DeObia Oparei
Born (1971-12-07) 7 December 1971
Hackney, London, England
Occupation(s)Actor, playwright
Years active1992–present

DeObia Oparei (born 7 December 1971) is a British actor and playwright. He is best known for his roles as the Gunner in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), Rongo in Dumbo (2019), and as Boastful Loki in Loki (2021).

Early life

Oparei was born on 7 December 1971 in Hackney, London, to parents of Nigerian ancestry.[1]

Career

Oparei began his career working for various British theatre companies, like The Royal Shakespeare Company and The National Youth Theatre.[2] Oparei's film debut was a small supporting role in Alien 3. After playing the lead role of American playwright John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation, Oparei scored his next supporting film role, as "Le Chocolat", in the Baz Luhrmann film Moulin Rouge!. In 1993, he appeared in an episode of the popular British television series Minder as 'Winston', a worker for Arthur Daley.

Operai moved to Sydney, Australia in 1995,[3] where he co-hosted the regular night ‘Magic’ upstairs at Kinselas with Basil,[4] and performed Operai's ‘’Queen bitch rap’’ in cLUB bENT at The Performance Space, with Darren Spowart and Matthew Bergin.[5]

Oparei is also a playwright. His first play, Crazyblackmuthafuckin'self, a dramedy about race, sexuality and identity, opened to critical acclaim at the Royal Court Theatre in 2002. The Guardian's Michael Billington described the play as "wild, raunchy and funny".[6] The play later toured to Sydney, Australia, as part of the 2003 Company B Belvoir International Playreading Series, at the Belvoir Street Downstairs Theatre, on 11 August 2003.[7]

In 2015, Oparei joined the cast of the HBO epic fantasy series Game of Thrones in its fifth season, portraying the character Areo Hotah.[8]

Personal life

On 5 June 2020, he came out as gay on Instagram.[9]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1992 Alien 3 Arthur
1998 Dark City Train Passenger
2001 Moulin Rouge! Le Chocolat
2002 Dirty Pretty Things Mini-Cab Driver
The Four Feathers Idris-Es-Saier
2003 The Foreigner Richard
2004 Thunderbirds Mullion
2005 7 Seconds Spanky Direct-to-video; Credited as Dhobi Oparei
Doom Sergeant Gannon "Destroyer" Roark
2009 Thick as Thieves Rawls
Green Street 2: Stand Your Ground Derrick Jackson Direct-to-video
2010 Mr. Nice Tee Bone Taylor
Death Race 2 Big Bill
The Presence Woodsman
2011 Your Highness Thundarian
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Gunner
2012 Dredd TJ the Paramedic
2013 Tula: The Revolt Hacha
2016 Independence Day: Resurgence Dikembe Umbutu
2019 Dumbo Rongo
Jumanji: The Next Level Gromm Credited as Deobia Oparei
2021 Wrath of Man Brad
2022 The Gray Man Dulin

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1990 Blood Rights Winston
Desmond’s Willy Episode: "Auntie Susu"
Medics King Episode: "Iraj"
1992 Between the Lines Ruby Episode: "Nothing Personal"
1993 Minder Winston Episode: "Cars and Pints and Pains"
1998 Wildside Bernice
Trial & Retribution DC Palmer
2002 Holby City Dave Whellan Episode: "Hearts and Minds"
2015 Proof Mr. Oumandi 2 episodes
2015–2016 Game of Thrones Areo Hotah 6 episodes
2017 Emerald City Sullivan Episode: "Mistress - New - Mistress"
Santa Clarita Diet Loki Hayes 2 episodes
The Orville Captain Vorak Episode: "About a Girl"
2019 Sex Education Mr. Effiong
2021 Loki Boastful Loki Episodes: "The Nexus Event" and "Journey into Mystery"

Shorts

  • 2015: Clones

Synchronisations

References

  • "Full list of Film, Television and Stage credits". Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  1. ↑ "DeObia Oparei". Archived from the original on 28 May 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "interview | deobia oparei". Schön! Magazine. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
  3. ↑ Tracey Parry, The triumph of DeObia, (Not only) blue, n6 (November 1996), p.90-95
  4. ↑ Q pulse, Capital Q Weekly, n183 (5 April 1996), p.25
  5. ↑ Tracey Parry, The triumph of DeObia, (Not only) blue, n6 (November 1996), p.90-95
  6. ↑ Michael Billington (4 December 2002). "Crazyblackmuthafuckin'self, Royal Court Theatre, London | Stage". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 October 2012.
  7. ↑ "Event: Crazyblackmuthafuckin'self |". Ausstage. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  8. ↑ "Game of Thrones season five cast announced at Comic Con!". Watchers On The Wall. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
  9. ↑ Dipesh (9 July 2021). "Who Is DeObia Oparei's Wife? A Look Into 'Loki' Star's Brief Biography". Glamour Buff. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
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