The Chewing Gum star on returning to the stage, discovering a different side of herself on Taskmaster and why she likes to be called handsome
Susan Wokoma, 35, was born in Peckham to Nigerian parents. She made her TV debut on CBBC aged 14, was a member of the National Youth Theatre and trained at Rada. She was named a Bafta breakthrough Brit in 2017. Her TV roles include Chewing Gum, Crashing and Cheaters. Film credits include Half of a Yellow Sun and Enola Holmes. She has extensive stage experience, including Phyllida Lloyd’s acclaimed all-female Shakespeare trilogy, and now stars in Chichester festival theatre’s world premiere of Deborah Frances-White’s debut play, Never Have I Ever.
You’ve concentrated on screen work in recent years. Why return to theatre?
Not that anyone cares, but I sort of semi-retired from doing theatre. It was like “I’m retiring”. “Yeah, whatever, see you later.” I fell in love with acting by doing youth theatre but just wasn’t finding the right challenges, so I quiet-quit. Then my friend Deborah Frances-White, with whom I’ve collaborated a lot on The Guilty Feminist, said: “I’ve written you this amazing part.” I read it and was like, “I’m coming out of retirement, guys!”
