David Harewood

David Harewood OBE
David Harewood in Soccer Aid for UNICEF 2024
Born	(1965-12-08) 8 December 1965 (age 59) Small Heath, Birmingham, England
Occupation(s)	Actor, presenter
Years active	1990–present
Spouse	Kirsty Handy ​ ​ (m. 2014)​
Children	2
Harewood's voice recorded 2012, as part of an audio description of the Buxton Memorial Fountain for VocalEyes

David Harewood OBE (born 8 December 1965) is a British actor, presenter and the current president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He is best known for his roles as CIA Counterterrorism Director David Estes in Homeland (2011–2012), and as J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter and Hank Henshaw / Cyborg Superman in Supergirl (2015–2021).^[1]

Harewood was born on 8 December 1965 in the Small Heath area of Birmingham, the son of a couple from Barbados who had moved to England in the late 1950s and early 1960s. His father was a lorry driver, while his mother was a caterer. He has a sister, Sandra, and two brothers, Rodger and Paul. He attended St Benedict's Junior School and Washwood Heath Academy.^[2][3] He was a member of the National Youth Theatre. In his youth, he worked at a wine bar in Birmingham city centre.^[4][5] At the age of 18, he gained a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.^[4][6]

Harewood began acting in 1990 and has appeared in The Hawk, Great Moments in Aviation, Harnessing Peacocks, Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Blood Diamond, The Merchant of Venice and Strings. He is known for his television appearances on Ballykissangel, The Vice and Fat Friends. He played Don Coleman in Hustle (Series 7 The Fall of Railton FC (2011)).^[7] In 1997, he was the first black actor to play Othello at the National Theatre in London.^[8][6]

In 2008, he played Major Simon Brooks in The Palace; he also appeared (that December) on Celebrity Mastermind, with specialist subject Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. He appeared in the BBC film adaptation of the Philip Pullman novels The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow in the North, both of which are titles from the Sally Lockhart Mysteries.^[7]

In 2009, Harewood appeared in the BBC single drama Mrs Mandela, playing Nelson Mandela.^[9] He played Brother Tuck in the third series of Robin Hood. He appeared in the Doctor Who story "The End of Time". He played Martin Luther King Jr. in the premiere of The Mountaintop, written by American playwright Katori Hall, directed by James Dacre, which opened at Theatre503 in London on 9 June 2009.^[10][11][12]

Harewood next appeared in two episodes of Chris Ryan's Strike Back as Colonel Tshuma. From June to September 2010, he played Theseus in the premiere of Moira Buffini's play Welcome to Thebes at the National Theatre in London.^[13] He played Martin Viner in an episode of New Tricks.^[14] He narrated Welcome to Lagos, a BBC documentary about Lagos, Nigeria. He also starred in British independent film The Hot Potato,^[15] the film also starred Ray Winstone, Colm Meaney and Jack Huston.^{[citation needed]} He played Frankenstein's monster in the TV live event Frankenstein's Wedding.^[7]

From 2011, Harewood starred as David Estes, the director of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, in the Showtime series Homeland. After appearing in 24 episodes, his character was killed off in a bomb explosion at the end of season 2.^[1] Also in 2011, he voiced Captain Quinton Cole in the video game Battlefield 3.

In June 2014, he appeared in Tulip Fever.^[16] In October 2015, he appeared as a core cast member on the CBS television series Supergirl as Hank Henshaw. Since his character was revealed (in the episode Human for a Day) to be J'onn J'onzz/Martian Manhunter posing as Henshaw, he portrays J'onn J'onzz with Henshaw's likeness as his human form and has a dual recurring role as the real Hank Henshaw / Cyborg Superman.

In 2017, Harewood was in London to attend the British Urban Film Festival. The following year, for his performance in "Free in Deed", Harewood won Best Actor at the 2018 British Urban Film Festival awards. Harewood was included in the 2019 edition of the Powerlist, ranking the 100 most influential Black Britons.^[17] Also in 2019, he played the position of goalkeeper for England in Soccer Aid for UNICEF 2019. Psychosis and Me, a documentary hosted and produced by Harewood received a BAFTA Television Award nominated for Single Documentary.^[18]

In October 2021, it was revealed that Harewood will make his feature directorial debut with For Whom The Bell Tolls, a boxing film about the rivalry between Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn.^[19]

In November 2021, The Guardian published an article focusing on Harewood and actor Ricardo P Lloyd comparing both of their lives and careers and the struggles black British actors face in the UK. This was part of Black British culture matters, curated by Lenny Henry & Marcus Ryder for The Guardian Saturday Culture Issue No7.^[6][20]

Harewood was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to drama^[21][22][23] and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to drama and charity.^[24] Harewood delivered the 2023 Richard Dimbleby Lecture.^[25]

In February 2024, he was announced as the new President of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.^[26]

