ALUMNI

Take a look at some of the incredible talent that has come through Urban over the years

Mahalia

Mahalia is a MOBO Award-winning and Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and actor. As one of the UK’s biggest R&B stars, Mahalia has released several EPs and three albums, Diary of Me (2016), Love and Compromise (2019) and IRL (2023), and also acted in the film Brotherhood (2016).

Owen Warner

Owen Warner is an actor best known for portraying the role of Romeo Nightingale in the Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks. For his portrayal of Romeo, Owen won the Digital Spy Reader Award for Best Soap Newcomer in 2018. Owen also appeared as a contestant on the UK series I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! finishing in second place behind Jill Scott.

Jurell Carter

Jurell Carter is an actor best known for his role as Nate Robinson on Emmerdale which he has played since 2019. Jurell graduated from The Liverpool Insitute for Performing Arts (LIPA) in 2016. He was the first of three actors to ever receive a BAFTA scholarship back in 2015 to aid him in his final year of training. His other credits include VS. (2018) and Kiri (2018) with Sarah Lancashire and Paapa Essiedu.

Devesh Sodha

Devesh Sodha is an award-winning, international composer for Film, TV, Theatre and Games. Devesh’s credits include Minions: Rise Of Gru (2022), Marvel’s Wakanda Forever (2022), Marvel’s Loki (2021), Godzilla Vs Kong (2021), and Star Trek Discovery (2017). He also worked on the feature film Outlawed (2018) which was nominated for Best Score for a Feature at the Hollywood Dreamz Film Festival 2018

Bertie Cross

Bertie Cross

Bertie Cross is an actor best known for his starring role in the film Play Is Your Superpower by LEGO alongside Hollywood actor Jane Lynch. The film has an all-star team including Academy Award-winning director Ellen Kuras (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), director of photography Rachel Morrison (Black Panther), and set designer and art director David Lee (Star Wars and Batman Begins). Bertie also has his very own LEGO minifigure.

Dilan Raithatha

Dilan Raithatha is a writer and actor who graduated from the Arts University Bournemouth in Acting in 2018. His first full-length play Little India won the Masterclass Pitch Your Play Award and was performed at Theatre Royal Haymarket in London’s West End. He also wrote Call Me By My Name (Curve, Theatre) to mark the 50th anniversary of the Ugandan Asian exodus, and a selection of monologues published in Hear Me Now: Volume 2 in association with Tamasha Theatre.

Mialuca Backus

Mialuca Backus is a dancer, singer and actor who trained at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts. Mialuca is best known as a social media influencer and makeup artist with over 1.1M followers on TikTok and 64.8M likes, and has had her work published in French fashion and beauty magazine Malvie.

Octavia Nyombi

Octavia Nyombi is a trans actor, writer and director whose credits include Queer Upstairs (Royal Court Theatre), We’re Sorry to Report Delays for a Disaster Gay (Curve Theatre) and Travis Alabanza’s short film Burgerz and Chips. She is chair of Nottingham Playhouse’s Youth Board and has been integral in setting up the Nottingham Queer Arts Collective.

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