‘I May Destroy You’ Actor Paapa Essiedu Inks With WME

EXCLUSIVE: Primetime Emmy and BAFTA nominated actor Paapa Essiedu has signed with WME for representation in all areas, Deadline has learned.

Essiedu notched a Supporting Actor Emmy nom in Limited or Anthology Series as well as a Lead Actor BAFTA TV nom for his turn as Kwame in Michaela Coel’s HBO series, I May Destroy You. He also received a BAFTA Lead Actor TV nom for The Lazarus Project.

Other recent projects for Essiedu include the National Theatre in The Effect, written by Lucy Prebble and directed by Jamie Lloyd, which is transferring to The Shed in New York this year, season 6 of the cult anthology series, Black Mirror (Demon 79), and Working Title/Universal Christmas movie The Genie, directed by Sam Boyd and written by Love Actually‘s Richard Curtis.

Essiedu starred opposite Saoirse Ronan in The Outrun directed by Nora Fingscheidt and based on Amy Liptrot’s bestselling memoir. The feature received its world premiere at Sundance and played the Panorama section at the Berlinale. Essiedu will also appear in the film The Scurry, a comedy horror directed by Craig Roberts and written by Tim Telling, where he stars alongside Rhys Ifans, Olivia Cooke, Antonia Thomas, and Steve Oram. 

Essiedu returned to the stage in July in Clint Dyer and Roy Williams’ state-of-the-nation trilogy, Death of England, on the West End. 

Other screen credits include The Capture (BBC1), Alex Garland’s Men (A24); Gangs of London (HBO/Sky Atlantic); Anne Boleyn (Channel 5); Unsaid Stories (ITV); Press (Masterpiece/BBC One); Black Earth Rising (BBC Two); KIRI (Channel 4); The Miniaturist (BBC); short film Femme, which was nominated in the Best British Short category in the 2022 BAFTAs and won the BIFA Award for Best Short Film. 

Other theatre credits for the actor are: A Number (Old Vic. D. Lynsey Posner); Simon Godwin’s production Hamlet at the RSC; The Merry Wives of Windsor (RSC, dir. Philip Breen); King Lear (National Theatre, dir. Sam Mendes); and Pass Over (Kiln Theatre, dir. Indhu Rubasingham’s).

Essiedu continues to be represented by Curtis Brown and Tapestry London.