Kwame Kwei-Armah

Kwame Kwei-Armah (born Ian Roberts; 24 March 1967 in Hillingdon, London) is a British actor, playwright, director, singer and broadcaster. In 2005 he became the second black Briton to have a play staged in the West End of London. (Ray Harrison Graham's Fringe First award-winning play GARY played at the Arts Theatre in 1990.) Kwei-Armah's award-winning piece Elmina's Kitchen transferred to the Garrick Theatre in 2005. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to drama. He is currently the artistic director of the Young Vic theatre in London, succeeding David Lan. Brought up in Southall, he changed his name at the age of 19 after tracing his family history, through the slave trade back to his ancestral African roots in Ghana. His parents were born in Grenada. He has four children. Kwei-Armah was chancellor of the University of the Arts form 2011 to 2015. He served as the Artistic Director of the Baltimore's Center Stage theater in the United States from 2011 to 2018. In 2018 he became the Artistic Director of the Young Vic in London. Kwei-Armah's son, who goes by the stage name of KZ, contributed production and vocals to Wretch 32 and Avelino's 2015 mixtape, Young Fire, Old Flame, and Wretch 32's third studio album, Growing Over Life, released in September 2016.

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