Olatokunbo Susan Olasobunmi Abeke "Toks" Olagundoye (born 16 September 1975)[1] is a Nigerian actress.[1] She is known for her role as Hayley Shipton in Castle, Jackie Joyner-Kersee in the ABC TV sitcom The Neighbors, Mel Medarda in the animated Netflix series Arcane, Mrs. Beakley in DuckTales, Countless Cleo in Carmen Sandiego, Nanefua Pizza in Steven Universe, and Olivia Finch in the Paramount+ sitcom Frasier.
Toks Olagundoye | |
|---|---|
 Olagundoye in 2013 | |
| Born | Olatokunbo Susan Olasubomi Abeke Olagundoye 16 September 1975 Lagos, Nigeria |
| Education | Smith College (BFA) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Spouse | Sean Quinn (m. 2015) |
| Children | 1 |
Early life
Olatokunbo Susan Olasobunmi Abeke Olagundoye was born on 16 September 1975 in Lagos, Nigeria, to a Nigerian father and a Norwegian mother.[2] As a youth, she was educated in Nigeria, Switzerland, and England.[3][4] She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre from Smith College.[4]
Career
Olagundoye made her screen debuts on both TV and the big screen in 2002; in an episode of the television series The Education of Max Bickford; and in the film Brown Sugar later that same year. She appeared opposite Ruby Dee in an off-Broadway production Saint Lucy's Eyes in April 2001,[5] and in 2005, she cofounded the theater company Three Chicks Theatre, which produced Andrea Lepcio's One Nation Under in 2008.[1] Olagundoye has guest-starred on Ugly Betty, Law & Order, CSI: NY, Switched at Birth, NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Prime Suspect. Her film credits include A Beautiful Soul, Come Back to Me, Absolute Trust and The Salon.
In 2012, Olagundoye was cast as a series regular in the ABC comedy series The Neighbors,[6][7][8][9] playing the part of Jackie Joyner-Kersee until the series was canceled after two seasons in 2014.[10] She later had starring roles in the two television pilots: Feed Me, opposite Mary-Louise Parker for NBC; and Amazon's Salem Rogers, co-starring with Leslie Bibb.[11][12] In 2015, Olagundoye joined the main cast for the final season of the ABC comedy-drama Castle, in the role of British former MI6 operative Hayley Shipton, who joins Castle's P.I. firm.[13]
From 2017 to 2021, she voiced Bentina Beakley for the 2017 reboot of DuckTales. In 2019, Olagundoye had a recurring role on the final season of Veep playing Senator Kemi Talbot. Olagundoye does the voice acting for Mel Medarda in Arcane: League of Legends (2021). In 2021, she had a recurring role on the ABC series The Rookie, and in 2022, was cast as one of the leads in the ABC revival of L.A. Law.[14]
Personal life
On May 16, 2015, Olagundoye married Sean Quinn, whom she met on Twitter, after several years of dating. They have a son together.[15]
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Brown Sugar | Sidney's LA Assistant | |
| 2005 | The Salon | Peaches | |
| 2009 | Absolute Trust | Kelly | |
| 2010 | Mom Squad | Mom | Short film |
| 2010 | Dorito-hibition! | Danielle | Short film |
| 2011 | Most Wanted | Operative Keel | |
| 2011 | Come Back to Me | Seritou | |
| 2011 | Life Begins at Rewirement | Nurse | Short film |
| 2012 | A Beautiful Soul | Theresa Whitaker | |
| 2012 | Democracy at Work | Meghan Oliver | |
| 2018 | The Death of Superman | Cat Grant (voice) | Direct-to-video[16] |
| 2018 | Dog Days | Nina | |
| 2018 | Tremors | Jessica Florence | Television film |
