Malachi Kirby is a British actor and writer. He gained prominence through his roles in the 2016Roots remake and theBlack Mirror episode "Men Against Fire".^[1] He won aBAFTA for his performance inSmall Axe:Mangrove (2020).Kirby plays the lead role of Jamaican immigrant Hezekiah Moscow in the Victorian drama seriesA Thousand Blows.

Kirby grew up an only child on thePatmore Estate inBattersea. His father died when he was 6.^[2] His parents were born inLondon where his grandparents had arrived fromJamaica. The cast ofRoots were invited to take DNA tests, and Kirby's results came up as mostly West African with some South Asian and a small amount of European. He stated he hopes to do more specific research.^[3]

Kirby attendedSouthfields Academy.^[4] Originally into literature, he discovered acting in year nine through a course at theBattersea Arts Centre. He studied atRichmond upon Thames College^[5] and was admitted toIdentity School of Acting in 2007.^[2]

Kirby began his career in theatre, and describes himself as a theatre actor "at heart".^[6] He was shortlisted for Outstanding Newcomer at the 2011Evening Standard Theatre Awards after appearing in a production ofMogadishu.^[7] He also appeared in a number of television shows and films, including a stint onEastEnders and the lead in the television filmMy Murder.^[8] He was named aScreen International Star of Tomorrow in 2013.^[9]

In 2016, Kirby starred asKunta Kinte in the American miniseriesRoots, a remake of the1977 miniseries of the same name.^[10][11] His performance was well received by critics.^[12][13] That October, Kirby starred in an episode of theanthology seriesBlack Mirror entitled "Men Against Fire", directed byJakob Verbruggen.^[14][15]

He won the Rising Star and Male TV Performance awards at the 2016 and 2017Screen Nation Film and Television Awards respectively. ForRoots, he also received nominations at the 2017Black Reel Awards andNAACP Image Awards.^[16]

Kirby went on to star as Michael Garwick in the 2019Sky One dystopian dramaCurfew and Oliver Harris in the Italian seriesDevils.^[17][18] He penned his first playLevel Up, which first premiered at theBush Theatre in 2019.^[19]

Kirby landed the role ofDarcus Howe in the "Mangrove" installment ofSteve McQueen'sSmall Axe anthology, which premiered in 2020. It was the first time he got to play an explicitly Caribbean character.^[6] For his performance, he won the 2021British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actor.

In September 2021, it was announced Kirby would star oppositeDelroy Lindo as both of Mr. Nancy's sons Charlie and Spider in theAmazon Prime adaptation ofNeil Gaiman'sAnansi Boys.^[20]

In 2025, Kirby played the lead role of Hezekiah Moscow inSteven Knight's (creator ofPeaky Blinders) British drama seriesA Thousand Blows, about organized crime and illegalbare-knuckle boxing in 1880s London. The first series premiered on 21 February 2025, with Kirby expected to reprise the role in a second series (filmed concurrently with the first series).^[21]

Kirby did not have a religious upbringing, but he turned to religion as an adult, and belongs to a Christian fellowship in East London.^[22]

• Malachi Kirby atIMDb

• Living people
• 21st-century English male actors
• Best Supporting Actor BAFTA Award (television) winners
• Black British male actors
• English Christians
• English male television actors
• English male film actors
• English people of Jamaican descent
• Actors from the London Borough of Wandsworth
• Male actors from London
• People from Battersea
• Alumni of the Identity School of Acting

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2022
• Use British English from October 2016
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Year of birth missing (living people)