April 12th: Today’s Feature
- webbworks333
- Apr 12
- 4 min read
April
Daniel Kaluuya - Part 1
Daniel Kaluuya, a British actor born on 24 February 1989, has made a significant impact both on screen and stage throughout his career. His talent and dedication have been recognised with prestigious awards such as an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. In 2021, Time magazine honoured him by including him in their list of the 100 most influential people in the world, highlighting his global impact and contribution to the entertainment industry.
Raised in London by Ugandan parents, Kaluuya's upbringing on a council estate in Camden Town shaped his early years. Despite the absence of his father, who lived in Balaka, Malawi, until he was 15, Kaluuya's mother and older sister provided a supportive environment for his growth.
His education at Torriano Primary School, St Aloysius' College, and Camden School for Girls in it’s
co-educational sixth form laid the foundation for his academic pursuits, including A-levels in History, Drama, and Biology. Kaluuya's passion for storytelling emerged at a young age, leading him to write his first play at nine and explore the world of acting through improvisational theatre at local schools such as Anna Scher Theatre School and WAC Arts.
Daniel Kaluuya was just nine years old when he wrote a play put on by Hampstead Theatre. It was the story of two guys working in McDonald’s, based on the goofy Nickelodeon sitcom Kenan & Kel. He wrote it in response to a teacher who told him he needed an outlet for his energy because his brain was “too busy”.
Kaluuya was never sure if it was a compliment or a complaint, but that busy brain paid off: at 32, he has won best supporting actor at the Baftas, Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice awards for his portrayal of Chairman Fred Hampton, the leader of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther party, who was assassinated in 1969.
The film Judas and the Black Messiah has all the ingredients for a buzzy awards season run. It is a lushly told story of black liberation, protest and police brutality, the tension twisted by an FBI informant played by the ever-excellent Lakeith Stanfield. It’s a reverent history lesson that would feel necessary any time between 1969 and now, but one that’s especially on the nose for 2021.
Hampton was seen as a radical threat by the FBI; he was instrumental in the party’s free breakfast programme, its free healthcare clinics. He formed the Rainbow Coalition with rival groups across Chicago. He was 21 when he was murdered. The film carries an enormous burden of responsibility to do him justice – one which, critics agree, Kaluuya serves.
“There’s so much on how Chairman Fred died,” Kaluuya said in an interview with the British Film Institute. “I hope this film shows people how he lived.” Director Shaka King offered Kaluuya the part as he was still on set filming 2018’s Black Panther – the world’s first blockbuster African superhero movie – keen to see what this curious north Londoner could bring to the table.
Kaluuya got to work on heavy-duty immersion: he spent months reading books on the Black Panther reading list, he absorbed dissertations on Chicago politics, watched archive footage, studied the history. Then he went to the city and spoke to people, and visited the places Hampton lived, worked and campaigned in, before meeting the family for long, intense hours.
“We’re here to give until we’re empty and I gave it everything,” he said in his winner’s speech at the Golden Globes last month, quoting the late rapper Nipsey Hussle.
“Chairman Fred Hampton, I couldn’t give it to a more noble man. I hope generations after this can see how brilliantly he thought, how brilliantly he spoke and how brilliantly he loved. He taught me about myself, made me grow as a man.”
It was a rare moment of earnest bombast from Kaluuya, who usually shies away from being anything but low-key and relatable. Watching him on chatshow sofas next to A-list stars is a delight: he is disarmingly casual and naturally funny.
By his own account, Kaluuya was boisterous and easily distracted as a child. The son of Ugandan immigrants, he grew up in Camden Town, London, on a council estate with his mum and sister, and bounced around all the free and cheap arts clubs he could: there was Anna Scher, famous for nurturing working-class talent through her Islington theatre, Wac in Belsize Park, the Roundhouse outreach programmes, and the Sylvia Young Saturday school. “I was into acting, knew it was for me, but I was poor,” he told the British Blacklist. “If I failed, what did I have to lose? I couldn’t have been any poorer – I was eating McDonald’s sauces.”
He will be working on the film with producer and fellow Londoner Amandla Crichlow, daughter of the late activist Frank Crichlow, owner of the famous Mangrove restaurant. The couple are believed to be in a long-term relationship and partners in the production company 59%.
“I don’t know if I could have had this kind of career 10 years ago,” said Kaluuya earlier this year. “It’s the fruit of incredible work of people that came before.”
Continued in Part II