‘Bulletproof’ & ‘Star Trek’ Star Noel Clarke Tweets Email From “High Level Agent” Mistaking Him For Another Black Actor

Andreas Wiseman
·3 min read

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Bulletproof and Star Trek Into Darkness actor Noel Clarke has been among the most vocal UK actors on social media during the Black Lives Matter protests, noting that racism is “prevalent in the UK” and “isn’t just a U.S. problem”.

The BAFTA-winning actor-producer, who runs successful production firm Unstoppable Entertainment, has tweeted multiple anecdotes in recent days about being mistaken for a delivery man, maintenance worker and another actor.

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Over the weekend, Clarke tweeted an email from a “high profile agent” who mistakes him for an actor in Netflix series Top Boy, whose cast includes black actors Ashley Walters (Clarke’s Bulletproof co-star) and Micheal Ward.

The email reads: “Afternoon. Just wanted to say how good new series of Top Boy was. Not my ‘thing’ but was wonderful in telling the story of marginalisation and struggle. You weren’t bad either. Hope all is well.”

Clarke did not disclose the agent’s identity, despite some commenters calling for him to do so. He noted that the rep has been in the industry a long time and has met him “various” times.

The tweet sparked incredulity from many fellow actors and industry professionals.

One agent I spoke to today about Clarke’s tweet told me, “There’s so much out there like this in the UK agencies.” The sector has struggled to diversify and there are only a handful of black film and TV agents in the business.

Clarke also posted about being mistaken last week for a delivery driver when he arrived to do dubbing for a new project, and 10 days ago the actor spoke out about a failure to include his image on the poster for hit UK comedy Fisherman’s Friends. He is one of seven actors credited above the title on the poster – and is arguably the most famous – but he is the only actor whose image doesn’t appear. The tweet has been liked more than 23k times.

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