# Umi Myers
**Umi Myers** is a British actress known for her roles as [Cindy Breakspeare](https://www.edgepedia.org/cindy-breakspeare) in the film *Bob Marley: One Love* (2024), as Billie Cassidy in the BBC television drama *Dope Girls* (2025), and as Peggy in the gothic horror film *Mārama* (2025)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13646920/bio/). She is of Black and White heritage and uses she/her pronouns, according to her self-verified IMDb profile[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13646920/bio/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Training | Guildhall School of Music and Drama, final year 2020–21[2](https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/study-with-guildhall/drama/final-year-actors/final-year-actors-2020-21/umi-myers) |
| Film debut | Cindy Breakspeare in *Bob Marley: One Love*, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green for Paramount Pictures[3](https://markhamfroggattandirwin-cdn-1.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/06165922/Umi-Myers-CV-5.pdf) |
| Television | Billie Cassidy in *Dope Girls* (2025, 6 episodes); Natalie Danvers in *Get Millie Black* (2024); Emma Pryor in *Silent Witness* (2023)[4](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/370739/umi-myers) |
| Stage | Zoe in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' *An Octoroon* at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin (2022); Dorothea Wolsey in *The Mirror and the Light* (RSC/West End)[3](https://markhamfroggattandirwin-cdn-1.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/06165922/Umi-Myers-CV-5.pdf) |
| Heritage | Half-Jamaican on her father's side; also half Scottish[5](https://squaremile.com/culture/film-tv/umi-myers-dope-girls/) |
| Skills | Strong alto singer, saxophone (Grade 6), flamenco, salsa, show dance and historical dance[2](https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/study-with-guildhall/drama/final-year-actors/final-year-actors-2020-21/umi-myers) |
## Training and background
Myers trained at the [Guildhall School of Music and Drama](https://www.edgepedia.org/guildhall-school-of-music-and-drama), where she was in the final-year acting cohort of 2020–21[2](https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/study-with-guildhall/drama/final-year-actors/final-year-actors-2020-21/umi-myers). In interviews she has described choosing between an offer to study history at the [University of Edinburgh](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-edinburgh) and her place at [Guildhall](https://www.edgepedia.org/guildhall); her parents, themselves creatives, supported either path[6](https://www.newwavemagazine.com/single-post/centre-stage-umi-myers-on-crafting-truth-and-honouring-her-heritage).
Theatre surrounded her from childhood. Her father was a theater actor and her mother a costume and set designer, and she spent time at tech rehearsals, shows and press nights as their child[5](https://squaremile.com/culture/film-tv/umi-myers-dope-girls/). At Guildhall her listed skills included singing (a strong alto), a strong ear for accents, Grade 6 saxophone, and dance training in flamenco, salsa, show dance, and historical dance[2](https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/study-with-guildhall/drama/final-year-actors/final-year-actors-2020-21/umi-myers).
## Screen career
**Bob Marley: One Love.** Myers landed the role of Cindy Breakspeare, the Jamaican-Canadian model and [Miss World](https://www.edgepedia.org/miss-world) 1976 winner, not long after leaving drama school[5](https://squaremile.com/culture/film-tv/umi-myers-dope-girls/). During the audition process she wrote unsent letters to the character, and after casting she was able to speak with Breakspeare herself[5](https://squaremile.com/culture/film-tv/umi-myers-dope-girls/). She has described the pressure of playing a living person, and the difficulty of the Jamaican accent given her own half-Jamaican background[5](https://squaremile.com/culture/film-tv/umi-myers-dope-girls/). The film grossed 180.8 million US dollars at the global box office[5](https://squaremile.com/culture/film-tv/umi-myers-dope-girls/).
Her television work includes a guest role as Natalie Danvers in *Get Millie Black* ([Channel 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/channel-4)/HBO, 2024) and her television debut as Emma Pryor in the BBC crime drama *Silent Witness*, in the episode "Hearts of Darkness, Part Two" broadcast on 24 January 2023[4](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/370739/umi-myers) • [3](https://markhamfroggattandirwin-cdn-1.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/06165922/Umi-Myers-CV-5.pdf).
