Peace and passion

Critically acclaimed actress and activist Adjoa Andoh on why church is her ‘go-to’ place

Now one of the UK’s leading actresses, Adjoa grew up in a tiny English village where she endured racism daily. Setting her sights on acting, her faith grounded her – and grew her zeal for social justice.

Currently best known as the feisty Lady Danbury in the Netflix hit Bridgerton – due to hit our screens again imminently – Adjoa has enjoyed a varied career on film, TV, radio and stage. She made her Hollywood debut in 2009, alongside Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon in Invictus, and in 2019 conceived, co-directed and played Richard II at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, in the UK’s first all women-of-colour production.

Childhood struggles

Born in 1963 to a Ghanaian father and white English mother, Adjoa grew up in a Cotswolds village. She had been taught to expect a decent education – which she got, but alongside it was a lot of racist bullying. In an article for countryside charity CPRE, she commented: ‘My father, brother and I were the only black people in the village, and it was the 1960s, so that had its challenges. It was quite violent at times.’

While life may have been difficult, faith was strong on both sides of her family and Adjoa loved attending church. It became an anchor for her despite moments in her teenage years and university when she drifted. Even then, as she told Premier Christianity magazine: ‘I would always go to church on high days and holidays, wherever I was, because it’s a place of peace, and I think a late teenage/early 20s person needs peace. It would always be my go-to space; that never changed.’

Forging a career

Adjoa always wanted to be an actor, but moved to Bristol to study law. While there, she joined a black women’s group where she met Deborah, who would be instrumental in getting her into acting. Adjoa gave up her degree and took Deborah’s acting classes and then was invited to audition for one of Deborah’s shows. Adjoa told Keep the Faith magazine: ‘She had to teach me how to audition, as I was a novice. I auditioned, got the job, left Bristol, moved to London, and never went back.’

Since getting married and having children, Adjoa has learned to juggle the responsibilities of motherhood alongside working, which she has done continuously with support from her husband and childcare.

It was when applying to get her daughter into the church school next to their local church that Adjoa went back to regularly attending services, and said it was like ‘going home’. As her 40th birthday approached, she began to reflect on her life – this resulted in her taking on a different role: that of lay preacher.

Faith and activism

Adjoa describes herself as ‘a hippy from the Cotswolds’ and told Church Times that: ‘The growing of food, environment, and nature is in my DNA; it wasn’t a big leap to go from that to Fairtrade.’ To Premier Christianity she described her faith as fundamental to her activism: ‘Whether it’s being in a public position to advocate for things like Fairtrade, Tree Aid, Water Aid, the International Red Cross, or Refugee Action, I do all those things because of my faith.’

Adjoa’s faith naturally flows out into everything she does, and she finds colleagues joining her when she prays before a show, or wanting to talk to her about God. She feels strongly that: ‘Our job is to make the space so people can be in conversation, in relationship, in the peace, the solitude, the comfort – whatever they need – with God.’

And it is in church that Adjoa believes we can come together and celebrate who we are: ‘For me, church is the place where we come in all our difference and in all our difficulties. It’s the place where you can be a hot mess; you don’t have to be fine.’