celebforum - Freema Agyeman

Freema Agyeman (born 1 January 1979 in Finsbury Park, London ) is an English actress of Ghanaian and Iranian descent whose first notable appearance was in the ITV soap opera Crossroads in 2001. She is best known for playing medical student Martha Jones, companion of the Tenth Doctor in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and Torchwood

Background

Freema Agyeman grew up on the Woodberry Down council estate in the London Borough of Hackney. Her mother, Azar, is Iranian and her father, Osei, is Ghanaian. They divorced when she was a child. She has a younger brother, Domenic, and an older sister, Leila. She attended Our Lady's Convent, a Catholic school in Stamford Hill and the Anna Scher Theatre School in Islington. She studied performing arts and drama at Middlesex University, graduating in 2000.

Career

Freema Agyeman secured the part of Martha Jones after an audition which she had been told was for a guest role in Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood. Agyeman had previously portrayed Martha Jones's cousin Adeola Oshodi, who was killed by the Cybermen in the Doctor Who episode "Army of Ghosts". During her first series in the role of Martha, there was a tabloid article that reported she had been axed from the show, but despite her character's departure from the TARDIS in season finale "Last of the Time Lords", the BBC have confirmed that actress and character will return in Series Four for five episodes, which include "The Sontaran Stratagem", "The Poison Sky", "The Doctor's Daughter" and "Journey's End".

In the meantime, she has appeared in three episodes of Torchwood, appearing in "Reset", "Dead Man Walking" and "A Day in the Death", before her character departed to return to her job as a Medical Officer with UNIT.

Agyeman can often be seen on The Bedtime Hour on CBeebies reading the story shortly before 7pm.

Freema is also narrating BBC Three's Bizarre ER. She will also host a Doctor Who-themed portion of the BBC Proms on 27th July.

On the 25th April 2008, Freema appeared on The Paul O'Grady Show. She confirmed that she will be starring as Tattycoram in the upcoming BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' Little Dorrit.

Filmography

* Casualty as Kate Hindley
* Mile High (2003, TV series)
* Crossroads (2003, TV series) as Lola Wise
* The Bill (3 episodes, 2004-2006) as Shakira Washington
* Silent Witness (1 episode, 2005) as Mary Ogden
* Doctor Who (2006, episode "Army of Ghosts") as Adeola Oshodi
* Doctor Who (2007-, TV series) as Martha Jones
* Doctor Who animated special The Infinite Quest (2007, TV serial) as Martha Jones (voice)
* The Omid Djalili Show (2007, TV series) as Herself
* Torchwood (2008, TV series) as Martha Jones
* Bizarre ER (2008, TV series) as Narrator
* The Friday Night Project (2008, TV series) as Herself
* Little Dorrit (2008, TV serial) as Tattycoram