BAFTA Award Winner Rakie Ayola Talks Anthony, Acting Career and Experiences As A Welsh Native
Rakie Ayola is a force to be reckoned with. The renowned actress is the latest recipient of BAFTA’s Best Supporting Actress category for her moving and touching performance as Gee Walker, in Anthony. A film which tells the story of Anthony Walker, a talented young man whose story could’ve turned out differently but unfortunately, was met with hate and was sadly taken in an unprovoked racial attack in Liverpool, at 18 years old. Honouring the life of Anthony by portraying his mother Gee Walker, Ayola took on this unimaginable role, examining every intricate detail (mannerisms and characteristics) this strong woman possessed. But who else could’ve taken on this role, if not Ayola?
The Black British actress has taken over our screens over the last three decades. Not only, has she appeared in the popular series Noughts & Crosses, but Britain’s beloved scientific programme Doctor Who, and more. We were given the opportunity to learn more about her acting career, how it felt taking home a physical representation of her long-life dream and growing up in Cardiff, Wales.
Rakie Ayola
Courtesy of Jordan Rossi | Shot for Hunger TV
Raissa: I would like to congratulate you on winning Best Supporting Actress at the BAFTA awards for your moving performance in Anthony! How did it feel to take home this prestigious award?
Rakie Ayola: It was massive for me. I’ve wanted one since I was 8 years old. To be nominated was huge, particularly for playing Gee Walker in Anthony. It was all kinds of wonderful that, that was recognised the way it was. Then to walk home with a solid brass version of your dream was actually quite very overwhelming and I cried a lot that night because I couldn’t believe it. I could tap my dream and it would make a noise. It doesn’t happen often, so it was huge.
Raissa: How did you celebrate winning the award?
Rakie Ayola: We went straight home (my husband and I), and my daughters were there. We just stood in the kitchen and ate cold food, and stared at it in disbelief , like ‘that actually just happened’. That recognition from my peers and also, I didn’t realise how important it was for me to be a part of a tradition that I chose to join. Holding that BAFTA, whatever happens now I am now a part of this tradition, and again huge. I didn’t know how big a deal that was for me.
Raissa: For those who aren’t aware or may have not watched Anthony, it is a BBC 1 programme based on a true story. Anthony Walker was a Black Brit whose life was sadly taken by a racially motivated attack 16 years ago and you play his mother, Gee Walker in the film.
Can you talk me through the process of playing Gee Walker and how you felt best to approach the role?
Rakie Ayola: My agent sent me the script and I read it. The first few scenes, I didn’t understand because I knew Anthony had been murdered when he was 18 so I didn’t understand how we met him at 24, and I realised the technique Jimmy McGovern was using. He was taking us from meeting Anthony at 24 and going back to the night he died. So, there was 6 years of an adult life he didn’t have, but there were all things that his mum Gee would like to have seen, there were events she would have liked to been at, things she felt he would have done based on the person he was at 18. It was Gee’s idea to not fall into a very valid genre of meeting someone just before they die and going through the court case. He (Jimmy McGovern) wanted us to meet Anthony in a different way, so he came up with this idea.
I spent hours watching Gee (Walker) on YouTube. Despite being in the mist of her grief, she had this grace and quietness and stillness - those were the things that lent out on the screen. I was listening to the beautiful way that her accent sits sometimes in Jamaica, sometimes in Liverpool and sometimes in Coventry, where she spent some of her childhood. All of that was building this image of a woman I didn’t meet until the read through and I was terrified, I was so nervous.
Raissa: What message would you like the audience to take from watching Anthony?
Rakie Ayola: Look at what’s lost. A life is lost, a family loses a loved one, friends lose a loved one. Nobody gains, everybody loses! For what? She wanted people to see what was lost. His first child was lost, the work he would’ve done, and you don’t need to be someone whose future is incredibly bright, but there is a small tiny circle of the world we all change.. we should be able to just create ripples we were meant to create.
Raissa: Anthony was beautifully created. There aren’t a lot of movies/shows that portray this narrative, usually there’s a lead up to the life lost whereas with Anthony, you’re witnessing the future and events that could’ve happened. It allows you to think. It makes you reflect on your actions and that’s what beautiful about Anthony, it makes you think.
Rakie Ayola: Thank you! That’s what Gee wanted, that’s what they wanted. Loads of people have watched Anthony since the BAFTA and a friend of mine said her husband all the way through was going, ‘he’s not going to die now, surely? Because why would they let us invest in this essential character’. Almost thinking, Jimmy McGovern was going to re-write the ending.
Raissa: I’m not surprised, but hopefully it continues to open many eyes. But I now want to get into the earlier stages of your life and career! With over 32 years of experience within the television industry, you’ve appeared in Noughts & Crosses, Doctor Who, Holby City and that’s just to name a few.
Out of all the shows and movies you’ve appeared in, what would you say was your favourite to be a part of and why?
Rakie Ayola: I can’t say, I honestly can’t! I loved Shetland because I got to go to Shetland.. I got to see a beautiful part of the Scottish Isle and I love the work of that. There were so many over the years, I left drama school in 1989 so there’s loads of it and I’m really grateful for every second of it.
Raissa: I was expecting you to say Doctor Who, just because of David Tennant. That’s my favourite show of all time and when I was first introduced to you!
Rakie Ayola: *Laughs* Ohh I loved Doctor Who! What I loved about that was David Tennant was perfect every time! We were often stood in circles discussing what Lesley Sharps was doing and David’s close up was always at the end of the day, but he was always perfect for everyone else and I felt this incredible pressure to be perfect for him. I didn’t want to be the reason that he had to do another take! He was amazing and he’s lovely. That was a good gig!
Raissa: That’s amazing to hear because he’s my favourite doctor of all time!
Rakie Ayola: *laughs and whispers* yeah, me too! Jodie’s great too!
Raissa: Now, I want to take things a bit further back. You’re a welsh native, but your heritage is of Sierra Lionne and Nigeria. How would you describe growing up in Cardiff?
Rakie Ayola: I feel now, it was pretty progressive, weirdly. I got used to being the only Black kid or coloured as we’d call ourselves back then. The only coloured girl in a play, orchestra, choir. I have a picture from secondary school of a Black teenager who was playing Elizabeth I… a black and white production shot from this play and that was a Cardiff state secondary school in 1984, I look at that and go that’s pretty cool. I’m not sure if it happened anywhere else at the time, I wondered how many kids (Black) in London were playing Elizabeth I back then. There was a certain inclusion and openness.
Raissa: The Black British experiences are often exclusive to London, and is very London-centric as I like to say. For this reason, we’ve recently launched a creative conceptual project which explores the Misconceptions of Black Brits Outside the Capital.
In your opinion, what are the mistaken beliefs of those living in Wales?
Rakie Ayola: That’s so important, massively massively important! Back then, you got used to life how it was. It wasn’t until I came to London that I sat in a bus in Elephant and Castle, I was looking down the bus and was like ‘what’s strange about this bus’. Then I realised that everyone looked like me, and I’ve never been in a room anywhere, even family parties because we were in Cardiff, they were never all Black. Never known it before. Then I had to question why that felt odd and it felt odd because I was used to being different. Suddenly I was the same and I needed to learn to relax in being the same!
It’s very important to understand the Black British experiences outside this region. Make sure to watch Anthony on BBC iPlayer now to learn more about this story and witness Rakie Ayola take on this indescribable role.
