Bishop's Stortford College student stars in new HBO Max series Theodosia
A Bishop’s Stortford College student stars in a new TV series on HBO Max on Thursday (March 10).
Lower sixth form pupil Nana Agyeman-Bediako, who has been acting since the age of five, plays Will Morgan, a charming street magician, in Theodosia.
The title character, Theodosia Throckmorton, aka Theo, played by Eloise Little, is the 14-year-old daughter of two intrepid Egyptologists excavating in the Valley of the Kings in 1906.
When Theo and her younger brother, Henry (Frankie Minchella), stumble upon a hidden tomb and a mysterious artefact, the Eye of Horus, Theo unlocks the power to see and perform magic. She must battle ancient forces with the help of her brother, Will and Yasmina El-Abd as Princess Safiya.
Nana’s acting career began when his mum noticed him imitating performers on TV. To encourage his talent, he was enrolled in Stagecoach, a Saturday performance school, and thrived learning acting, singing and dancing.
From there, he was picked up by his current agency and began modelling and appearing in TV adverts before he landed his first acting role in Channel 4’s Top Boy in 2011.
Since then, the teenager has performed in West End musicals including The Lion King, Kinky Boots and Motown the Musical, had guest roles in several TV series such as BBC One’s River and Casualty in 2015 and Channel 4’s critically acclaimed The State in 2017, a drama about British Muslims who join jihadist group Islamic State.
He has also appeared in the films The Huntsman: Winter’s War, the 2016 fantasy action-adventure starring Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt and Charlize Theron, and Come Away, a 2020 release combining elements of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and Peter Pan by J M Barrie.
To date, the Theodosia series, based on the best-selling books by Robin L Lafevers, is not only Nana’s biggest TV role but also his most important project so far.
Filming spanned seven months, mainly in Belgium with a few scenes shot in France. Nana said: “Acting is something I want to do for life. I can’t wait to explore other avenues within the entertainment industry.”
