Ncuti Gatwa Embraces His Electrifying Power

Ncuti Gatwa in conversation with award-winning actress and activist Gillian Anderson

Ncuti Gatwa is feeling the pressure of being a star. With the release of the second season of Netflix’s hit comedy Sex Education, the actor is hyperaware of the importance of his character, Eric Effiong, the gay best friend of Otis Milburn (played by Asa Butterfield). Eric struggles with his identity in a religious Ghanaian home, and as someone who also deviated from the path as an actor in a family of academics, Ncuti easily owns the role, infusing his own unique brand of wit.

But Ncuti’s ascent has been anything but overnight. A student of the theater, he trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland before doing plays like Hecuba, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Victoria. He landed his role on Sex Ed, alongside Gillian Anderson, in his mid-20s at a point when he’d been about to quit acting altogether. But he didn’t, and this year the 27-year-old will star in Netflix’s The Last Letter From Your Lover, a romantic drama starring Shailene Woodley and Felicity Jones. There’s so much more in store for Ncuti, and Gillian got the details. —Danielle Kwateng-Clark

Gillian Anderson: I've got quite a few questions for you because I want to know and I don't know how much people know. Where were you born, Ncuti?

Ncuti Gatwa: I was born in Nyarugenge, a district in Kigali, Rwanda. [We left when] I was two, when the genocide happened.

GA: And did you come straight to the U.K.?

NG: Came straight to the U.K. via Congo. And then maybe one other country and then yes, straight to the U.K. My dad started studying at Edinburgh uni [the University of Edinburgh], and so we lived in the [university’s] accommodation. They had these accommodations for international families, so there was just a whole big estate with a big garden meadow in the middle. And then there were just kids from all over the world.

GA: Oh, that's ideal. So where were some of the other families from?

NG: The Middle East, a lot from China, a lot from India.

GA: That's amazing. If only all our communities were that inclusive.

NG: Yeah.

GA: And what was your dad studying?

NG: He was doing philosophy and theology. He did his Ph.D. He moved to Cameroon [because he wasn't able to get work in the U.K. as a black professor].... And I just think what an amazing sacrifice that you've done. [My parents] just worked so hard for everything that me and my brother and sister have, so they're definitely my role models. They've given me my work ethic and I guess a sense of responsibility. I guess they instilled in me a sense of walking through this world. I've not completed the spot yet, but do things with intention and it's not just you, you're not just doing this for you, you're doing this for other people that are looking up to you and your future kids.

I think that you're just exceptionally talented. As an actor, it's sick to work with you. As a young actor, it's just sick to see quality acting. Just everything that you've achieved and...what you've represented is just so necessary. And so yeah, Auntie Gil.

GA: I think what you represent is pretty damn necessary too.

NG: Thank you.

GA: How old were you when you thought that you might want to be an actor? I've heard this question so many times in my life, it's so funny to be the one asking.

NG: I was 17; I'd done a bit of dance prior at school. My mom put me in this extracurricular dance class when I was a kid. And so I think that just started the creative part of my brain. That's what activated that. And then I was 16 and I was like, I don't know what the fuck to do. There's all these exams that I sit in, making these decisions about what to study for the rest of my life. I'm like, I don't know. Do I want to be a psychologist? You just don't know at 16. There's a lot of pressure.

GA: Especially when you've got parents who are so academic. That must be really confusing if you're at all artistic to feel like there's value there and that it can be validated.

NG: Exactly. So I didn't know, and my teacher at school — I was taking drama at high school, obviously — and my teacher was like, "This is the only class that you turn up to. You need to think about doing this. You're very talented." And then I found out about drama schools, and I was like, Let's just see. I was going to go along and audition and let's just see where I've gone. And then I got in, like, the same day. And I was 17, and so I thought, Oh, I must — this must be my thing. This must be my path.

GA: What was your first professional job?

NG: It was a David Greig piece called Victoria at the Dundee Rep Theater after I graduated.

GA: How'd that feel, in front of an audience?

NG: Just amazing. I love theater, and I love that you have to be so intensely in the character and you have to hit that place every single night. It's just really good training. It was just a very good way of falling in love with my craft.

GA: How old were you when you got Sex Ed?

NG: Twenty-six.

GA: So it was pretty much all theater in there. Am I right to say that Sex Ed was the first on-camera job that you got? What was that like, to move to Wales and to start work on something that would be many months long, playing part of an ensemble?

NG: First big one, yeah. That's a very good question. It felt really cool. I didn't think that I was going to get the job at all. I thought they were going to go for a name. Just before I got Sex Ed, I was going to give up acting. I was like, I have to put an end to this. So I was working constantly in the theater and somehow still just couldn't afford to live in London. I was actually homeless for a bit. Like I was couch-surfing, and I was just like, "This is too difficult." Six years in and I'm already thinking, Flipping hell, I can't do this. And then Sex Ed started coming through — those auditions started coming through.

GA: And you're so natural. You really are so natural on camera. Does it feel that way from the inside? Does it feel as effortless as it looks like it is for you?

