Michaela Coel

Michaela Coel (born Michaela Ewuraba Boakye-Collinson; October 1987) is a British actor, writer, director and singer from London. She is best known for her roles in BBC One’s comedy series Chewing Gum and the critically acclaimed Netflix drama I May Destroy You.

Coel was born to Ghanaian parents in Hackney, East London. She attended St Marylebone Church of England School before studying theatre at Guildhall School of Music & Drama graduating with First Class Honours in 2010.

In 2014 Coel wrote and starred as Tracey Gordon on Channel 4’s BAFTA winning sitcom Chewing Gum which earned her two nominations for Best Female Performance In A Comedy Programme at the 2016 Royal Television Society Awards; she won one of them along with an honorary mention by The Writer’s Guild Of Great Britain Award 2015 For Most Promising Newcomer category. Her breakthrough role came when HBO commissioned four episodes of the show based on it called Been So Long starring herself alongside Arinze Kene that premiered worldwide in 2018 via Netflix after premiering earlier that year at TIFF Midnight Madness where it received rave reviews from critics resulting into sales agreements across Europe including France, Germany & Italy among others but no UK release date has yet been announced despite its success overseas . This led to further recognition leading up to 2020 when she created , wrote , executive produced and starred as Arabella Essiedu – a young woman whose life unraveled following trauma due incident involving drug induced rape during night out drinking game – in 12 part psychological thriller/drama series I May Destroy You which proved be hugely successful earning critical acclaim such Golden Globe nomination 2021 for Best Actress In Television Series Musical or Comedy amongst other accolades .

Outside acting Coel has also released music under alias ‘MichealaElise’ most notably single “Won’t Hurt Me” back 2013 featuring Wretch 32 while she often performs spoken word poetry events around country particularly Slay Festival 2017 organised by black female collective Slay Network celebrating diversity through artistry ; these include collaborations fashion brand River Island 2018 showcasing new collection range alongside models Cara Delevingne Jourdan Dunn later same year collaborating artist Lily Allen song “Higher” 2019 plus various stage productions over years ranging everything Shakespearean play Much Ado About Nothing 2012 classical musical Hairspray 2008 hip hop dance production Ugly Duckling 2011 all way traditional African storytelling piece Homecoming Queen 2006 .