# Josette Bushell-Mingo

Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE (born 16 February 1964) is a Sweden-based English theatre actress and director of African descent, who was born in London and has been living and working in Sweden for many years. In February 2021, the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama announced she had been appointed as the incoming Principal of the School. She is the first person of African descent, the first woman since 1942, and the third woman overall to hold this role. Previously, she served as artistic director for the National Touring Swedish Deaf Theatre ensemble TystTeater for 13 years before accepting a position as the Head of the theatre department at the Stockholm University of the Arts in 2019.

## Background

Josette Bushell-Mingo was born in 1964 in the Lewisham area of London to Guyanese parents – her father was a bus driver, her mother a nurse – and grew up in Plaistow. She has three sisters. At 17, she auditioned for and was admitted to Barking College, where she did her A levels in Drama, Theatre Design, and Performing Arts. During her last two weeks at Barking, she received two offers: one from Breton University to pursue a BA in theatre and the other from Kaboodle Theatre Company. She chose Kaboodle because "a black girl [was] in it as well". After Kaboodle, she acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre.

## Career

In 1999, she appeared as Solveig in the Royal Exchange Manchester production of Peer Gynt and she returned in 2005 to play Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra. Both productions were directed by Braham Murray. She was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award in 1999 for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Rafiki in the London production of The Lion King. She has also worked with Doppleganger Theatre Company, Kiss Theatre Company (Holland), Black Mime, Half Moon Young People's Theatre, Lumiere & Son Theatre Company, and Rainmaker Theatre for the Deaf.
In 2001, she founded the Push Arts Festival with the Young Vic Theatre, an event that aims both to empower Black creators as well as to normalize their presence and leadership within major institutions within the theatre community and beyond. She also served as its artistic director. It was because of her efforts with Push that she was awarded an OBE in 2006. In 2010, she was one of several Afro-Swede actors to found TRYCK, a community for Black actors in Sweden.
In 2016, she wrote and performed Nina - A Story About Me and Nina Simone, a "deeply personal and often searing show inspired by the singer and activist Nina Simone, at the Unity Theatre. The show ran at the Young Vic Theatre in July 2017 before moving to the Traverse Theatre in August.
From 2005-2018, she was the Artistic Director for the National Touring Swedish Deaf Theatre ensemble TystTeater. The company's 2008 signed production of The Odyssey received huge critical acclaim in Scandinavia.
After leaving the National Touring Swedish Deaf Theatre, she became the Head of Acting at the Stockholm University of the Arts. She is the first woman to hold this position.
Bushell-Mingo has served as the Chairwoman for CinemAfrica and as a board member for the Swedish Film Institute, Women in Film and Television Sweden, and the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts. She has also given lectures and taught at a number of theatre schools such as London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Coventry University, London College of Fashion, and Malmö Theatre Academy.
Though she primarily works in theatre, Bushell-Mingo has also appeared in the Swedish show Nudlar och 08:or as Martha in 1997 and in a 2015 episode of Bröllop, begravning och dop as Xamina. She has also starred in the films Girls & Boys (dir. Ninja Thyberg, 2015); Flickan, mamman och demonerna (dir. Suzanne Osten, 2016). She also headlined as Kandia in Dani Kouyaté's award-winning film While We Live.

## Personal life

Bushell-Mingo has lived in Sweden for nearly 20 years. She is married to Swedish producer Stefan Karsberg; they have two sons, Ruben and Joshua. She is fluent in Swedish sign language.

