About Suicide Squad’s Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje aka Killer Croc

One of the most exciting things about Suicide Squad for a movie fanatic is that the movie will bring a team of mostly lesser known characters to the big screen for the first time. Yes, it features big hitters like the Joker and a short clip from Batman, but apart from them, the likes of Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Katana and Enchantress are not that familiar to wider audiences.

Another known villain is Killer Croc. What you may not know is that the actor starring as him is a Nigerian. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje was born in Isington, London, to Nigerian parents of Yoruba origin, who were students in the UK. He is fluent in several languages, including Yoruba, Italian, and Swahili. He can “get along” in a few other languages, including French.

When he was only six weeks old, his biological parents gave him up to a white-working family. His adoptive parents had at least ten African children, including Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s two sisters, living in their house at certain points. His foster father made a living as a lorry driver and struggled to support the family financially.

When he was eight years old, his biological parents brought him back to Nigeria but, as he was unable to speak Yoruba and forbidden by his parents to speak English, he was returned to the United Kingdom shortly thereafter. The brief exposure to Nigeria left him struggling to reconcile his heritage with the English culture and environment he was raised in. 

As a teenager facing a cultural identity crisis, he joined a local gangs and by the time he was 16 years old, having become a violent thief, his foster parents sent him to a boarding school in Surrey where he ultimately attempted suicide before coming to terms with his background and turning his life around.

Fast forward a few years after he began getting modelling contracts with local designers after being discovered at a clothes shop where he worked. Which eventually led him on the oath to Hollywood.

Agbaje has started in some prominent TV shows including 24,Game Of Thrones,OZ and Lost to mention a few before graduating to the big screen.H e was even approved by Marvel originally to play Black Panther.

He has also starred in blockbuster movies like The Borne Identity,The Mummy Returns, Ace Ventura, Pompeii and for this August represents the green and white flag by starring as Killer Croc amongst a cast of A-listers like himself in Suicide Squad.