# Tope Tedela

Temitope Christopher Tedela Listen (born 5 June 1990) is a Nigerian actor and producer. He has received several awards for his work including Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Award, Nigeria Entertainment Award, Best of Nollywood Award and Nollywood Movies Award.
Tedela's work has been screened at international film festivals including Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and BFI London Film Festival. His body of work includes Blood Sisters (2022), Country Hard (2021), The Lost Okoroshi (2019), What Lies Within (2017), Slow Country (2017), Ojukokoro (2017), Suru L'ere (2016), A Soldier's Story (2015) and A Mile from Home which earned him several awards.

## Early life and education

Temitope Christopher Tedela, the first of four children, was born in Lagos, Nigeria on June 5,1990. He is of descent from Ekiti State. He attended Lagos State Model College, Meiran, Lagos for his secondary education and earned a degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos.

## Career

While studying at the University of Lagos, Tedela was cast in his screen debut as Julian in the family TV Series Edge of Paradise. He stopped acting for a while to concentrate on his studies; while in school and shortly after graduation, Tedela worked as an on-air personality at UNILAG FM. He made a return to star as Lala in his first leading role in the feature film A Mile from Home. At one time, Tedela was a news anchor at the NTA. He acted in several notable stage performances.
He came into prominence after playing the lead role in the 2013 award-winning action-drama film, A Mile from Home.
In 2015, Tope Tedela starred in A Soldier's Story and Out of Luck. Tedela's role as metrosexual Kyle Stevens-Adedoyin in the 2016 comedy film Suru L'ere earned him many rave reviews.
Tedela starred in these well-received films in 2017: The epic King Invincible, the comedy-crime/heist film Ojukokoro and the action-drama Slow Country. He made his producing debut with the drama thriller film What Lies Within.
In 2018, Tedela appeared in the crime film, Knock Out Blessing.
In 2019, he starred as researcher Dr Dauda in The Lost Okoroshi which had its world premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and received mostly positive reviews. He also began work on his one-man play Whumanizer. Tedela also starred in the gripping drama film, The Ghost and the House of Truth.
In 2020, Tedela was cast in Netflix's first Nigerian original series helmed by award-winning director Akin Omotoso.
In 2022, he portrayed Dr Adeboye/The Good Doctor in the Netflix original series Blood Sisters.

## Other work

In 2016, Tedela was named an ambassador by Global Rights, an international human rights organization to start a campaign to end sexual violence in the country.

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
| 2014 | 10th Africa Movie Academy Awards | Most Promising Actor | A Mile from Home | Nominated |
| 2014 | 2014 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards | Best Actor In A Drama | A Mile from Home | Won |
| 2014 | 2014 Best of Nollywood Awards | Best Actor in a Leading Role (English) | A Mile from Home | Won |
| 2014 | 2014 Best of Nollywood Awards | Revelation of the Year (Male) | A Mile from Home | Nominated |
| 2014 | 2014 Golden Icons Academy Movie Awards | Most Promising Actor | A Mile from Home | Won |
| 2014 | 2014 Golden Icons Academy Movie Awards | Best On-Screen Duo | A Mile from Home | Nominated |
| 2014 | 2014 Nigeria Entertainment Awards | Best Actor in a Lead Role | A Mile from Home | Won |
| 2014 | 2014 Nollywood Movies Awards | Best Actor in a Leading Role (English) | A Mile from Home | Nominated |
| 2014 | 2014 Nollywood Movies Awards | Best Rising Star (Male) | A Mile from Home | Won |
| 2014 | 2014 Express Star Awards | Rising Star | Himself | Won |
| 2016 | City People Entertainment Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Suru L'ere | Nominated |
| 2016 | Nigeria Entertainment Awards | Best Actor in Supporting Role | Suru L'ere | Nominated |
| 2017 | Best of Nollywood Awards | Best Actor in a Supporting Role | Slow Country | Nominated |
| 2020 | Best of Nollywood Awards | Best Supporting Actor –English | Country Hard | Nominated |
| 2022 | Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Country Hard | Nominated |
| 2023 | Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards | Best Actor In A Drama, Movie Or TV Series | All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White | Nominated |

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2003 | King Invincible | | |
| 2007 | Twisted | Sola | with Joan Agabi |
| 2013 | Awakening | | with O. C. Ukeje |
| 2013 | Torn | Young Olumide | with Monalisa Chinda |
| 2013 | A Mile from Home | Lala/Jude Odaro | with Joan Agabi |
| 2013 | Cyanide | Emeka | Short Film |
| 2014 | Another Day to Die Young | Comrade | TV film |
| 2014 | Birthday Bash | Scoda | with Yul Edochie |
| 2014 | Leeway | Chuks | Short Film |
| 2015 | Lunch Time Heroes | Deji | with Omoni Oboli & Dakore Akande |
| 2015 | Apostates | Osas | |
| 2015 | A Soldier's Story | Major Egan | with Daniel K. Daniel |
| 2015 | Out of Luck | Dayo | with Adesua Etomi |
| 2016 | Suru L'ere | Kyle Stevens Adedoyin | with Rita Dominic |
| 2016 | Ojukokoro (Greed) | Sunday | with Wale Ojo |
| 2017 | Catch.er | | |
| 2017 | King Invincible | Taari | with Gabriel Afolayan |
| 2017 | Slow Country | Osas | with Majid Michel |
| 2017 | What Lies Within | Gboyega | also Producer |
| 2018 | Knock Out Blessing | Yomi | directed by Dare Olaitan |
| 2019 | The Lost Okoroshi | Dr. Dauda | with Seun Ajayi |
| 2019 | The Ghost and the House of Truth | Barrister Tokunbo | with Kate Henshaw |
| 2020 | Finding Hubby | Pastor T | with Rosemary Abazie |
| 2021 | The Therapist | Rufus | with Rita Dominic and Toyin Abraham |
| 2021 | Country Hard | Ochuko | with Kehinde Bankole and Timini Egbuson |
| 2022 | Cake | Tomiwa Akinlolu | with Saskay, Patience Ozokwor |
| 2023 | All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White | Bambino | with Riyo David, Martha Ehinome |
| 2024 | Shina | Ugo | with Linda Ejiofor, Timini Egbuson |
| 2024 | Silence | Dapo Popoola | with Efa Iwara, Ade Laoye |
| 2024 | Casa de Novia | Ancel | with Eso Dike, Chieke Donald |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2006 | Edge of Paradise | Julian | |
| 2008 | My Mum & I | June | |
| 2008 | Super Story (Omojuwa) | Tesiro | |
| 2012 | Burning Point | | |
| 2012 | Tweeters | Kunle | |
| 2013 | Super Story (The Secret) | Tai | |
| 2014 | Oasis | Oreva | |
| 2015 | The Team (TV series) | Efe | |
| 2016 | Jamestown | Lucky | |
| 2017 | Jemeji | Obi | Chief |
| 2019 | Powder Dry | Arthur | |
| 2019 | Underbelly | Nonso | |
| 2022 | Blood Sisters | Dr Adeboye/The Good Doctor | A Netflix Original |

### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role |
| 2011 | Man Talk, Woman Talk | Emeka |
| 2014 | Diagnosis | Emeka |
| 2014 | The Agency | Fawaz |
| 2019 | The Mistress of Wholesome | Nengak Josiah |
| 2019 | The Wives | Lawyer |
| 2019 | Whumanizer | Tunde Bridges |