## Stage credits
### Directing credits

| Year | Title | Company | Venue |
| 1989-1990 | The School for Wives (with Kathryn Hunter and Neil Bartlett) | Derby Playhouse | |
| 1991 | Dreamhouse | Aspects Theatre Company | Oval House Theatre |
| 1992-1993 | Trickster's Payback | Black Theatre Co-operative | Warehouse Theatre |
| 1993 | Edwina | Aspect Theatre Productions and Barking College | Battersea Arts Centre |
| 1995 | The House of Bernarda Alba | Aspect Theatre Productions | Brixton Shaw Theatre and Greenwich Theatre |
| 1996 | Fire | | Battersea Arts Centre |
| 1998 | King Lear (co-director: Lee Beagley) | Kaboodle Theatre Company | Teatro Municipal (Almagro) and UK |
| 1998 | The Tango Room | Aspect Theatre Productions | Loughborough Hotel |
| 2004 | Mother Courage and Her Children | New Wolsey Theatre, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and Nottingham Playhouse | Nottingham Playhouse |
| 2004 | Simply Heavenly | Young Vic Theatre | Trafalgar Studios and West End theatre |
| 2004 | Two Step | PUSH 04 | Almeida Theatre |
| 2007 | The Penelopiad | National Arts Centre and Royal Shakespeare Theatre | Swan Theatre and National Arts Centre |
| 2008 | The Odyssey | National Touring Swedish Deaf Theatre TystTeater | |
| 2008 | When We Dead Awaken | Unity Theatre, National Swedish Touring Theatre, and Västerbottensteatern | Västerbottensteatern, Stora Scenen, Unity Theatre, Stadsteatern, Pustervik, Teater 1, Sagateatern (Linköping), Kristianstads Teater, and Bredgatan 3 (Lund) |
| 2008 | The Ghost Sonata | People Show, Merseyside Dance Initiative, Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, and Hope Street | Sefton Park Palm House |
| 2009 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Toi Whakaari | Te Whaea |
| 2009-2010 | Oliver Twist | Octagon Theatre | Octagon Theatre |
| 2010 | GLO | Volcano Theatre | Fleck Dance Theatre |
| 2011 | Zémire et Azor | Royal Swedish Opera and the University College of Opera | Tensta Träff |
| 2011 | The Wiz | Birmingham Repertory Theatre and West Yorkshire Playhouse | New Alexandra Theatre and West Yorkshire Playhouse |
| 2011 | King Lear | Kaboodle Theatre Company | Unity Theatre and Watermans Arts Centre |
| 2016 | A Raisin in the Sun | National Theatre of Sweden | National Swedish Touring Theatre |
| 2017 | The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin | Theatre Royal Stratford East and Belgrade Theatre | Theatre Royal Stratford East |
| 2019 | Woza Albert! | The National Black Theatre of Sweden | Kulturhuset Stadsteatern (Vällingby) |
| 2019 | The Tempest | Citadel/Banff Centre Professional Theatre | Citadel Theatre |

