# Ashley Madekwe
**Ashley Madekwe** (pronounced /məˈdɛkweɪ/) is an English actress known for playing Bambi in the ITV2 series *Secret Diary of a Call Girl* (2008–2010), Ashley Davenport in the ABC drama *[Revenge](https://www.edgepedia.org/revenge-tv-series)* (2011–2013), and Tituba in [WGN America](https://www.edgepedia.org/wgn-america)'s *Salem* (2014–2016)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534772/) • [2](http://ashley-ringmybell.com/). Her film work includes *Victim* (2011), Henry Blake's *County Lines* (2019), for which she received BAFTA and British Independent Film Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress, and Netflix's *The Strays* (2023)[2](http://ashley-ringmybell.com/) • [3](https://www.screendaily.com/features/county-lines-star-ashley-madekwe-on-changing-the-narrative-of-her-career/5158542.article) • [4](https://www.martincid.com/people/ashley-madekwe/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Defining roles | Bambi in *Secret Diary of a Call Girl*; Ashley Davenport in *Revenge*; Tituba in *Salem*[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534772/) |
| Birth date | 6 December, but the year is disputed: 1981 per IMDb and the Library of Congress, 1983 per her own site[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534772/) • [5](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2012110545) • [2](http://ashley-ringmybell.com/) |
| Training | BRIT School, LAMDA foundation course, RADA graduation 2005[3](https://www.screendaily.com/features/county-lines-star-ashley-madekwe-on-changing-the-narrative-of-her-career/5158542.article) • [6](https://bbashakespeare.warwick.ac.uk/people/ashley-madekwe) |
| Awards | BAFTA Film Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and a BIFA nomination for *County Lines*[4](https://www.martincid.com/people/ashley-madekwe/) |
| US career | Moved to Los Angeles after *Secret Diary of a Call Girl*; a decade in US television including *Revenge*, *Salem*, *The Umbrella Academy*, and *Dr. Death*[3](https://www.screendaily.com/features/county-lines-star-ashley-madekwe-on-changing-the-narrative-of-her-career/5158542.article) • [4](https://www.martincid.com/people/ashley-madekwe/) |
| Family | Married actor Iddo Goldberg in June 2012; their son was born in 2023[5](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2012110545) • [7](https://www.theretaility.com/home/in-conversation-ashley-madekwe-christina-gualazzi) |
## Early life and training
Madekwe is a London native who calls herself "technically a Cockney" on account of her birth at Mile End Hospital, and was raised on a council estate in south London until, at age 14, her parents relocated the household to Surrey's suburbs.[3](https://www.screendaily.com/features/county-lines-star-ashley-madekwe-on-changing-the-narrative-of-her-career/5158542.article) Her father is Nigerian-Swiss and her mother is English[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534772/). Her father, responding to a child who frequently vied to be the center of attention, made her take acting lessons[8](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/ashley-madekwe/umc.cpc.6m7ul2ibwpi0t6p19iodnteup).
**Training.** She enrolled at the [BRIT School](https://www.edgepedia.org/brit-school) in Croydon at 14 and decided there that it was "acting or nothing"[3](https://www.screendaily.com/features/county-lines-star-ashley-madekwe-on-changing-the-narrative-of-her-career/5158542.article) • [7](https://www.theretaility.com/home/in-conversation-ashley-madekwe-christina-gualazzi). At 16 she landed the BBC drama *Storm Damage*, written by [Lennie James](https://www.edgepedia.org/lennie-james), and the actor [Adrian Lester](https://www.edgepedia.org/adrian-lester) urged her to attend drama school[3](https://www.screendaily.com/features/county-lines-star-ashley-madekwe-on-changing-the-narrative-of-her-career/5158542.article). She completed a one-year foundation course at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, then was accepted by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 2005[3](https://www.screendaily.com/features/county-lines-star-ashley-madekwe-on-changing-the-narrative-of-her-career/5158542.article) • [6](https://bbashakespeare.warwick.ac.uk/people/ashley-madekwe). The Library of Congress authority record also notes an A-level in Drama and a BTec from the BRIT School[5](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2012110545).
