Clare-Hope Ashitey Biography

The year 2005 saw Clare-Hope Ashitey making her acting debut in Michael Caton-Jones directed genocide movie ‘Shooting Dogs’. The film which was released in the United States as ‘Beyond the Gates’ won the Grand Prize for Dramatic Feature at ‘Heartland Film Festival’ 2006. After the film, she returned to complete her A Levels and prepare for university. In 2006, she featured as ‘Kee’ in the dystopian action thriller film ‘Children of Men’ based on P. D. James' 1992 novel of the same name. The movie was critically acclaimed and brought a lot of recognition for her. In 2007, she was nominated for Best Newcomer award at the ‘London Critic Circle Awards’ and for Outstanding Supporting Actress award in the ‘Black Reel Awards’. She worked in another movie ‘Exodus’ in 2007.

However, at just 19 years of age, she was not particularly sure of what she wanted to do in future. She had taken a year off from her studies to shoot for the film, hence later, she went back to London to complete her graduation in anthropology. After finishing her studies, she did a variety of jobs like working in the insurance industry, the digital media industry and also a financial services company. In between, she made her stage debut in Tom Litter’s ‘Origin of the Species’ at the Arcola Theatre in London. In 2010, she made her television debut with ‘Coming Up’ a British television anthology series.

In 2011, she appeared in a couple of episodes of another British television series, ‘Top Boy’ and bagged her first foreign-language role in the Austrian film ‘Black Brown White’. Her performance as ‘Jackie’ in the movie won her a nomination for Best Actress at the ‘Austrian Film Academy Awards’. In subsequent years, she acted in a number of other movies including a drama ‘Candle to Water’ (2012), a biographical drama ‘All Is By My Side’ (2013), a sci-fi drama ‘The White King’ and a thriller ‘I.T’ (both in 2016).

In 2014, she was cast as ‘DC Charlie Steele’ in the British police procedural television series ‘Suspects’. The show, a Newman Street production, had five seasons, the last of which aired in 2016. From 2015 to 2017, she starred in the BBC One thriller drama series ‘Doctor Foster’ which won the Best Drama Award at National Television Awards both in 2016 and 2018. In 2017, she appeared in an episode of American comedy drama television series ‘Master of None’ and another American drama miniseries ‘Shots Fired’.

In 2018, she was selected to play the lead role in American crime drama web television series ‘Seven Seconds’ which was based on Russian film ‘The Major’. The show, created by Veena Sud, premiered on Netflix and received appreciation from critics. It also won the ‘Outstanding Television Movie or Limited Series’ award at the ‘2nd Black Reel Awards for Television’. In the show, she played the character of assistant prosecutor ‘K.J. Harper’ investigating a hit-and-run case of a black teen boy unaware of the involvement of her own colleagues in the case.

The year 2019 saw her working in an episode of ‘Criminal: UK’, reprising her role as ‘Taylor’ in few more episodes of ‘Top Boy’ and starring in sci-fi-drama, ‘The Feed’. Most recently, she appeared in an episode each of ‘Death in Paradise’ and ‘Doctor Who’.

Clare-Hope Ashitey was born on 12th February 1987 in Enfield, London, England. Her family includes her mother, Tina, who is a medical secretary, her father, Paul who works as a dentist and two siblings. Her parents are originally from Ghana. She began her education at the Brimsdown Primary School in Brimsdown, Enfield and later went to The Latymer School in Edmonton, North London. During the time, she also began training at The Centre Stage School of Performing Arts in Southgate, London. In 2009, she graduated in Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Her parents, though initially apprehensive about her choice of profession, supported her completely. Clare loves to eat as well as make cakes.