Akiya Henry

Akiya Henry is a British actress. She is best known for her theatre work, winning a WhatsOnStage Award and earning a Laurence Olivier Award nomination. Early life Henry was born in London and, at six months old, placed in foster care with her siblings, through which she was raised in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset by a British-Maltese couple named Joyce and George Dymock. Henry joined the National Youth Music Theatre. She earned a scholarship to study at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut and also trained with Gail Gordon, then Head of Dance at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Career In 2001, Henry made her professional stage debut as one of Billie's Babes in the Pet Shop Boys musical Closer to Heaven at the Arts Theatre. Henry also featured as a vocalist on the original cast recording. The following year, she made her television debut with a guest appearance in an episode of the BBC medical soap opera Doctors. Henry had roles in the ensemble of Anything Goes and then in Love's Labour's Lost at the National Theatre in 2002 and 2003 respectively, and in Trevor Nunn's Skellig at the Young Vic. In 2004, Henry made her feature film debut with a small role in De-Lovely and appeared in A Midsummer Night's Dream in Chichester in 2004 as Hermia, a role she would reprise on tour in 2013. She played the Zebra in the musical Just So, also in Chichester, and featured on the cast recording, originated the role of Toby in Helen Edmundson's 2005 play Coram Boy at the National Theatre, and appeared in the comedy film Unhitched. This was followed by role in Coriolanus and Under the Black Flag at Shakespeare's Globe in 2006.