| 2019 | Reign of the Supermen | Cat Grant (voice) | Direct-to-video[16] |
| 2019 | Steven Universe: The Movie | Nanefua Pizza (voice) | Television film[16] |
| 2022 | Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie | Krang Two, Window Woman (voice) | Television film |
| 2022 | Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe | Fantasy Women, Campaign Worker, Female Students | [16] |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | The Education of Max Bickford | Hannah | Episode: "An Open Book" |
| 2004 | Law & Order | Janette Gardner | Episode: "C.O.D." |
| 2006 | 3 lbs | Mary | Episode: "Of Two Minds" |
| 2008 | Ugly Betty | Sales Girl | Episode: "Bad Amanda" |
| 2010 | Law & Order | Claire | Episode: "Blackmail" |
| 2010 | CSI: NY | Reporter | Episode: "Hide Sight" |
| 2011 | Switched at Birth | Cooking Class Teacher | Episode: "The Persistence of Memory" |
| 2011 | NCIS | Rebeka Hooper | Episode: "Safe Harbor" |
| 2011 | Prime Suspect | Lucy Martin | Episode: "Wednesday's Child" |
| 2012–2014 | The Neighbors | Jackie Joyner-Kersee | 44 episodes |
| 2014–2019 | Steven Universe | Nanefua, Cluster (voice) | 5 episodes[16] |
| 2015 | The Fosters | Faith | Episodes: "More Than Words", "Lucky" |
| 2015–2016 | Castle | Hayley Shipton | 13 episodes |
| 2016 | Vixen | Mari's Mother, News Reporter (voices) | 2 episodes |
| 2017–2021 | DuckTales | Mrs. Beakley, Server (voices) | Main role[16] |
| 2017 | Guardians of the Galaxy | Ja Kyee Lrurt (voice) | Episode: "Mr. Roboto"[16] |
| 2017 | The Gifted | Carla Jackson | Episode: "eXposed" |
| 2018 | Modern Family | Lucy | Episode: "CHiPs and Salsa" |
| 2018 | Dirty John | Paula Harding, ESQ. | Episode: "Remember It Was Me" |
| 2019 | Carmen Sandiego | Countess Cleo, various voices | Recurring voice role[16] |
| 2019 | Veep | Kemi Talbot | 5 episodes |
| 2019 | Crazy Ex-Girlfriend | Julia | 2 episodes |
| 2020 | Cleopatra in Space | Commodore Winifred | Episode: "Parasites" |
| 2020, 2022 | Star Trek: Lower Decks | Captain Amina Ramsey | 2 episodes |
| 2020 | Shameless | Chicago P.D. Sgt. Leesie Janes | Season 11, Episodes: "Frances Francis Franny Frank" and "NIMBY", "Slaughter" |
| 2021 | The Rookie | Professor Fiona Ryan | 6 episodes |
| 2021 | Castlevania | Zamfir (voice) | 5 episodes |
| 2021 | Big Shot | Terri Grint | 5 episodes |
| 2021 | Adventure Time: Distant Lands | Dr. Caledonius (voice) | Episode: "Wizard City"[17] |
| 2021 | Kid Cosmic | Madame President (voice) | |
| 2021 | Arcane | Mel Medarda (voice) | [16] |
| 2022 | We Baby Bears | Lady Lima (voice) | 2 episodes |
| 2022 | Cars on the Road | Margaret Motorray, Chiefess, Additional voices | [16] |
| 2022 | Beavis and Butt-Head | Marcie Anderson (voice) | Episode: "The Good Deed" |
| 2022 | Family Guy | Auctioneer (voice) | Episode: "The Stewaway" |
| 2022 | Tales of the Jedi | Ganitka (voice) | Episode: "Life and Death"[16] |
| 2023 | The Legend of Vox Machina | Devana Vessar (voice) | Episode: "Echo Tree"[16] |
| 2023 | Fatal Attraction | Conchita Lewis | Main role |
| 2023-present | Frasier | Olivia | Main role[18] |
Video games
| Year | Title | Voice role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Game of Thrones | Beskha | [16] |
| 2017 | Middle-earth: Shadow of War | Carnán | [16] |
| 2018 | Artifact | Vanessa |
See also
References
External links
- Toks Olagundoye on X
- Toks Olagundoye at IMDb
