reprised her role as Tanya in six audio plays by Big Finish and made her feature film debut in '' Teen Spirit''. In 2020, Oparah appeared in an episode of the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

miniseries ''

I May Destroy You ''I May Destroy You'' is a British black comedy-drama television series created, written, co-directed, and executive produced by Michaela Coel for BBC One and HBO. The series is set in London with a predominantly Black British cast. Coel stars ...

'' as well as the second series of the BBC Three comedy-drama '' Enterprice''. She starred opposite

David Jonsson David Jonsson (born 4 September 1993) is a British actor and writer. He began his career in the West End. He is known for his performance in the BBC Two and HBO television series ''Industry'' (2020–2022), as well as his roles in the films '' ...

in the romantic comedy '' Rye Lane'', which opened at the

2023 Sundance Film Festival The 2023 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 19 to 29, 2023. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 7, 2022. Films U.S. Dramatic Competition * '' The Accidental Getaway Driver'', directed by Sing J. Lee ...

to critical acclaim. Also in 2023, she had a main role in the

Sky Max Sky Max is a British pay television channel and on-demand service which launched on 1 September 2021. It is owned and operated by Sky Group, a subsidiary of Comcast. The service broadcasts a variety of drama, comedy-drama, and unscripted serie ...

drama '' Then You Run''. She has an upcoming lead role opposite Bilal Hasna in the

comedy thriller series '' Dead Hot''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Audio

Stage

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Vivian Oparah
at Independent Talent * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oparah, Vivian Living people 1998 births Actresses from London Black British actresses English people of Nigerian descent National Youth Theatre members Actors educated at The Latymer School Actors from the London Borough of Haringey Actors from the London Borough of Camden People from Tottenham