**Dope Girls.** In 2025 Myers co-led the BBC series *Dope Girls* as Billie Cassidy, a bohemian dancer connected to the lead character[4](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/370739/umi-myers) • [7](https://cinemametropolis.com/m116i/pdf/m116i.pdf). Created by Polly Stenham and [Alex Warren](https://www.edgepedia.org/alex-warren) and adapted from Marek Kohn's book *Dope Girls: The Birth of the British Drug Underground*, the six-part series is a female-led crime saga set in Soho in 1918, in the period after the First World War when women began running the district's clubs and drug and alcohol trade[8](https://www.independenttalent.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=get_clients_cv_pdf&client_id=16793). The role drew on her dance background, since her character performs on stage; she has cited [Josephine Baker](https://www.edgepedia.org/josephine-baker), Sinéad O'Connor, Nina Simone, FKA Twigs and Madonna as references for the part[5](https://squaremile.com/culture/film-tv/umi-myers-dope-girls/) • [9](https://www.countryandtownhouse.com/culture/umi-myers-dope-girls-interview/).
**Mārama.** Myers plays Peggy in *Mārama*, the debut feature of Indigenous Māori writer-director Taratoa Stappard. Shot in New Zealand but set in Victorian England, the film follows a young Māori woman invited in 1859 to an isolated manor house in [Yorkshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/yorkshire), where she must confront her colonial heritage and supernatural forces in a revenge story; it premiered at the [Toronto International Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/toronto-international-film-festival) and played festivals including Palm Springs, AFI Fest and Sitges[10](https://strasbourgfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/FEFFS-2025-A5-nocoupe-planche.pdf) • [11](https://www.scifihistory.net/mainpage/archives/04-2026/4?view=full). She appears alongside Ariāna Osborne and [Toby Stephens](https://www.edgepedia.org/toby-stephens)[11](https://www.scifihistory.net/mainpage/archives/04-2026/4?view=full).
## Stage work
Myers played Zoe, a woman described in the play as one eighth black (an octoroon), in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' *An Octoroon* at the [Abbey Theatre](https://www.edgepedia.org/abbey-theatre) in Dublin, directed by Anthony Simpson-Pike and running from 21 April to 14 May 2022[12](https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/whats-on/an-octoroon/). Her stage credits also include Dorothea Wolsey in *The Mirror and the Light*, in a Playful/RSC/West End production directed by Jeremy Herrin[3](https://markhamfroggattandirwin-cdn-1.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/06165922/Umi-Myers-CV-5.pdf). She has said she misses theater work while focusing on screen, and that *Dope Girls* combined the two by bringing live performance into its filmed scenes[5](https://squaremile.com/culture/film-tv/umi-myers-dope-girls/).
## Approach to roles
Myers prepares for roles sometimes before she is cast, using what she calls a messy, personal process: playlists, [Pinterest](https://www.edgepedia.org/pinterest) boards, imagery and color schemes, and letters written to a character[5](https://squaremile.com/culture/film-tv/umi-myers-dope-girls/). For *Dope Girls* she built each of her character's dances with the production team and studied archival footage of the era[9](https://www.countryandtownhouse.com/culture/umi-myers-dope-girls-interview/).
## References
1. [Umi Myers – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13646920/bio/)
2. [Umi Myers, Final-year Actors 2020-21, Guildhall School of Music & Drama](https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/study-with-guildhall/drama/final-year-actors/final-year-actors-2020-21/umi-myers)
3. [Umi Myers CV, Markham Froggatt & Irwin](https://markhamfroggattandirwin-cdn-1.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/06165922/Umi-Myers-CV-5.pdf)
4. [Umi Myers, TVmaze](https://www.tvmaze.com/people/370739/umi-myers)
5. [Umi Myers is a truly dope star, Square Mile (4 March 2025)](https://squaremile.com/culture/film-tv/umi-myers-dope-girls/)
6. [Centre Stage: Umi Myers on Crafting Truth and Honouring Her Heritage, New Wave Magazine](https://www.newwavemagazine.com/single-post/centre-stage-umi-myers-on-crafting-truth-and-honouring-her-heritage)
7. [Dope Girls issue, Cinema Metropolis](https://cinemametropolis.com/m116i/pdf/m116i.pdf)
8. [Ado Yoshizaki Cassuto CV, Independent Talent Group](https://www.independenttalent.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=get_clients_cv_pdf&client_id=16793)
9. [Umi Myers: Dope Girls Is As Punk As A Period Drama Can Get, Country & Town House](https://www.countryandtownhouse.com/culture/umi-myers-dope-girls-interview/)
10. [Mārama programme notes, Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival](https://strasbourgfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/FEFFS-2025-A5-nocoupe-planche.pdf)
11. [Thinestra theatrical release press release, SciFiHistory](https://www.scifihistory.net/mainpage/archives/04-2026/4?view=full)
12. [An Octoroon, Abbey Theatre](https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/whats-on/an-octoroon/)
---
*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 Mc to M*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 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