Her birth year is disputed across sources. IMDb and the Library of Congress give 6 December 1981, while her own site states 6 December 1983[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534772/) • [5](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2012110545) • [2](http://ashley-ringmybell.com/).
## Career beginnings in British television
Her screen debut was the film *Storm Damage* ([BBC Two](https://www.edgepedia.org/bbc-two), 2000), in which she played Annalise, the daughter of a drug addict who ends up in a care home for troubled youth[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534772/) • [8](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/ashley-madekwe/umc.cpc.6m7ul2ibwpi0t6p19iodnteup). Guest roles followed in *Teachers*, *Doctors*, *Casualty*, and *Drop Dead Gorgeous*; she played the pregnant student Bev in the first season of [Channel 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/channel-4)'s *Teachers*[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534772/) • [8](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/ashley-madekwe/umc.cpc.6m7ul2ibwpi0t6p19iodnteup).
**Bambi.** Her early breakthrough was the role of Bambi, an escort with a lust for life, in the second and third seasons of ITV2's *Secret Diary of a Call Girl* (2008)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534772/) • [8](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/ashley-madekwe/umc.cpc.6m7ul2ibwpi0t6p19iodnteup). Film work in this period included [Woody Allen](https://www.edgepedia.org/woody-allen)'s *Cassandra's Dream* (2007), opposite [Colin Farrell](https://www.edgepedia.org/colin-farrell) and [Ewan McGregor](https://www.edgepedia.org/ewan-mcgregor), and *Venus* (2006)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534772/) • [8](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/ashley-madekwe/umc.cpc.6m7ul2ibwpi0t6p19iodnteup).
## Breakthrough in American television: Revenge and Salem
After two seasons of *Secret Diary of a Call Girl*, Madekwe set out for Los Angeles, which she now considers home[3](https://www.screendaily.com/features/county-lines-star-ashley-madekwe-on-changing-the-narrative-of-her-career/5158542.article). Her first US series was *The Beautiful Life: TBL* on [The CW](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-cw) in 2009, canceled after two episodes aired, with five produced[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534772/) • [8](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/ashley-madekwe/umc.cpc.6m7ul2ibwpi0t6p19iodnteup).
**Revenge.** In February 2011 she was cast as Ashley Davenport in the ABC drama *Revenge*. She was a series regular for the first two seasons, and it was reported in late May 2013 that she would depart following a guest appearance in the first episode of the third season[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534772/). One interview source dates her booking of *Revenge* and her Los Angeles move to 2009[7](https://www.theretaility.com/home/in-conversation-ashley-madekwe-christina-gualazzi), which conflicts with the February 2011 casting date; the casting date is the better documented of the two.
**Salem.** From 2014 to 2016 she played Tituba across 34 episodes of WGN America's *Salem*[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534772/) • [4](https://www.martincid.com/people/ashley-madekwe/). The role differed sharply from her glossy US parts: Tituba, a Black woman at the center of the [Salem witch trials](https://www.edgepedia.org/salem-witch-trials), has been read as the show's most historically grounded character, and Madekwe gave the role a specificity the writing did not always match[4](https://www.martincid.com/people/ashley-madekwe/). Her own site dates the series to 2014–2017[2](http://ashley-ringmybell.com/), a year later than IMDb's 2014–2016.
## County Lines and the return to British work
After a decade in high-end US television and streaming shows such as *Revenge*, *Salem*, and *The Umbrella Academy*, Madekwe said she "definitely wanted to do something British" and was interested in "changing the narrative of me being this glossy actress, because it's not really who I am"[3](https://www.screendaily.com/features/county-lines-star-ashley-madekwe-on-changing-the-narrative-of-her-career/5158542.article). The result was Henry Blake's hard-hitting, low-budget drama *County Lines* (2019), in which she co-stars as Toni, a frustrated single mother of two struggling to cope with her withdrawn, troubled 14-year-old son Tyler (Conrad Khan), who has become a drug mule for [Harris Dickinson](https://www.edgepedia.org/harris-dickinson)'s dealer[3](https://www.screendaily.com/features/county-lines-star-ashley-madekwe-on-changing-the-narrative-of-her-career/5158542.article).
