Amara Okereke

Okereke was born in North Tyneside in 1996, the only daughter of two Nigerian medical professionals. She grew up in Adel, Leeds and attended the Grammar School at Leeds. As a teenager, Okereke joined the National Youth Music Theatre. She went on to study at the Arts Educational School (ArtsEd) in West London, graduating in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts in musical theatre.In 2012, Okereke made her debut in the West End as a child actress, playing Cassie in 13 at the Apollo Theatre. Upon graduating from ArtsEd in 2018, she returned to the West End and joined the cast of Les Misérables at the Queen's Theatre. For her performance as Cosette, Okereke won Best Actress in a Musical at The Stage Debut Awards.

This was followed by roles as Laurie in Oklahoma! at Chichester Festival Theatre, Polly Browne in The Boy Friend at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2019, and Wendla in Spring Awakening at the Almeida Theatre in 2021.

In 2022, Okereke became the first black actress to star as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady in its West End revival at the London Coliseum, alongside Harry Hadden-Paton and Vanessa Redgrave. For her performance, Okereke won the Black British Theatre Award for Outstanding Performance in a Musical. That same year, she made her television debut as Becky Fox in the BBC Three horror series Red Rose and appeared in The Light in the Piazza at Alexandra Palace.