Toks Olagundoye

Toks Olagundoye
Olagundoye in 2013
Born
Olatokunbo Susan Olasubomi Abeke Olagundoye

(1975-09-16) 16 September 1975 (age 49)
Lagos, Nigeria
EducationSmith College (BFA)
OccupationActress
Years active2000–present
Spouse
Sean Quinn
(m. 2015)
Children1

Olatokunbo Susan Olasobunmi Abeke "Toks" Olagundoye Listen1Listen2 (born 16 September 1975)[1] is a Nigerian actress known for playing Jackie Joyner-Kersee on The Neighbors, Hayley Shipton on Castle and Olivia Finch on Frasier. She also voices Nanefua Pizza on Steven Universe, Mrs. Beakley on DuckTales, Countess Cleo on Carmen Sandiego, Zamfir on Castlevania and Mel Medarda on Arcane.[1]

Early life

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Olatokunbo Susan Olasobunmi Abeke Olagundoye was born on 16 September 1975 in Lagos, Nigeria, to a Nigerian father and a Norwegian mother.[2] As a youth, she was educated in Nigeria, Switzerland, and England.[3][4] She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre from Smith College.[4]

Career

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Olagundoye made her screen debuts on both TV and the big screen in 2002; in an episode of the television series The Education of Max Bickford; and in the film Brown Sugar later that same year. She appeared opposite Ruby Dee in an off-Broadway production Saint Lucy's Eyes in April 2001,[5] and in 2005, she cofounded the theater company Three Chicks Theatre, which produced Andrea Lepcio's One Nation Under in 2008.[1] Olagundoye has guest-starred on Ugly Betty, Law & Order, CSI: NY, Switched at Birth, NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Prime Suspect. Her film credits include A Beautiful Soul, Come Back to Me, Absolute Trust and The Salon.

In 2012, Olagundoye was cast as a series regular in the ABC comedy series The Neighbors,[6][7][8][9] playing the part of Jackie Joyner-Kersee until the series was canceled after two seasons in 2014.[10] She later had starring roles in the two television pilots: Feed Me, opposite Mary-Louise Parker for NBC; and Amazon's Salem Rogers, co-starring with Leslie Bibb.[11][12] In 2015, Olagundoye joined the main cast for the final season of the ABC comedy-drama Castle, in the role of British former MI6 operative Hayley Shipton, who joins Castle's P.I. firm.[13]

From 2017 to 2021, she voiced Bentina Beakley for the 2017 reboot of DuckTales. In 2019, Olagundoye had a recurring role on the final season of Veep playing Senator Kemi Talbot. Olagundoye does the voice acting for Mel Medarda in Arcane: League of Legends (2021). In 2021, she had a recurring role on the ABC series The Rookie, and in 2022, was cast as one of the leads in the ABC revival of L.A. Law.[14]

Personal life

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On May 16, 2015, Olagundoye married Sean Quinn, whom she met on Twitter, after several years of dating.[15]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
2002 Brown Sugar Sidney's LA Assistant
2005 The Salon Peaches
2009 Absolute Trust Kelly
2010 Mom Squad Mom Short film
Dorito-hibition! Danielle
2011 Most Wanted Operative Keel
Come Back to Me Seritou
Life Begins at Rewirement Nurse Short film
2012 A Beautiful Soul Theresa Whitaker
Democracy at Work Meghan Oliver
2018 The Death of Superman Cat Grant (voice) Direct-to-video[16]
Dog Days Nina
Tremors Jessica Florence Television film
2019 Reign of the Supermen Cat Grant (voice) Direct-to-video[16]
Steven Universe: The Movie Nanefua Pizza (voice) Television film[16]
2022 Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie Krang Two, Window Woman (voice) Television film
2022 Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe Fantasy Women, Campaign Worker, Female Students [16]

