1 of 4 | Deborah Ayorinde attends the 37th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif., on March 6, 2022. The actress is starring in the Prime Video series "Riches," which covers the family turmoil after a beauty company CEO dies. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI |
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Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Riches star Deborah Ayorinde plays Nina, the ambitious estranged daughter of a multimillionaire entrepreneur, who takes over the company after her father's death. The Prime Video show debuted on Dec. 2, earning a global fanbase for its cross-cultural portrayal of contemporary Africans across the U.S. and the U.K.
Actress Deborah Ayorinde embodies that connection as she was born in London to Nigerian parents, but raised in the United States. She graduated from Howard University, where she earned a degree in film production, the HBCU the late actor Chadwick Boseman and Taraji P. Henson also graduated from.
For Ayorinde, who helmed an award-winning short film at Howard, the cultural interconnections are important.
"I got sent the script and I was in love with it, because Nina's story is very similar to mine - you know, being born in London, moving to America, moving back, having a little bit of family drama...and so I fell in love with this story," Ayorinde told Buzzfeed earlier this month.
Although Riches may prove to be her breakout role, it's not the first one that has brought her to the attention of TV and movie fans. Here are five more roles where you can watch Ayorinde's work.
'Luke Cage' -- Netflix
Luke Cage is based on the Marvel Comics character played by Mike Colter, who fights crime and corruption in New York City aided by his superhuman strength and unbreakable skin. Ayorinde plays Candace Miller in six episodes of the 2016 Netflix show. She's a waitress at Harlem's Paradise, the club owned by Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes (Mahershala Ali), the leader of the Stokes crime family. Miller becomes pivotal to the plot when she's asked to implicate Cage in a crime.
'Harriet' -- HBO Max, Prime Video
In the 2019 biopic starring British actress Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman, Ayorinde plays Rachel Ross, Tubman's younger sister. Though Tubman escaped slavery in Maryland and then made multiple trips back as a free woman to rescue others, she was unable to save her sister who died just before Tubman could reach her on her very last journey.
'Them' -- Prime Video
In the first season of Them (2021) Ayorinde plays Lucky Emory, who moves with her husband and children from North Carolina to Compton in the 1950s. At that time, the neighborhood is all-white, and its residents aren't fans of racial integration. What comes next is an all-out assault on the family from forces both human and supernatural. Ayorinde is set to return for Them Season 2 with a new storyline, playing a different character.
'Fatherhood' -- Netflix 2021
Ayorinde is only seen in flashbacks in Fatherhood as her character Liz Logelin dies in childbirth. Based on the 2011 memoir Two Kisses for Maddy, Fatherhood focuses on Logelin's husband Matt (Kevin Hart), who has to contend with unexpectedly becoming a single father to their daughter (Melody Hurd). Through his struggles, both comedic and heartbreaking, he ultimately learns how to parent through grief and guilt.
'Truth Be Told' -- Apple+
True crime podcast host Poppy Parnell is best friends with media mogul Micah Keith (Kate Hudson). When Keith's husband is killed at an art exhibition, Parnell uses the podcast to find his killer. Ayorinde plays Rose, who may hold some clues as to what happened...if she can be found.
