Olunike Adeliyi

Olunike Adeliyi was born in Toronto, Ontario to Sunday Adeliyi, a Nigerian computer scientist and Roxiana Bell, a Jamaican nurse. Raised in both Jamaica and Canada, the well travelled actress ultimately earned a place at the highly coveted American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. After graduating from AADA, Olunike returned to Toronto to pursue a film, television, and theatre career which ultimately landed her the series-regular role of Leah Kerns in the highly rated and vastly popular television series, Flashpoint. Olunike's popularity gained momentum after her appearances in films and TV shows such as SAW 3D, French Immersion, The Listener, Two Cities, Being Human, Republic of Doyle, Group Home, A Christmas Horror Story, The Emmisary, Lost Girl, Killjoys, Boost, and The Girlfriend Experience, to name a few. In 2012, Oluniké was nominated for "Best Performance by a Female - Film" at the Canadian Comedy Awards for her performance in "French Immersion" and won the 2014 Black Canadian Award for "Best Actress" for overall performances that year. Some of Olunike's critically acclaimed stage performances include, Macbeth (Unit 102 Theatre), The Atomic Tradition (Sterling Theatre Company), HER2 (Nightwood Theatre) and Bleeders (Summerworks Festival), The Marriage of Anansewa (African Theatre Ensemble), Zinzi (The Rennaissance Theatre, NY), Wedding Band (Mary McMacArthur Theatre, NY), and The Shadow Box (Mannie Greenfield Theatre, NY). This year, Olunike will star alongside Anna Paquin (True Blood), Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City), Melissa Leo (The Fighter), and Denis O'Hare (Dallas Buyer's Club) in actor Stephen Moyer's feature film directorial debut, The Parting Glass. Also due out, Olunike will be seen working alongside Tom Holland (Spiderman), Daisy Ridley (Star Wars), and David Oyelowo (Selma) in the anticipated dystopian SyFy feature film, Chaos Walking directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith). Olunike is currently on CBC's new breakout comedy, Workin' Moms created by Catherine Reitman (Blackish).