Tope Tedela

Temitope Christopher Tedela, the first of four children, was born in Lagos, Nigeria on 5 June 1990.^[5] He is of descent from Ekiti State.^[6] He attended Lagos State Model College, Meiran, Lagos for his secondary education and earned a degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos.^[7]

While studying at the University of Lagos, Tedela was cast in his screen debut as Julian in the family TV Series Edge of Paradise.^[8] 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.^[9] He made a return to star as Lala in his first leading role in the feature film A Mile from Home, gaining prominence through the role.^[10][11] At one time, Tedela was a news anchor at the NTA. He acted in several notable stage performances.^[12][13]

In 2015, 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.^[14][15]

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.^[16] He made his producing debut with the drama thriller film What Lies Within.^[17]

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.^[18] He also began work on his one-man play Whumanizer.^[19] Tedela also starred in the gripping drama film, The Ghost and the House of Truth.^[20]

In 2020, Tedela was cast in Netflix's first Nigerian original series helmed by award-winning director Akin Omotoso.^[21]

In 2022, he portrayed Dr Adeboye/The Good Doctor in the Netflix original series Blood Sisters.

Tedela received acclaim for his work in the award winning film All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White which won several awards including the Berlinale Teddy Award. Of his performance, Michael Joseph Jenner wrote: "with his silent moments of reflection being beautifully portrayed by Tope Tedela, whose performance is very quiet and internal, but simmers with an understated complexity that only grows as the film continues to explore his voyage of self-examination, portraying his efforts to feel less lost and isolated in a rapidly changing world, although one in which his identity is still a source of considerable contention amongst those who are more aligned with traditional values".^[22]

In 2025, Tedela played Nurse Chinedu in the Netflix series Baby Farm.

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.^[23]