NG: No, it doesn't. [When we were shooting season two] I was like, "Gillian, you make this look so easy." Like how do — you make it look very easy.

GA: Yeah, but you do too. But it's not, I'm sorry.

NG: It's not.

GA: It's torturous.

NG: Oh, it's horrible. And I always feel that I do my best work when the camera's turned around.

GA: How does season two feel different than season one, as an actor?

NG: Pressure.

GA: Pressure because you're now famous? Pressure because there's an expectation that it's going to be as good as, if not better than, the first season? Pressure because you also have to keep up your social media status at the same time? What kind of pressures?

NG: Check, check, check, check, check. All of that. I just had no idea what to expect. I knew obviously it was going to make a drop in the ocean because Auntie Gil [Ncuti’s nickname for Gillian] and her hoards of fans would watch. So I knew it was going to make some sort of impact, but I didn't, I couldn't expect for the love of the show and the love of Eric and all of that. That was very overwhelming. Lovely, but very overwhelming. I guess it's the pressure of that.

GA: When was the first time in your life that you felt like you were represented onscreen? That you first saw someone that you felt mirrored to in some way?

NG: Top Boy and Top Boy: Summerhouse.

GA: Wow. So not that long ago.

NG: Not that long ago. Like drama school — I feel like that's when I started to see more color onscreen. So that was, like, 2011. When I was at drama school, I remember thinking, I love what I'm doing and I love this, but I don't know where I'm going to work — I don't know whether classical theater will have me or TV [will] have me. And then when I saw Top Boy, I was like, Oh. That was the first time I was like, There might be an avenue for me somewhere.

GA: Yeah, well, you certainly are hitting your stride at the right time when people are finally starting to pay attention to how they're casting and to cast responsibly and accurately. And at least it feels like, from what I'm seeing, the amount of representation is growing.

NG: It feels like we're part of a moment. There's great work that has been started and great work and that needs to continue. If it feels like we're part of this moment, with Sex Education.

GA: Are there roles that you feel that you definitely want to play in your lifetime, that you feel like you have to? Are there roles that you feel like you absolutely want?

NG: So I want to play everything. I want to play absolutely everything. My dream role would be a Bond villain. Just a villain of some sort. I've obviously been blessed and cursed with this face of a two-year-old. And so I always play sweet.

GA: And do you feel like you have to convince people on a regular basis that you're an adult?

NG: Yes. It's something that takes a lot of hard work to convince people. Like, yeah, I can have this glass of wine, I promise.

GA: But also, just in terms of responsibility and taking on responsibility. What frightens you more at the minute, the state of the political world, the state of our climate and the planet, or terrorism on our shores? Which do you think occupies your mind more on a daily basis?

NG: I would say the political climate because I just have no idea what's going on. I feel like there's constantly a new story; there's constantly a new lie. I just have no idea what's going on, and that's also the key to these other issues. Politicians need to take climate change seriously in order for our world to change or get any better.

GA: And speaking of that, do you have role models?

NG: Definitely. The first two role models are my mom and dad. Definitely. Just because I saw my mom working so many jobs, dealing with so much bullshit. I mean, imagine being a black woman, back then in Scotland, raising three kids, doesn't know the language, doesn't know the culture and got us all through uni, [pushed us to get] A's in high school.

GA: It sounds like she's also pretty present for you. From what you said, it sounds like she was somehow able to balance and to also be present for you as a mother and show you love.

NG: Yeah, she just seemed to be able to do it all. And I was just like, Whoa, you're my queen. And my dad, he almost kind of sacrificed a relationship with his kids for his kids, if that makes sense. He and my mom are still happily married, and he went to work back in Africa because he wanted to do a job whereby his kids could kind of look up to him, because it was obviously difficult for him to get a job in Scotland at the time.

GA: If you had a word of advice for your fans, what would you give them?

NG: I would say face your front, which means face your path. Don't look right and don't look left, because these are other people's journeys and if you're looking at their journeys, you're going to get lost. So face your front and worry about what you're doing. You don't need to compare yourself. Your journey is fine.

GA: And last question. What brings you joy?

NG: Food. Yeah, chicken and chips. Rice. I'm African. Food genuinely brings me so much joy. I get so happy when I have a nice meal that I'm about to tuck into. Like a nice Vietnamese or Ghanaian meal. Or if I'm going home, my mom's made igitoki, which is a very traditional Rwandan meal. Food brings so much joy, and what I do, acting, brings me a lot of joy. Telling stories brings me joy.

Meet the rest of Teen Vogue's Young Hollywood Class of 2020.

Stylist: Chris Horan (@chrishoran20)

Makeup Artist: Lottie using TYNT Beauty (@lotstar)

Hair Stylist: Lauren Palmer Smith using Shu Uemura (@laurenpalmersmith)

Manicurists: Jacqueline Yekikan (@nails_by_jacqueline), Merrick Fisher (@merricures)

Set: Justin Fry (@jebuz)

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