Kwaku Fortune is an Irish actor.

Kwaku Fortune
Born
NationalityIrish
Alma materThe Lir Academy
Occupation
  • Actor
Years active2011–present

Early life and education

edit

Fortune is from Roundwood, County Wicklow. He is of Ghanaian descent on his mother's side.[1][2] He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Acting from The Lir Academy at Trinity College Dublin in 2017.[3]

Career

edit

Fortune's early work includes roles in various short films and the main role of Tobi in 2011 RTÉ miniseries The Importance of Being Whatever.[4]

Post-graduation from The Lir, Fortune landed the role of Finn in 2017 film Kissing Candice.[5] He then made his stage debut with Playboyz, a modern interpretation and version of J.M. Synge's The Playboy of the Western World, which featured in the 2017 Dublin Theatre Festival.[1][6]

In 2018, Fortune took part in On Raftery's Hill and a stage adaptation of the novel Asking For It by Louise O'Neill.[7][8]

Fortune was on the Diversity on Screen panel at the 2019 Dublin International Film Festival.[4] Fortune played the role of Julian in Sophie Hyde directed 2019 film Animals.[9] That same year, Fortune narrated the perspective of Leon in an audiobook of The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary alongside Carrie Hope Fletcher for Macmillan Audio.[10] Theatre-wise, Fortune reprised his role in Asking For It as well as starring in Peat and They Float Up.[11][12][13]

Filmography

edit

Film

edit
Year Title Role Notes
2012 Tied & True Aden Short film
2013 Bible Studies John Short film
2015 Idle Noel Short film
2017 Kissing Candice Finn
2019 Animals Julian
2019 A Girl from Mogadishu Receptionist
TBA Circuit Love Lewis Short film; in post-production

Television

edit
Year Title Role Notes
2011 The Importance of Being Whatever Tobi Main role
2020 Normal People Philip Recurring role
2021 Line of Duty DS Marks Series 6
2021 Hidden Assets Josh Ola Recurring role

Stage

edit
Year Title Role Notes
2017 Playboyz Patrick Dublin Theatre Festival, The New Theatre
2018 On Raftery's Hill Dara Mood Abbey Theatre
2018, 2019 Asking for It Eli The Everyman, Gaiety Theatre, Abbey Theatre
2019 Peat Ray The Ark, Dublin
2019 They Float Up Darnell Bewley's, Dublin
2021 The Beauty Queen of Leenane Ray Lyric, Hammersmith

Audio

edit
Year Title Role Notes
2019 The Flatshare Leon Macmillan Audio

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Shortall, Eithne (24 September 2017). "Living life on the edge". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  2. ^ Tom Moran (10 March 2019). "Kwaku Fortune Plays Personality Bingo". Headstuff (Podcast). Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  3. ^ "Acting Profiles / Alumni 2017: Kwaku Fortune". The Lir. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Diversity on Screen Panel". DIFF. 23 February 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  5. ^ Murphy, Niall (10 May 2018). "#IrishFilm: Aoife McArdle's Kissing Candice to be released in Irish and UK cinemas on June 22nd". Scannain. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  6. ^ "Dublin Theatre Festival: Bewildering Synge, futuristic Ibsen". The Irish Times. 1 October 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  7. ^ Hayes, Katy (6 May 2018). "The monstrous ordinary". Independent.ie. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  8. ^ "Kwaku Fortune / Eli". Asking for It. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  9. ^ Lodge, Guy (29 January 2019). "Sundance Film Review: 'Animals'". Variety. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  10. ^ "The Flatshare: A Novel read by Carrie Hope Fletcher and Kwaku Fortune". Macmillan. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  11. ^ "Kwaku Fortune". Susannah Norris. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  12. ^ "Current Event: They Float Up". Bewley's Café Theatre. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  13. ^ Crawley, Peter (4 May 2019). "Peat review: A grimly funny, spryly involving show for young audiences". The Irish Times. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
edit