Dirisu has been winning awards for his performance in UK indie film My Father’s Shadow
Sope Dirisu is having a banner year. He played scruffy everyman Bérenger in Omar Elerian’s new version of Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros for London’s Almeida Theatre. He brought Elliot Finch back to the small screen in the third season of Sky Atlantic/AMC’s Gangs Of London. And most notably, he took on the lead role in My Father’s Shadow, the buzzy drama from Akinola Davies Jr, which was acquired by Mubi for North America and UK release ahead of its Cannes Un Certain Regard premiere. Dirisu went on to win outstanding lead performance for the film at the Gotham Awards, pulling through in a tough category featuring the likes of Hamnet’s Jessie Buckley and Blue Moon’s Ethan Hawke.
It was Davies Jr – who had made a name for himself directing music videos, commercials and documentary films before his feature debut My Father’s Shadow – that piqued the actor’s interest in the project. “I’d never met him before or seen much of his work, but he is a celebrated name in the Black London creative space,” says Dirisu from his shooting location in Atlanta, speaking to Screen International ahead of his Gotham win.
The Nigerian story – set against the turbulence of 1993’s annulled presidential election – was also enticing. Dirisu saw a character that he could relate to in Folarin, an absentee father who takes his two sons on a day trip to Lagos, even if it did not exactly fit his life experience.
“He was beautifully flawed,” says Dirisu. “I think it’s easy for children to deify their parents. I think of the first time I saw my father cry, I was just like, ‘Whoa, hang on. How can this Superman be weak and have vulnerabilities?’ In reading the character of Folarin, I was able to see the humanity in the masculine show that’s presented, especially in African masculinity, and that he makes mistakes.”
Another attraction was shooting in Nigeria. Born in the UK to Nigerian parents, Dirisu had visited the country to see relatives, but filming there was a different proposition. “It was definitely novel,” he says. “There was a lot to celebrate in that as well, like having egusi soup and amala [traditional Nigerian dishes] for lunch. It was also wonderful to contribute to the cultural tapestry of the country rather than just being an outside observer.”
At the heart of My Father’s Shadow is the relationship between Folarin and his sons Akin and Remi (brothers Godwin Egbo and Chibuike Marvelous Egbo), and Dirisu remains proud of the bond he forged with his young co-stars.
“They were not only complete strangers, but it’s their first time acting as well,” he says. “So they were strangers in their own way to how we make work, how we play, and how we maintain energy levels throughout the shooting day. What the culture and customs are and how we do things when we make films.
“It was wonderful to be able to help guide them through that, because I think it reflected the parental relationship that we were trying to portray on film.”
Life began to imitate art, and vice versa, over time. “The relationship off-screen mirrored the relationship we were having on screen as this absent father figure who they looked up to. I’m just glad to have been some sort of decent role model for them, I hope,” says Dirisu. “There are some moments in the film where Fola is sitting back and watching his boys, and I’m not sure if it’s Fola or if it’s Sope that’s watching them, just proud. There was definitely some crossover for sure.”
Killer project
Dirisu is building on the career momentum created by My Father’s Shadow. He is in Atlanta filming Netflix’s All The Sinners Bleed, a nine‑episode adaptation of SA Cosby’s propulsive novel of the same name, which is written and showrun by Black Panther screenwriter Joe Robert Cole.
Dirisu – starring as Titus Crown, the first Black sheriff of a small Bible Belt county who leads the hunt for a serial killer – was immediately taken with the script when he was sent the pilot episode.
“The first thing that gripped me was the depth of the story and how they’d structured that across the pilot episode, because there were so many seeds planted in non-obvious ways,” he says. “It’s like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t wait for that to come to fruition,’ or ‘I can’t wait for that to be developed,’ or ‘I need to see that character again.’”
For the big screen, earlier this year Dirisu wrapped filming on A Colt Is My Passport, a reimagining of the 1967 Takashi Nomura film of the same name, reuniting with Gangs Of London co-creator Gareth Evans. The action film from Amazon MGM Studios and Orion Pictures sees him play a Vietnam War veteran on the run in 1970s Detroit after assassinating a mob boss. The cast also includes Tim Roth, Jack Reynor and Lucy Boynton.
“What was so wonderful about Colt is that having had this previous working relationship with Gareth, he feels a lot more like a friend as well as a collaborator,” says the actor. “I have said it before, and I’ll say it again, if Gareth asked me to come do a toothpaste commercial, I’d probably say yes.”
Dirisu has also become an executive producer on the latest season of Gangs Of London, a role that he likens to being captain of a football team. “It’s like having a player on the board helping to make sporting decisions,” he says. “To be the cast’s voice in that space and be able to advocate for people felt important.”
The producorial role represents the broadening of a career that began on screen in 2012, saw Dirisu selected as a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2016, and in 2025 found new balance. “It was an absolute joy to get back on stage with Rhinoceros, and I’m glad we had the opportunity,” he says. “Theatre is an important medium for me, and [an] important medium for an actor. I hope that I won’t be off stage for another six years.”
Dirisu now has his sights set on fresh pastures. “I’m yet to do a video game, and I’d love to do that,” he says. “Even just voiceover work and audiobooks and radio… I was a part of the full audio recording of Harry Potter that’s being trickled out over the next year [for Audible, voicing Sirius Black]. I was proud to be part of that, with the cast they’ve put together. It’s incredible.”
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