Cyril Nri

Cyril Nri
Cyril Nri in 2004
Born	Cyril Ikechukwu Nri (1961-04-25) 25 April 1961 Nigeria
Occupation	Actor
Children	2

Cyril Ikechukwu Nri // (born 25 April 1961) is a Nigerian-born English actor who is best known for playing Superintendent Adam Okaro in the police TV series The Bill. Cyril Nri plays the role of Lord Danbury in the Netflix series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (2023).

Early life

Nri was born in on 25 April 1961 in Nigeria. Nri's family are Igbo; they fled the country in 1968 prior to the end of the Nigerian Civil War. He moved to Portugal when he was seven, and later to London.

Nri attended Holland Park School in West London and appeared in a school production of Three Penny Opera. He attended the Young Vic Youth Theatre in Waterloo, London. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Nri has lived in south London since the 1980s.

Career

He is best known for playing the role of Superintendent Adam Okaro, later chief superintendent, in the long-running ITV police drama The Bill. He also had a role as Graham, a barrister colleague of Miles and Anna, in both series of the cult BBC TV drama series This Life.

After drama school at the Bristol Old Vic, Nri started acting life at The Royal Shakespeare Company where his first role was Lucius in Ron Daniel's 1982 production of Julius Caesar. He played Ariel to Max Von Sydow's Prospero in Jonathan Miller's 1988 production of The Tempest.

In 2008, he starred alongside other former The Bill favourites Philip Whitchurch and Russell Boulter in an episode of BBC1's Waking the Dead.

In 2009, he appeared in The Observer at the Royal National Theatre.

In 2009 and 2010, he appeared in Law & Order UK as Judge Demarco and again reprised this role in the 2012 and 2013 series of the show.

In February 2010, he guest starred in Doctors.

In November 2010, he appeared in Series 4 of The Sarah Jane Adventures, in the "Lost in Time" episodes. He later reappeared in October 2011, in the opening episode of Series 5, "Sky". In late October 2016, he appeared in another Doctor Who spin-off Class.

In 2012–13, he played Cassius in Greg Doran's Royal Shakespeare Company production of Julius Caesar in Stratford upon Avon, London and New York, where in his New York Times review Ben Brantley said of Nri, "Mr. Nri's expression as he registers Caesar's words is that of a man who feels a noose tightening around his neck. Wary and sly, scared and manipulative, Mr. Nri is an excellent Cassius, capturing the climate of paranoia and politicking that thickens the air."

In 2016, he earned a British Academy Television Award nomination for his performance as Lance in the Russell T. Davies TV series Cucumber. He also appeared in an episode of Goodnight Sweetheart playing a doctor at the hospital where Yvonne Sparrow loses her unborn child (series 4).

In 2016, he played Polonius in Simon Godwin's production of Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

In 2017, he also had a minor role in an episode of the long-running BBC detective programme Death in Paradise, playing a corrupt mayor, and appeared on stage at the Dorfman Theatre, London, in Barber Shop Chronicles by Inua Ellams.

In 2020, he played a barrister in the BBC drama Noughts and Crosses.

In 2021, he played Sheldon in the Royal National Theatre's production of Trouble in Mind by Alice Childress.

Nri played Bill in the Young Vic's 2023 revival of Zinnie Harris' Further than the Furthest Thing.

Nri's latest gig is playing Derek in BBC's 'Daddy Issues' alongside Sex Education's Aimee Lou Wood.

Personal life

Nri has been married, and now identifies as gay. He has two grown-up children.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Strapless	Harold Sabola
1990	A Strike Out of Time	Charlie White	Television film
1995	The Steal	Council Computer Operator
1997	Hidden Empire: Behind the Mask	Kano	Short film
1998	Tale of the Mummy	Forensics
	Only Love	Eric Blair	Television film
	Besieged	Priest
1999	Wing Commander	Security Officer
2002	Long Time Dead	Dr. Wilson
2007	Deadmeat	Prime Minister
2008	Survivor	Boss	Short film
	Bad Day	Restaurant Manager
	The Cornwell Estate		Short film
2010	Critical Eye	CCTV Controller	Short film
2012	Father's Day	Ade	Television film
	Julius Caesar	Cassius	Television film
2018	Jellyfish	Adam Hale
	Rasta Man Vibrations	Dr. Urquhart	Short film
2019	Backdraft 2	OFI Investigator Rickets
	Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker	First Order Officer
2020	The Witches	Chief Doorman
2022	Boys on Film 22: Love to Love You	Edna May
2023	Wicked Little Letters	Judge Maccleston
	Just Passing	Sami	Short film

