Kurt Egyiawan

Kurt Egyiawan is an English theatre and television actor born in Cameroon who relocated to the United Kingdom during his childhood. As a young person, he participated in the National Youth Music Theatre before going on to train at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 2011, he won the Spotlight Prize with a performance of the Best Man Speech by Ben Lloyd-Hughes and received a nomination for the Ian Charleson Award for his portrayal of Arsace in Bérénice. He has since returned to Guildhall as a visiting tutor, teaching screen acting within the school's acting program.

Egyiawan's professional stage career began in 2008 at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, where he appeared in supporting roles in King Lear and in Ché Walker's The Frontline. In 2011, he was part of the ensemble in the UK touring production of Earthquakes in London. The following year, he took on the dual roles of the Dauphin and Lord Scroop in a Shakespeare's Globe production of Henry V, which was also filmed for television. In late 2012 and into 2013, he appeared in an all-male double feature at Shakespeare's Globe, playing Richmond and the Duchess of York in Richard III, as well as Valentine and an officer in Twelfth Night, performing alongside Stephen Fry and Mark Rylance.

That double feature of Richard III and Twelfth Night transferred to the Belasco Theatre on Broadway from November 2013 to February 2014, marking Egyiawan's Broadway debut. His performances in both the comedy Twelfth Night and King Richard II drew praise from American reviewers and press. Following the Broadway run, he took on supporting roles in an English production of Aimé Césaire's political play A Season in the Congo. In 2015, he played Chidhina in The Rise and Shine of Comrade Fiasco, a play about post-colonial Zimbabwe produced in collaboration with the Gate Theatre for their Freedom Burning season. That same year, he appeared as Angelo in a Shakespeare's Globe production of Measure for Measure, which was also televised. In 2017, he played the title role in Othello at Shakespeare's Globe, a performance that received praise from publications including the Evening Standard. He joined the cast of Mood Music at the Old Vic Theatre in 2018 as Miles, and the following year appeared as Lundi in a Manchester International Festival production of Tree, which subsequently opened at the Young Vic.

Egyiawan's screen career began in 2012 with a cinema role playing Q's assistant in the James Bond film Skyfall. In 2015, he appeared in Pan as Murray, in Kill Your Friends as Tim, and in Beasts of No Nation as 2nd I-C, the latter earning him a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination in the Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture category alongside the film's ensemble. His first television role came in 2016, when he joined the main cast of Fox's supernatural horror series The Exorcist as Father Devon Bennet, a role he held through 2017. In 2022, he appeared in the short film Lions as Moses, a film that won the Unifrance short film award, and played Dia in I Used to Be Famous. That same year, he took on the guest role of Roger Barrowby in the British spy thriller Slow Horses and joined the recurring cast of HBO's House of the Dragon as Grand Maester Orwyle in its first season, a role for which he is particularly well known. He was elevated to the main cast for the show's second season in 2024. Also in 2023, he was cast as Philip Dust in the miniseries Bodies, and in 2024 he played the recurring role of Adrian in the British mythological dark comedy Kaos before the series was cancelled after one season. His performance in the widely acclaimed film A Real Pain, in which he played Eloge, received recognition from The Hollywood Reporter. He also joined the cast of the American thriller series The Agency as Osman, which premiered on 29 November 2024. In 2025, Egyiawan was cast in season 2 of Andor, a Star Wars spin-off series.