Idris Elba & Other Hollywood Stars You Didn't Know Are Ghanaians

Hollywood is the apex ladder anyone in the entertainment industry wants to reach. Most actors leave their native country to become big stars in Hollywood.

Although, most of these Ghanaian celebrities lived most of their in the U.S so it was a bit easy getting up the ladder unlike a few of them who lived their lives in Ghana before transcending.

Let’s take a look at some of these celebrities you probably have no idea are Ghanaians.

Boris Kodjoe

Boris Frederic Cecil Tay-Natey Ofuatey-Kodjoe better known as Boris Kodjoe, is an Austrian-born actor of German and Ghanaian descent known for his roles as Kelby in the 2002 film Brown Sugar, the sports-courier agent Damon Carter on the Showtime drama series Soul Food and was a recurring character on FOX’s The Last Man on Earth.

He currently co-stars on BET’s Real Husbands of Hollywood and the Grey’s Anatomy spin-off, Station 19.

Kodjoe was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of Ursula, a German psychologist of partially Jewish descent, and Eric Kodjoe, a Ghanaian physician who is of the Krobo tribe. His namesake is the Russian poet and writer Boris Pasternak.

Kodjoe’s matrilineal great-grandmother was Jewish and died in the Holocaust; his maternal grandmother survived the war in hiding. Kodjoe’s parents divorced when he was six years old.

Cynthia Addai-Robinson

Actress Cynthia Addai-Robinson is an American actress of Ghanaian descent. She is known for her roles as Naevia in the Starz television series Spartacus and DC Comics character Amanda Waller in The CW TV series Arrow.

Since November 2016, she plays the role of Nadine Memphis on the USA Network series Shooter.

In addition, she trained at Lee Strasberg Theater Institute and in dance forms ballet, jazz and tap. She received some special forces-style training by Navy SEALs and New Zealand Special Air Service personnel during the filming of Spartacus: War of the Damned. She also starred as Ramona in HBO Power.

Addai-Robinson was born on January 12, 1985, in London. Her mother is from Ghana and her father, a US citizen. She moved to the U.S. when she was 4 and was raised by her mother in a suburb of Washington, D.C.

Cynthia is a graduate of Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Tisch School of the Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater.

Idris Elba

Named Forbes’ s3xiest man in the world; an enviable accolade most men would kill to have.

Of course, to most female movie fans, Idris comes along as a heart-throb – one that could easily steal your woman’s attention when he appears on the screens.

Born on September 6, 1972, Idrissa Akuna Elba is an English actor, producer, musician, and DJ.

He is known for playing drug trafficker Stringer Bell on the HBO series The Wire, DCI John Luther on the BBC One series Luther and Nelson Mandela in the biographical film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013), and many other movies.

He has been nominated four times for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film, winning one and was nominated five times for a Primetime Emmy Award.

He made his directorial debut in 2018 with an adaptation of the 1992 novel Yardie by Victor Headley.

Recently there were speculations that he was being considered to play the next James Bond.

In addition to his acting work, Elba is a DJ under the moniker DJ Big Driis (or Big Driis the Londoner) and an R&B musician.

Abraham Attah

When he was cast in ‘Beast of No Nation’ in 2015, little did people know the 14-year-old Ashaiman boy was going to cross over to the other world of the make-believe industry so soon.

To achieve a feat many adult actors could not attain within such a short period of time, some have described Abraham’s breakthrough as one of divine influence.

Abraham Nii Attah, born 2 July 2001, is a Ghanaian actor, who currently lives in the United States of America for his career and education.

His leading role of child soldier Agu in Beast No Nation won him the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival.

In 2017, he appeared in the Marvel film Spider-Man: Homecoming. He has joined the ensemble cast of Shane Carruth’s third film, The Modern Ocean.

Peter Mensah

In 2018, he was in Ghana for his father’s funeral but kept himself away from the media. Perhaps, because he wanted to focus on the purpose for which he came to Ghana – to mourn his father and not to grant media interviews.

Peter Mensah is a Ghanaian-British actor, best known for his roles in the films Tears of the Sun, Hidalgo, 300, and television series such as Starz’s Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, and Spartacus: Vengeance.

He was born in Chiraa, Ghana, and comes from an academic family. He was born to parents from the Brong Ahafo Region, and moved to Hertfordshire, England, with his father, Peter Osei Mensah, an engineer, his mother, a writer, and two younger sisters at a young age.

Nana Kofi Siriboe

Another Ghanaian making Ghana proud in Hollywood is a Ghanaian American actor and model Nana-Kofi Siriboe.

He has starred as Ralph Angel Bordelon in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series Queen Sugar, since 2016.

Siriboe was born in Los Angeles, California. His parents were born in Ghana.

He is the middle child and has two brothers, actors Kwame Boateng and Kwesi Boakye. As a model, he signed with Wilhelmina Models New York and Vision Los Angeles.

In the film, Siriboe debuted playing a supporting role in the 2008 comedy-drama, The Longshots. He later has appeared in films Prom (2011), Whiplash (2014), and Straight Outta Compton (2015).

On television, he guest-starred on Lincoln Heights and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. From 2014 to 2015, he had a recurring role in the MTV comedy-drama series, Awkward.

In 2016, Siriboe was cast in a series regular role opposite Rutina Wesley and Dawn-Lyen Gardner in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series Queen Sugar, produced by Ava DuVernay. In 2017, he co-starred in the romantic comedy film Girls Trip, starring Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Tiffany Haddish.