She has said she feels closer to the role of Toni than to any other role she has played, and that recognition came for a gritty part after she had to prove she could play one[7](https://www.theretaility.com/home/in-conversation-ashley-madekwe-christina-gualazzi). The career arc is legible in her own framing: a decade of American glamour roles, followed by a deliberate return to British material[3](https://www.screendaily.com/features/county-lines-star-ashley-madekwe-on-changing-the-narrative-of-her-career/5158542.article).
## Film and later television work
Her film credits include *Victim* (2011) and *The Strays* (2023)[2](http://ashley-ringmybell.com/). *The Strays*, a Netflix film written and directed by Nathaniel Martello-White, stars Madekwe as a Black British woman who has reinvented herself as white-passing in a middle-class English suburb[4](https://www.martincid.com/people/ashley-madekwe/).
On television since *Salem*, her work has included *The Umbrella Academy* (Netflix, season 1) and *Dr. Death* (season 2, Peacock, 2023), in which she stars alongside [Mandy Moore](https://www.edgepedia.org/mandy-moore) and Edgar Ramírez[4](https://www.martincid.com/people/ashley-madekwe/) • [7](https://www.theretaility.com/home/in-conversation-ashley-madekwe-christina-gualazzi). Her US credits also include Hulu's *Four Weddings and a Funeral*, CBS's *Tell Me a Story*, and Amazon's *Tell Me Your Secrets*[3](https://www.screendaily.com/features/county-lines-star-ashley-madekwe-on-changing-the-narrative-of-her-career/5158542.article).
## Reception and recognition
The *County Lines* performance earned Madekwe a BAFTA Film Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress and a British Independent Film Award nomination[4](https://www.martincid.com/people/ashley-madekwe/) • [3](https://www.screendaily.com/features/county-lines-star-ashley-madekwe-on-changing-the-narrative-of-her-career/5158542.article). Critical framing of her other work has centered on the contrast between her American parts and her British ones: her Tituba has been assessed as the most historically grounded character in *Salem*, and *The Strays* has been described as crystallizing her shift toward material about identity and reinvention[4](https://www.martincid.com/people/ashley-madekwe/).
## Personal life
In June 2012 Madekwe married her long-time boyfriend, the actor [Iddo Goldberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/iddo-goldberg); they have worked together on *Secret Diary of a Call Girl* and *Salem*[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534772/) • [5](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2012110545). The Library of Congress record dates the marriage to 17 June 2012[5](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2012110545). Their son was born in 2023[7](https://www.theretaility.com/home/in-conversation-ashley-madekwe-christina-gualazzi). She has also written a fashion blog, "Ring My Bell," focused on women's fashion[5](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2012110545) • [8](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/ashley-madekwe/umc.cpc.6m7ul2ibwpi0t6p19iodnteup).
## References
1. [Ashley Madekwe, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0534772/)
2. [Ashley Madekwe, official site](http://ashley-ringmybell.com/)
3. ['County Lines' star Ashley Madekwe on "changing the narrative" of her career, Screen Daily](https://www.screendaily.com/features/county-lines-star-ashley-madekwe-on-changing-the-narrative-of-her-career/5158542.article)
4. [Ashley Madekwe, the actress who played American glamour for ten years and came home for a BAFTA, Martin Cid Magazine](https://www.martincid.com/people/ashley-madekwe/)
5. [Madekwe, Ashley, 1981-, LC Linked Data Service, Library of Congress](https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2012110545)
6. [Ashley Madekwe, BBA Shakespeare, University of Warwick](https://bbashakespeare.warwick.ac.uk/people/ashley-madekwe)
7. [Ashley Madekwe discusses the highs and lows of Hollywood, The Retaility](https://www.theretaility.com/home/in-conversation-ashley-madekwe-christina-gualazzi)
8. [Ashley Madekwe, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/ashley-madekwe/umc.cpc.6m7ul2ibwpi0t6p19iodnteup)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › English actors: 2000s onward › Surnames L to Mb*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license