Harewood is an advocate of the British government apologising for Britain's participation in the slave trade.^[27] His great-great-great-great grandparents had been slaves on a plantation in Barbados owned by Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood.^[28] Slaves were given surnames derived from those of their owners, hence Harewood's ancestors had to take their name from the Lascelles' title. Harewood has engaged with David Lascelles, the 8th and current Earl of Harewood and a descendant of the 2nd Earl, who also believes the government should apologise for the slave trade.^[27] As part of a BBC Look North programme in 2007, David Harewood visited Lascelles' ancestral home, Harewood House, which was built with the profits of slavery, and interviewed Lascelles on the subject.^[29] He did so again for a Channel 5 documentary in 2021.^[30]

In September 2023, a portrait of Harewood, commissioned by Lascelles, was put on display at Harewood House as an acknowledgement of their families' connected history.^[27] It will become part of the stately home's permanent collection.^[30] The portrait's unveiling was accompanied by a temporary exhibition at the house focussing on Harewood's life and career.^[31] Harewood described the hanging of the portrait as "well overdue for me and my ancestors"^[32] and commented that he hoped visitors to the house would

see a picture of a black person that they may recognise from the television, they will enquire as to why his picture is there, and then they'll understand… all of the unpaid work that my ancestors did, and the brutality of what they suffered… helped build this house.^[27]

In May 2012, Harewood presented a Party Election Broadcast for the Labour Party.^[33] In the 2019 European Parliament election, Harewood pledged his support for Change UK.^[34]

In 2007, Harewood donated his bone marrow and as a result saved the life of a patient.^[35] In October 2013, Harewood voiced an interactive video campaign for the British Lung Foundation aiming to ban smoking in cars with children on board in the United Kingdom.^[36]

Harewood is an avid supporter of Birmingham City Football Club.^[1][37] Harewood appeared in Soccer Aid 2018 as England's celebrity goalkeeper. He saved two penalties during the penalty shootout, helping England to win the charity match. The event raised more than £5 million for UNICEF, a charity that Harewood supports.

Harewood married his long-term girlfriend Kirsty Handy in February 2013 in Saint James, Barbados. They have two daughters and the family resides in Streatham, London.^[38]

Harewood is a mental health ambassador and has been open about his own struggles, confessing that he used to self-medicate with alcohol and marijuana to deal with his bipolar-like symptoms, discarding the medication given to him by doctors. He was sectioned under the Mental Health Act,^[39] spent time on the Whittington Hospital psychiatric ward, and was prescribed the antipsychotic drug chlorpromazine.^[40] He subsequently expanded on his experiences, hosting a 2019 BBC documentary titled David Harewood: My Psychosis and Me.^[41][42]

In a 2021 essay for The Guardian, he shared:^[43]

I had consumed a fair amount of marijuana and was under a lot of stress; over the course of two years, I'd slowly come undone. I had spent weeks walking all over London, sometimes throughout the night, talking to strangers and following them wherever they led me. I'd black out only to regain consciousness in a completely different part of town, hours later, afraid and with absolutely no idea what had happened in the interval. Had it not been for some extraordinary friends who decided that I needed to be hospitalised, I might have vanished into the night for good. Worse still, I could have taken heed of the incredibly real and convincing voices in my head and simply thrown myself off Westminster Bridge. Instead, I found myself sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

David Harewood voiced the character of the American character Thurman Berkley in series one of the BBC radio series Chambers on the 4th May 1996.

Harewood played Patroclus in the 1998 BBC radio trilogy Troy. He also played Henry Tilney in the Northanger Abbey radio adaptation (2005). On 4 May 2012, he hosted a special BBC Radio 2 Friday Night is Music Night celebrating the life of Ray Charles,^[50] broadcast live from Cheltenham Jazz Festival. The show featured the Guy Barker orchestra, with leader Cynthia Fleming and guest artists Madeline Bell, Gregory Porter, and James Tormé.^{[citation needed]}

Harewood played the Marquis de Carabas in the BBC Radio 4 Radio Play of Neverwhere (2013).^[51]

In 2022, Harewood voiced Destruction of the Endless in Act III of Audible's full-cast audiobook adaptation of Neil Gaiman's comic, The Sandman.

• Screen Actors Guild Awards-Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series: Nominated (2012)^[52]
• Nashville Film Festival-Best Actor: Winner (2016)^[53]
• Independent Spirit Awards-Best Male Lead: Nominated (2017)^[52]
• Saturn Award-Best Supporting Actor on a Television Series: Nominated (2019)^[54]
• Edinburgh TV Festival-Variety Outstanding Achievement Award: Winner (2020)^[55][56]
• Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to drama (2023)^[52]
• Long Key International Film Awards 2023 - Best Actor in a Short Film (Man to Man, 2023). Winner.

• Harewood, David (2021). Maybe I Don't Belong Here. Bluebird. ISBN 9781529064131.^[57] Harewood's memoir.

• David Harewood at IMDb