Page 68 - 2018 Powerlist

NEW David Harewood
Media, Publishing& Entertainment It’s the role that propelled him to international stardom,

2018
Actor

but Birmingham-born actor David Harewood confesses
he nearly rejected the script to smash hit US spy drama
Homeland before reading it.
In his mid-40s, having fallen into depression following
the shock death of a school friend, he was ready to throw
in the towel. “Before Homeland I had £80 in the bank. I
seriously considered giving it all up and getting a job as a
lorry driver,” he said. Thankfully his agent convinced him
otherwise, because his casting as CIA director David Estes
won him plaudits and fans worldwide. He appeared in the
blockbuster TV show for 24 episodes before his character
was killed off in a bomb blast at the end of season two.
Even before landing the role, Harewood had a
distinguished tally of starring roles behind him. As a
graduate from RADA, he appeared in British stalwarts
including Casualty, Ballykissangel, New Tricks and
Kavanagh QC before landing major roles in TV dramas
including Tuck in Robin Hood, 21st century Earth billionaire
Joshua Naismith in Doctor Who, and Nelson Mandela in BBC
Four’s Mrs Mandela. He has starred in US superhero series
Supergirl and BBC One’s award-winning The Night Manager.
Film roles include Mad Dogs and Englishmen, the evil
Captain Poison in Blood Diamond – he was such a fierce
presence in the movie that the script was rewritten to give Sharon Dodua Otoo
him more screen time – and in 2004’s The Merchant of
Venice with Al Pacino. Coming up is an appearance in the Award-winning author

historical drama film Tulip Fever, set in 17th-century the
Netherlands and featuring Judi Dench and Alicia Vikander. Since winning the prestigious 2016 Ingeborg Bachmann
Harewood waded into the controversy over black British prize in Germany, one of the most important awards for
actors playing African American roles, arguing that Samuel literature in the German language, British writer Sharon has
L Jackson was wrong to suggest Britons can’t portray the said she plans to use the prize fund to help turn her winning
roles authentically. short story into a full-length novel.
In 2012, he was awarded an MBE for services to drama. She won for the surreal Herr Grottrup Sits Down, the
first and only novella she has written in the language of
her adopted home. It tells the story of Helmet Grottrup, a
scientist who worked on the Nazis’ V2 rocket and then on the
Soviet Union rocket programme. He went on to invent the
chip card. The story is partially narrated from the point of
view of an unboiled egg.
Critic Sandra Kegel, who nominated Sandra for the
£21,000 prize, said: “You have this British author telling the
story of a forgotten chapter of German history – I think that’s
incredible.”
Her tale has been described as “the kind of work of
literature that you have to go searching for because it hardly
knows how sought after it is”.
Since her win, on the X Factor-style competition screened
in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, she has been deluged
with offers from publishers and literary agents.
London-born Sharon studied German and management
studies at Royal Holloway University. She first went to
Germany as an au pair in 1992 and moved there permanently
in 2006. She is based in Berlin.
As well as writing stories she edits the book series
Witnessed – written by black authors aimed primarily at an
international audience. She describes herself as an activist
and is part of the Initiative of Black People in Germany.
Other works include The Things I am Thinking when I
Smile Politely and Synchronisity.

64 Powerlist 2018