If you only know Toheeb Jimoh as Sam Obisanya, you know the warmest player in the Richmond locker room and almost none of the path that got him there. Sam looks effortless on screen. Jimoh earned that ease through a British-Nigerian childhood split between continents, a Guildhall degree, a BBC biopic that reviewers called utterly magnetic, and a casting story where the show changed a character's nationality to match the actor holding the part.
He was born in Brixton, South London, to parents of Nigerian descent. He moved to Nigeria as a toddler, then returned to London at seven. That is not background color. It is the reason Sam's protest arc, his family scenes, and his quiet leadership all feel lived-in instead of researched.
- Born
- April 15, 1997
- Hometown
- Brixton, London
- Heritage
- British-Nigerian
- Training
- Guildhall BA '18
- School
- Norwood School
- Emmy
- Supporting nom '22
- SAG
- Ensemble win '22
- Known for
- Sam / Tunde
Early life: two countries, one voice
Jimoh grew up between London and Nigeria before settling back in South London for secondary school. He attended The Norwood School, then trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating with a BA in 2018. Guildhall is not a shortcut credential. It is where you learn to carry silence, which is exactly what Sam needs when the room is loud and the decision is his.
In interviews he talks about looking for the good in hard situations, about family, about animation (Ratatouille and The Incredibles 2 show up more than once), and about the rejections every working actor collects before the phone rings for real. That temperament matches Sam: principled, patient, never performatively angry.
Before Ted: Anthony, The Feed, and the stage
Jimoh's breakout screen credit is Anthony (2020), the BBC One TV movie that imagines the life Anthony Walker might have lived if a racist attack in 2005 had not killed him. Jimoh plays Walker with a warmth that made critics reach for words like utterly magnetic. That is not hype. It is the job description for a film asking an audience to mourn a life stolen and also celebrate one restored.
Before that he had recurring work as Marcus on Amazon's The Feed and a London Kills episode. On stage he appeared in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Sheffield Crucible, then in the Almeida Theatre's Nine Lessons and Carols, one of the first London productions after the COVID lockdown lifted. Six performers, a devised Christmas play, real nerves in the room. Jimoh held his own in a format built for intimacy.
Ted Lasso: Sam as the heartbeat
When Jimoh auditioned for Ted Lasso, Sam Obisanya was written as Ghanaian. The writers changed the character to Nigerian to reflect Jimoh's background. That is rare. Usually actors bend toward the page. Here the page bent toward the person, and the show got richer for it.
Sam starts as a talented winger who cannot quite find his footing. By season two he is a team leader, Rebecca's romantic partner, and the player willing to protest his club's sponsors when a parent company poisons the country he grew up in. Jimoh plays every beat without sermonizing. Essence called him the heartbeat of the show. The label stuck because it is accurate: when Sam is on screen, the moral temperature of the series steadies.
Watch the Bantr reveal with Rebecca, the Ola Energy stand, the Ghana trip, the So Long, Farewell number. Jimoh never treats Sam like a symbol first and a person second. That is why the Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 2022 felt earned, not sentimental.
The awards stack followed. Critics Choice Breakthrough Award in 2021. SAG ensemble win with the Ted Lasso cast in 2022, plus additional ensemble nominations across the run. Black Reel and HMMA nods later. Jimoh was not a discovery by accident. He was a discovery because Sam needed someone who could lead with love without looking naive.
After Richmond: The Power, Wes Anderson, and the West End
Jimoh did not vanish into typecasting. In Amazon's The Power he plays Tunde Ojo, another Nigerian journalist navigating a world where teenage girls suddenly develop the ability to generate electric shocks. Different show, different temperature, same grounded presence.
He logged a cameo in Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch. Then theatre called back hard. In summer 2023 he played Romeo opposite Isis Hainsworth's Juliet at the Almeida Theatre, a hot-ticket London production that moved him from screen intimacy to stage scale. The Ian Charleson Award judges placed him second for the performance, a serious marker for classical work.
In 2024 he played Hal in Player Kings, Robert Icke's adaptation of Shakespeare's Henry IV parts one and two, sharing the stage with Ian McKellen and Richard Coyle. That is not a vanity booking. That is a young actor trusted with princes and rebellion in rep rooms built for legends.
Industry and what comes next
In 2026 Jimoh joined season four of BBC/HBO's Industry as Kwabena Bannerman, a confident trader entering the show's high-pressure finance world. After Ted's kindness and The Power's speculative dread, Industry gives him sharp elbows and closed doors. The through-line is still the same: Jimoh plays competence without arrogance, ambition without cartoon villainy.
Film credits on the horizon include Clarissa and Prima Facie. The career shape is clear. Drama school built the technique. Anthony proved he could carry grief. Ted Lasso made him famous on both sides of the Atlantic. Theatre and prestige TV are now asking for leads, not cameos.
Actor stats (the scoreboard)
Primetime Emmy: nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series (Ted Lasso, 2022).
Critics Choice: Breakthrough Award winner (Ted Lasso, 2021).
SAG Awards: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series win with the Ted Lasso cast (2022); additional ensemble nominations across later seasons.
Ian Charleson Awards: second place for Romeo and Juliet at the Almeida Theatre (2024).
Other markers: Black Reel nomination for Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Comedy Series; Hollywood Music in Media nomination for the Ted Lasso cast performance of So Long, Farewell.
The scoreboard matters, but the Sam test matters more. Can you make optimism feel like courage? Jimoh passed it, and the industry noticed.
Complete filmography
Feature credits commonly listed for Jimoh, including announced upcoming work.
Feature films
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | The French Dispatch (cameo) | Cadet 1 |
| 2026 | Clarissa | Young Peter |
| TBA | Prima Facie (post-production) | Johnny |
Television (selected)
Television highlights
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | London Kills (episode) | Leshae Hobbs |
| 2019 | The Feed (recurring) | Marcus |
| 2020 | Anthony (BBC TV movie) | Anthony Walker |
| 2020-2023 | Ted Lasso (recurring S1-2, main S3) | Sam Obisanya |
| 2023 | The Power (main) | Tunde Ojo |
| 2026 | Industry (recurring) | Kwabena Bannerman |
Theatre (selected)
Stage highlights
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2010s | A Midsummer Night's Dream (Sheffield Crucible) | Ensemble |
| 2020 | Nine Lessons and Carols (Almeida Theatre) | Performer |
| 2023 | Romeo and Juliet (Almeida Theatre) | Romeo |
| 2024 | Player Kings (with Ian McKellen) | Hal |
What the résumé actually says
Strip away the Richmond kit and you get a British-Nigerian actor who treats every role like a trust exercise. He crossed continents as a child, trained properly, played a real man's imagined future with grace, and then watched a comedy rewrite a character's nationality because his specificity made the story better.
Sam works because Jimoh refuses to play him as a mascot for goodness. He plays him as a young man choosing principle over comfort, again and again, until the show's moral center lives inside a winger's boots. That is why people call him the heartbeat. The pulse is real.
More locker-room bios live on the Ted Lasso cast index. His article shelf stays on the Toheeb Jimoh hub.