Sometimes a single decision can completely change the direction of your life.
For rising actor Richard Akindele, that decision was choosing creativity over the world he saw around him growing up in Peckham. Surrounded by crime, gang culture and the pressures that can come with growing up in a tough part of London, Richard admits there was a time when he wanted to follow the people he saw on the streets.
Instead, he found drama.
Now, at just 22 years old, Richard has gone from studying Shakespeare and performing on stage to making his film debut as TK in Tales from the Trap, a gritty British film exploring friendship, ambition, crime and the realities of trying to escape life in the hood.
Speaking on the Tales from the Trap podcast, Richard opened up about his childhood, his introduction to acting, his approach to performing and why his first major film role feels so personal.
Growing Up in Peckham
Richard was born at St Thomas’ Hospital in London and grew up in Peckham, around the Queens Road area.
His childhood coincided with a period when gang culture was highly visible in the area. As a young boy, Richard remembers seeing older people around him with money, cars, clothes and status.
When you grow up without those things, he explained, it can be easy to look at that lifestyle and want it for yourself.
Richard openly admits that, as a teenager, he wanted to be seen as one of the “bad” kids. Although he describes his involvement in crime as relatively minor, he was interested in the lifestyle and could easily have continued further down that road.
One of the biggest reasons he did not was his family.
Richard credits his brothers with constantly reminding him of the consequences that could come with that life and encouraging him to make better choices.
Those consequences were not theoretical either. Richard saw people he knew go to prison and tragically lost a family friend to knife crime.
How Drama Changed Richard’s Life
At school, Richard says he was not always the easiest student.
Despite enjoying subjects including maths and English, there came a point where gaining respect from the people around him became more important than education.
That began to change when he met his drama teacher.
Drama gave Richard somewhere else to direct his energy. Rather than chasing approval through bad behaviour, he discovered something that genuinely excited him.
In Richard’s own words, “Drama saved me.”
At first, acting was simply something he enjoyed. He did not immediately see it as a career.
But towards the end of school, something clicked.
Richard began applying for performing arts courses and eventually attended Westminster Kingsway College. It was during his time at college that he began to realise acting could become much more than a hobby.
He started believing he genuinely had a chance.
From Peckham to Shakespeare
Richard’s acting journey then took him away from London to Northampton, where he continued his training.
It was there that he developed a deeper understanding of classical theatre and Shakespeare.
One of his major Shakespeare performances was playing Stephano in The Tempest, a comedic character that allowed Richard to interact with audiences and explore the lighter side of his personality.
His interest in Shakespeare developed after watching a production of Othello featuring Adrian Lester.
Initially, Richard admits that Shakespeare could be difficult to understand. However, formal training helped him recognise the importance of rhythm, physicality, body language and intention behind the words.
He became fascinated by how the same Shakespeare play could be performed repeatedly and still feel completely different depending on the actors and interpretation.
Richard also has another Shakespeare ambition firmly on his list: playing Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Landing His First Film Role in Tales from the Trap
After completing drama school, Richard was given an opportunity that could prove to be a major turning point in his acting career.
He auditioned for Tales from the Trap.
Despite having never appeared in a feature film before, Richard impressed during the audition and secured the role of TK.
The character immediately felt familiar.
TK is an aspiring music producer who dreams of building a successful career but becomes involved in trapping and robberies alongside his friends as they search for a way out of their circumstances.
Richard connected with the character’s desire to impress his friends and his determination to create something better for himself.
Music is also central to TK’s story. Richard describes the character as someone who wants to become a major producer, with ambitions of becoming something similar to a British Kanye West.
But behind that ambition sits a much darker reality.
Showing the Reality Behind Life in the Hood
At the centre of Tales from the Trap is a group of young people attempting to escape their environment by whatever means they believe are available to them.
Crime appears to offer a shortcut.
However, Richard believes the film does not glamorise that lifestyle. Instead, it demonstrates how quickly someone can become trapped inside a world that continues escalating.
One decision leads to another.
Something that initially feels temporary can eventually have permanent consequences.
Richard’s own upbringing helped him understand that mentality. He had seen people chasing money, status and opportunities through crime while also witnessing what could happen when things went wrong.
That personal connection made playing TK particularly meaningful.
For Richard, making his film debut in a story about people growing up in environments similar to his own feels almost full circle.
Acting Is About Making People Feel Something
Richard has a clear idea of what he wants to achieve as an actor.
It is not simply about audiences liking him.
If he plays a character people are supposed to hate, he wants them to hate that character. If a story is supposed to make audiences uncomfortable, question something or start a conversation, he wants the performance to achieve exactly that.
For Richard, acting is about making people feel something.
Comedy may come naturally to him, and TK provides plenty of moments of comic relief, but Richard wants to explore characters across different genres.
He is also continuing to develop his skills, including practising different accents and working on his writing for both stage and screen.
Richard Akindele’s Advice for Aspiring Actors
Richard’s advice to anyone thinking about acting or another creative career is refreshingly simple:
Try it.
Do not let fear of what other people might think stop you from discovering something you could be good at.
Richard did not always know acting would become his career. He discovered it by giving himself the opportunity to try.
That philosophy has taken him from a young boy growing up in Peckham, surrounded by influences that could have sent his life in a completely different direction, to Shakespearean theatre and now his first feature film.
With Tales from the Trap marking Richard Akindele’s movie debut, it could be just the beginning of a much bigger acting career.
And if his journey so far proves anything, it is that where you start does not have to determine where you finish.