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Saracen	Desmond	Episode: "Three Blind Mice"
	4 Play	Tony Sewell	Episode: "The Book Liberator"
1990	The Bill	Julian Bates	Episode: "A Case to Answer"
1992	Runaway Bay	Paul	Episode: "History Revisited"
1993	Frank Stubbs Promotes	Brian	Episode: "Wheels"
1994	Calling the Shots	Paul	Miniseries; 2 episodes
1995	Casualty	Steve York	Episode: "Compensation"
1996	Pie in the Sky	Stuart Crowe	Episode: "New Leaf"
2000	Family Affairs	William McHugh	Recurring role
1996–1997	This Life	Graham	Series regular; 22 episodes
1997	Goodnight Sweetheart	Dr. Obote	Episode: "How Long Has This Been Going On?"
1998	The Bill	Chris Lycett	Episode: "One of the Gang"
1999	A Touch of Frost	Warren Barber	Episode: "One Man's Meat"
	Maisie Raine	Paul	Episode: "Old Scores"
2000	Holby City	Ben Sincalir	Episode: "Against All Odds"
	The Bill	Pascal Illunga	Episode: "Beyond Conviction"
	Arabian Nights	Schaca	Miniseries; 2 episodes
2001	Doctors	Andrew Lombard	Episode: "Too Posh to Push"
	Down to Earth	Henry Jones	Episode: "Great Expectations"
2001–2002	EastEnders	D.C. Burton	Recurring role; 11 episodes
2002–2006	The Bill	Superintendent Adam Okaro	Series regular;
2003	Murder Investigation Team	Superintendent Adam Okaro	Episode: "Moving Targets"
2007	Holby City	Lawrence Marshall	Episode: "Blood Ties"
	Cold Blood	Colonel Harrington Smith	Episode: "Dead and Buried"
2008	Waking the Dead	Raymond Ayanike	Episode: "Skin"
2009–2014	Law & Order: UK	Judge De Marco	Recurring role; 4 episodes
2010	Doctors	Mark Harmer	Episode: "Too Little, Too Late"
	The Sarah Jane Adventures	The Shopkeeper	Episode: "Lost in Time"
2011	House of Anubis	Mr. Lewis	Recurring role; 3 episodes
	Tinga Tinga Tales	Peacock	Recurring role; 2 episodes
	Holby City	Pastor Carl	Episode: "In Between Days"
	New Tricks	Billy Green	Episode: "Setting Out Your Shell"
2013	Wizards vs Aliens	Nathaniel Nightjar	Episode: "100 Wizards"
2014	Doctors	Thomas Hakizimana	Episode: "A Blind Eye"
2015	Crims	Mr. Gardner	Episode: "Day Fifty-Seven"
	Cucumber	Lance Sullivan	Miniseries; 6 episodes
	Critical	Joseph Whitnell	Episode: "The Weakness of Mankind"
2016	Class	Chair	Episode: "The Lost"
2017	Death in Paradise	Mayor Joseph Richards	Episode: "Erupting in Murder"
	Bucket	Mr. Merdon	Recurring role; 2 episodes
	Doctors	Inspector Tony Callaghan	Episode: "Running with the Pack"
	Midsomer Murders	Warwick Sowande	Episode: "The Curse of the Ninth"
2018	On the Edge	Patrick	Episode: "A Mother's Love"
	Zapped	Quincy Peacock	Episode: "Chef"
	The ABC Murders	Father Anselm	Miniseries; 1 episode
2020	Devils	Greg	Recurring role; 3 episodes
2022	Holier Than Thou	Seun	Episode: "Pilot"
2023	The Power	Eniola Ojo	Episode: "A New Organ"
2024	Daddy Issues	Stuart	Episode: "Normal Men"

External links

• Cyril Nri at IMDb