A Black History Month Special
“When I First Started It Was Completely Different. As I Said In My Speech, I Had To Play Negroe Maids, Nurses, Prostitutes; and I Was Very Rarely Able To Use My Own Voice”
actor nicola blackman LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT bbtas Award winner 2025
Nicola Blackman – Half Irish, Half Bajan, An Irish Citizen, A Former New York Resident, Tiny But Mighty, Fiesty Yet Gracious – Was Born In Battersea To An Accountant Northern Irish Mother And An International West Indies Cricket Teammate Father (James Blackman, From Barbados). She Originally Wanted To Be A Lawyer But By 15 (Whilst Still At School – Where They Received The Stage Magazine) Had Signed A Contract To Start Acting In The 1971 London Production of ‘Showboat. It Was The Beginning of A Career That Has Lasted Over Fifty Years. @tittyblackbum)
In 1971 She Made Her Westend Debut Appearing In Showboat Starring Cleo Laine At The Adelphi Theatre. After Numerous Subsequent Theatre Appearances, National And International Tours and TV Shows She Nominated For A Best Supporting Actress Award Olivier Award (Destry Rides Again).
In 2014 She Starred In A New Version of ‘The Mistress Cycle’ Playing One of Four Women With Very Different Stories To Tell But Each With A Common Theme (Sometimes Happy, Sometimes Harrowing) At New Park Theatre, The Landor Theatre, And Soho Theatre.
At The Black British Theatre Awards 2025, Piccadilly Theatre, Sunday October 26th She Won This Year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
‘Us Girls’: Sitcom (1992-93. 2 Series. 12 Eps) About An Afro-Caribbean Magazine Editor And Her Office Team Working Together Facing Day To Day Challenges.
At Guild Hall [Drama School] They Brought My Voice Down
actor nicola blackman became in high demand for voiceover work due to being Very well spoken
Hever Castle In Kent @hever_castle Is Where Sir Anthony Quayle First Saw Nicola Blackman. This Aspect of Her Story Is Very Timely As The BBC’s Hit Show The Celebrity Traitors @thecelebritytraitors Has Reportedly Inspired Fresh New Interest In Castles. Both Nicola And Princess Anne Attended Benenden Girls Private School, Also In Kent. Moulin Rouge Is Currently Showing At The Piccadilly Theatre @piccadillytheatre In Soho (Which Sponsored The BBTAs This Year @thebbtas). ATG (Ambassador Theatre Group) Also Own The Lyceum Theatre @lyceumtheatreldn Which Sponsored The Event Last Year. It’s Currently Showing The Lion King (Which Nicola Also Performed In Previously).
She Made Her Westend Debut In The 1971 London Production of Showboat At The Adelphi Theatre On The Strand. She Was Olivier Award Nominated For Her Role In Destry Rides Again In 1982 At The Donmar Warehouse With Showbusiness Couple of The ERa Gill Gasgoine And Alfred Molina). She Was The First Black Actress To Be Nominated For The Award. Six Years Later In 1988 Sir Anthony Quayle, A Shakespearean Thespian Who Became A Knight of The Realm, Gave A Her A Significant Break By Asking Her To Star With Him In One of His Plays.
It’s Sort of Validation.
nicola blackman on winning the black british theatre awards lifetime achievement award 2025
I’m A Jobbing Actor.
And I’ve Been Doing This For 54 Years. I’m Not A Star.
But I Can Honestly Say For The Last 54 Years If I Add It All Up I’ve Only Been Out of Work For About Three Years.
The First Time I Actually Did Anything With My Own Voice Was With Sir Anthony Quayle
nicola blackman on working with a Knight of The Realm
Blackman Reveals That Sir Anthony Quale Asked Her To Play His Daughter In His Theatre Company’s Production of The Nikoli Gogol Comedy of Errors Satrical Play ‘The government Inspector.
Sir Anthony Quayle Was Born September 7th 1913 (In Liverpool) And Died 20th October 1989 (In London) From Liver Cancer. He Was Aged 76. He Was A Star of Stage And Screen Famed For Playing Epic Commanding Roles Which He Embraced Having Served In The Second World Ward (1939-1945) As A Young Man.
By That Time He’d Already Come To London And Started Acting Classes At RADA And Making Friends With Fellow Actor Sir Alec Guiness At The Old Vic.
After Working As A Spy In Albania For The British Government He Returned To The Acting World Where He Became Manager of The Royal Sakespeare Theatre Company For Eight Years Between 1948 and 1956.
Thereafter And Would Undertake Commanding Roles Such Those In ‘The Guns Of Navarone’, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’, The Fall of The Roman Empire And Anne of The Thousand Days For Which He Was Both Golden Globe And Oscar Nominated.
In 1984 He Formed The Compass Theatre Company Ltd. (It Survived Just Under A Decade, Closing In 1993 Following A Fall Out With The Arts Council).
In 1985 He Was Knighted For Services To The Military And Acting.
Tragically, Although He Commenced His Memoirs He Was Passed Before He Could Complete Them.
His Career Spanned 50 Years. During The Very End of Those Years (In 1988) He Worked With Nicola After Making A Big Request And Offering Her A Big Opportunity When He Asked Her To Play His Daughter In The Compass Theatre’s 1988 Production of The Government Inspector. She Accpeted And It Proved To Be A Pivotal Moment In Her Career.
TheOrator.Press ~ A New, Monthly, Online, Independent Magazine 