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 Citation 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
References
External links Official Website Theatricalia profile