Update: It’s official !
Freema Agyeman’s character “Martha Jones” has been given a mother, “Francine Jones”, to be played by Adjoa Andoh who also played one of the Sisters of Plenitude “Cat Nuns” in “New Earth” (the opening episode of Doctor Who season two).
Adjoa has extensive acting experience as seen in her filmography on IMDB.
Adjoa does quite a bit of voice-over work and apparently is quite versatile with accents, being able to produce Jamaican, African and American dialects. She narrated the audio book versions of Alexander McCall Smith’s “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” series of detective novels and there are several TV commercials that feature her voice. You can listen to some of her work here in mp3 format.
Just like Freema, Adjoa has been on ITV’s “The Bill” and the BBC’s “Casualty” and has done theatre work in addition to film and television roles.
There is a small page on Wikipedia about her as well as an older interview on the BBC from her role on “Casualty”.
If you love details, here’s all you could ever want to know about Adjoa Andoh…
BORN : 1969
RESIDES: South London
FAMILY: Lives with husband, Howard, and her three daughters, Jesse, Lily and Daisy. “My partner isn’t an actor, but he’s very understanding about the whole thing. I think if you’re in a relationship and the other person is doing something that may not be ideal but that they love, then you support them.” Adjoa married her long term partner in March 2001, with her daughters as bridesmaids.
EDUCATION: Adjoa did a year of a law degree at Bristol Polytechnic… “In my family it wasn’t proper to do acting as a career, so I ended up doing a law degree, but left after the second year. I think my Dad is still waiting for me to go back and get a real job!”
In her youth Adjoa was a dedicated rocker and had turquoise blue hair!
“I also used to play the cello in a jazz trio, we played at hotels around Bristol and on a river boat. If I could have been anything then, I would have been a bass player in a band and I never went out with anyone who wasn’t a musician.”
in Doctor Who: “New Earth”
TV CREDITS: A Prayer Before Birth; The South Bank Show; I Is A Long Memoried Woman; Eastenders; The Missing Finger; One in Four - A Short Film About Melons; Birthrights - West Indian Women at War; Nurse “Colette Kierney” on Casualty; Brittas Empire; Health and Efficiency; What My Mother Told Me; Circle of Deceit; Tomorrow People; An Independent Woman; Twelve Angry Men; Brass Eye; Thief Takers; Peak Practice; The Bill; Close Relations; A Rather English Marriage; Jonathan Creek; Macbeth; Are You Looking at Me; Dalziel and Pascoe; Everytime I Look at You; Dalziel and Pascoe; The Bill; Chopratown; Doctor Who;
THEATRE CREDITS: “Stuff Happens” as “Condoleezza Rice”; “His Dark Materials” as “Serafina Pekkala”; Lear’s Daughters; Twice Over; Getting Through; Crowned With Fame; Pinchdice & Co; Our Day Out; Glory!; The Snow Queen; Cloud Nine; Love at a Loss; Death Catches the Hunter; The Odyssey; Tamburlane; Starstruck; The Dispute; Breath Boom; The Vagina Monologues; Pericles; Blood Wedding; Nights at the Circus
On the far left, Adjoa Andoh as “Serafina Pekkala” in the theatre production of “His Dark Materials”
On the left,
Adjoa in “Stuff Happens” as “Condoleezza Rice”
for more information about Adjoa Andoh, check out this nice little fansite.
HA Ha
Martha Has a Cat nun 4 a mother!!!
lol
Hi,
My name is Kwesi. I am from Ghana. I was just wondering if you have any Ghanaian origin. Your name, Adjoa Andoh, tells me you are.
Hi Kwesi, both Freema Agyeman and Adjoa Andoh have fathers from Ghana, so yes they are technically half-Ghanaian.
Freema’s mom comes from iran i am not sure about Adjoa
Good luck in ‘Purgatorio’ at Arcola !! I look forward to seeing more of your excellent work.
Many thanks.
Ivor
I was doing some research on the National Security Advisor to America’s president. That was how I found out that Adjoa played Condy Rice in the play ‘Stuff Happens’. I decided to check up on her since her name was Ghanaian. I was disappointed to find that the information available did not mention her Ghanaian roots.
It’s funny, but it does in a way confirm what a lot of people think. When people do good stuff, their origins are barely mentioned but when they are in the spotlight for the wrong reasons then their roots are mentioned and highlighted.
It all depends which sources of information one looks at. The Adjoa Andoh fansite linked to from this site very clearly states that her father is from Ghana and that she still has family there.