### Acting credits

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Venue |
| 1987 | PANIC | | Hilary Westlake | Chapter Arts Centre |
| 1988 | Under the Moon | | | Institute of Contemporary Arts |
| 1990 | Woza Albert! | | Alby James | |
| 1990 | The Dramatic Attitudes of Fanny Kemble | An Actress, Psyche | Patrick Sandford | Nuffield Theatre |
| 1991-1992 | Antigone | Chorus | Adrian Noble | Swan Theatre, West End theatre, Barbican Theatre, and Newcastle Playhouse |
| 1991-1992 | The Two Gentlemen of Verona | Silvia, Lucetta | David Thacker | Swan Theatre, Barbican Theatre and Newcastle Playhouse |
| 1991-1992 | Oedipus at Colonus | Chorus | Adrian Noble | Swan Theatre, Barbican Theatre and Newcastle Playhouse |
| 1991-1992 | Oedipus Tyrannos | Chorus | Adrian Noble | Swan TheatreBarbican Theatre and Newcastle Playhouse |
| 1991-1992 | The Virtuoso | Clarinda | Phyllida Lloyd | Swan Theatre, The Pit and Newcastle Playhouse |
| 1992 | Metropolis Kabarett | Special Guest | Henry Goodman | National Theatre Terrace Cafe |
| 1993 | From the Mississippi Delta | | Annie Castledine | Cochrane Theatre |
| 1993 | Romeo and Juliet | Juliet | Gwenda Hughes | Birmingham Repertory Theatre |
| 1994 | The Threepenny Opera | | Annie Castledine | |
| 1995 | Women of Troy | Cassandra | Annie Castledine | The National Theatre |
| 1995 | A Midsummer Night's Dream | Titania | Karin Beier | Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus |
| 1996 | Fire | | Josette Bushell-Mingo | Battersea Arts Centre |
| 1996 | Everyman | Charlatan Priest, Death, Kindred, Knowledge | Kathryn Hunter and Marcello Magni | The Other Place |
| 1997 | The Creation | Eve, Japheth's wife, Mother Mary | Katie Mitchell | The Other Place |
| 1997 | The Passion | Adulterous woman, Esther, Mother Mary | Katie Mitchell | The Other Place |
| 1998 | The Mysteries | Bathsheba, Eve, Lot's 2nd daughter, Mary, Noah's daughter | Katie Mitchell | The Pit |
| 1998 | Everyman | Charlatan Priest, Death, Kindred, Knowledge | Marcello Magni | Brooklyn Academy of Music Majestic Theater and The Pit |
| 1999 | Peer Gynt | Solveig | Braham Murray | Royal Exchange |
| 1999 | The Lion King | Rafiki | Julie Taymor | Barbican Theatre |
| 1999 | Teenage Elvis | Elvis Presley | | Young Vic Theatre and Royal Exchange |
| 2002 | The Birds | Hoopoe, Poseidon | Kathryn Hunter | Lyttelton Theatre |
| 2002 | The Vagina Monologues | | | Ambassadors Theatre, Arts Theatre, and Wyndham's Theatre |
| 2005 | Antony and Cleopatra | Cleopatra | Braham Murray | Royal Exchange |
| 2011 | The Iron Man | Star Spirit | Pete Townshend | Young Vic Theatre |
| 2016 | Nina - A Story About Me and Nina Simone | Nina Simone | Josette Bushell-Mingo | Unity Theatre |

## Honours and awards

| Year | Award Body | Award | Work | Notes |
| 1992 | Royal Shakespeare Theatre | Player of the Year | Performance in Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Virtuoso, and The Thebans (dir. David Thacker) | |
| 1993 | Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards | Best Actress | Performance in From the Mississippi Delta (dir. Annie Castledine) | Award shared with Joy Richardson and Pauline Black |
| 1999 | Society of London Theatre | Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical | Performance in The Lion King (dir. Julie Taymor) | Nominated |
| 2004 | Women of the Year Lunch | Craymer Award for Enterprise | Excellence in theatre | |
| 2005 | Arts Council England | deciBel Visual Arts Award | Excellence in theatre | |
| 2006 | United Kingdom | Officer of the Order of the British Empire | Services to the theatre | |
| 2012 | Swedish Language Council | Minority Language Award | Promotion of Swedish sign language | |
| 2012 | | Stockholm City Cultural Prize | Performing arts | Honorary award |
| 2013 | Swedish National Association of the Deaf | Minority Language Award | Promotion of Swedish sign language | |
| 2017 | Africa Movie Academy Awards | Best Actress in a Leading Role | Performance in While We Live | Nominated |
| 2018 | Gannevik Foundation/The Swedish Arts Grants Committee | Artist scholarship | Excellence in theatre | |
| 2018 | | Performing Arts Inspiration Artist | Excellence in theatre | |
| 2018 | Women of the World Festival | Outstanding Achievement Award | For writing and performing in Nina - A Story About Me and Nina Simone | Nominee |
| 2019 | Expressens Kulturpris | Theatre Award | Excellence in theatre | |
| 2021 | Sweden | H. M. The King's Medal in gold of the 8th size worn on the chest suspended by the Order of the Seraphim ribbon | Significant contributions in Swedish performing arts | |