Paapa Essiedu Height, Age, Girlfriend, Wife, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Paapa Essiedu

• Paapa Kwaakye Essiedu was born at Guy’s Hospital in Southwark, London. His Ghanaian parents raised him in Walthamstow, East London,

• His mother was a fashion and design teacher. His father, Tony, later returned to Ghana, where he had another son and daughter. Essiedu’s father died when he was 14 years old.

• During a trip to the Donmar Warehouse, he saw his first play, Don Juan.

• He attended Forest School on a scholarship. He was active in sports and theatre.

• He originally wanted to become a doctor and even got a seat at University College London, but developed an interest in Shakespeare after being encouraged by his A-level Drama teacher.

• While studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he met and worked with actress and director Michaela Coel.

• While he was studying at drama school, his mother died of breast cancer.

• He later joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and played various roles in numerous theatre plays, including Gabriel in Black Jesus (2013), Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (2015), and Edmund in King Lear (2016).

• He later started dating actress and comedian Rosa Robson. They dated for 8 years before getting married.

• He also helped his mother stitch clothes when he was young and revealed in a 2024 interview that he still has a 20-year-old pyjama.

• He has acted in many films, such as Genie in 2023 as Bernard Bottle and The Outrun in 2024 as Daynin.

• He once said that had he not been an actor, he would have been a fisherman living on a Pacific island.

• He likes eating sweets before going to sleep.

• He started therapy 5 years after his mother’s death.

• He made headlines in May 2025 when he was selected to portray Severus Snape in the TV adaptation of the Harry Potter series.

• Many people criticised his casting as his character doesn’t fit with the series.