Samson Kayo

Cast · Writer

Born

June 20, 1991 · London, England, UK

Actor-writer-producer Kayo is of Nigerian descent. He has said that growing up in Peckham, he wanted to be a footballer, but developed an interest in comedy through, among others, British comedian Jocelyn Jee Esien, who inspired him as a black person to enter comedy. He was a childhood friend of John Boyega, with whom he attended church.When he went out to pick up an iron for his mother, he found an open audition for the Channel 4 comedy Youngers, and was cast. Kayo was nominated for Best Male Comedy Performance at the 2018 British Academy Television Awards for his part in the BBC sketch show Famalam. From 2017 to 2019, he was part of the main cast of the ITV2 sitcom Timewasters, in which a Black British jazz quartet are transported through time to the London of the 1920s and 1950s in each series. He is the creator, writer and lead of the takeaway-based sitcom Sliced on Dave since 2019.He also created and plays the lead Maleek on paramedic-focused sitcom Bloods, which debuted on Sky One in 2021 while being based on an eight-minute short film on Sky Arts. He was nominated for Best Male Comedy Performance at the 2022 British Academy Television Awards for this role. Although he has said the performers of color have more opportunity in the United States, he is committed to making British films.