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
2002 The Education of Max Bickford Hannah Episode: "An Open Book"
2004 Law & Order Janette Gardner Episode: "C.O.D."
2006 3 lbs Mary Episode: "Of Two Minds"
2008 Ugly Betty Sales Girl Episode: "Bad Amanda"
2010 Law & Order Claire Episode: "Blackmail"
CSI: NY Reporter Episode: "Hide Sight"
2011 Switched at Birth Cooking Class Teacher Episode: "The Persistence of Memory"
NCIS Rebeka Hooper Episode: "Safe Harbor"
Prime Suspect Lucy Martin Episode: "Wednesday's Child"
2012–2014 The Neighbors Jackie Joyner-Kersee 44 episodes
2014–2019 Steven Universe Nanefua, Cluster (voice) 5 episodes[16]
2015 The Fosters Faith Episodes: "More Than Words", "Lucky"
2015–2016 Castle Hayley Shipton 13 episodes
2016 Vixen Mari's Mother, News Reporter (voices) 2 episodes
2017–2021 DuckTales Mrs. Beakley, Server (voices) Main role[16]
2017 Guardians of the Galaxy Ja Kyee Lrurt (voice) Episode: "Mr. Roboto"[16]
The Gifted Carla Jackson Episode: "eXposed"
2018 Modern Family Lucy Episode: "CHiPs and Salsa"
Dirty John Paula Harding, ESQ. Episode: "Remember It Was Me"
2019 Carmen Sandiego Countess Cleo, various voices Recurring voice role[16]
Veep Kemi Talbot 5 episodes
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Julia 2 episodes
2020 Cleopatra in Space Commodore Winifred Episode: "Parasites"
Shameless Chicago P.D. Sgt. Leesie Janes Season 11, Episodes: "Frances Francis Franny Frank" and "NIMBY", "Slaughter"
2020, 2022 Star Trek: Lower Decks Captain Amina Ramsey 2 episodes
2021 The Rookie Professor Fiona Ryan 6 episodes
Castlevania Zamfir (voice) 5 episodes
Big Shot Terri Grint
Adventure Time: Distant Lands Dr. Caledonius (voice) Episode: "Wizard City"[17]
Kid Cosmic Madame President (voice)
Arcane Mel Medarda (voice) [16]
2022 We Baby Bears Lady Lima (voice) 2 episodes
Cars on the Road Margaret Motorray, Chiefess, Additional voices [16]
Beavis and Butt-Head Marcie Anderson (voice) Episode: "The Good Deed"
Family Guy Auctioneer (voice) Episode: "The Stewaway"
Tales of the Jedi Ganitka (voice) Episode: "Life and Death"[16]
2023 The Legend of Vox Machina Devana Vessar (voice) Episode: "Echo Tree"[16]
Fatal Attraction Conchita Lewis Main role
2023-present Frasier Olivia Finch Main role[18]

Video games

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Year Title Voice role Notes
2014 Game of Thrones Beskha [16]
2017 Middle-earth: Shadow of War Carnán [16]
2018 Artifact Vanessa

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Toks Olagundoye: Biography at TVGuide.com
  2. ^ Toks Olagundoye at ABC MediaNet
  3. ^ Toks Olagundoye at IMDb
  4. ^ a b Get To Know Toks Archived 2012-11-04 at the Wayback Machine at her official website
  5. ^ Matthew Murray (2001-04-12). "Saint Lucy's Eyes Theatre Review by Matthew Murray". Talkin' Broadway.com, Inc. Matthew Murray. Retrieved 22 September 2015. Though the new play, Saint Lucy's Eyes, which opened last night,
  6. ^ The Neighbors: First Look at ABC's New Alien Family Comedy Archived 2017-01-12 at the Wayback Machine, TVovermind.com, 15 May 2012.
  7. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (December 11, 2011). "Pilot Castings: Four In Dan Fogelman Comedy, Jeff Eastin Drama Adds One". Deadline.com. PMC. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  8. ^ The Neighbors at ABC
  9. ^ 31 Fresh Faces of Fall TV 2012, Zimbio.com
  10. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (May 9, 2014). "ABC Cancels 'The Neighbors'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
  11. ^ Nellie Andreeva (28 March 2014). "Toks Olagundoye Joins NBC Pilot 'Feed Me', JoBeth Williams In 'Your Family Or Mine' - Deadline". Deadline. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  12. ^ "'The Neighbors' Actress Joins Amazon Comedy Pilot (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  13. ^ "'Castle' Enlists 'Neighbors' Favorite as Regular for Season 8". The Hollywood Reporter. 7 July 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  14. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (January 19, 2022). "'L.A. Law': Toks Olagundoye, Hari Nef & Ian Duff Join ABC Revival Pilot".
  15. ^ Gomez, Patrick (November 21, 2015). "Castle's Toks Olagundoye: 5 Things to Know". People. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Toks Olagundoye (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved February 19, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
  17. ^ "Friday". Comic-Con International: San Diego. 2019-07-01. Retrieved 2021-07-09.
  18. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (1 February 2023). "'Frasier': Toks Olagundoye Joins Paramount+ Sequel Series". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
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