Jimmy Akingbola was born in London to Nigerian parents and had a difficult childhood. His mother, Eunice, got separated from his father, and she got custody.
His family moved to the UK in 1967. Jimmy grew up in Plaistow, east London, for till he turned two.
As per inkpellet.co.uk, Akinbola’s birth parents split up when he was three. His father suspected his mother had schizophrenia and had been unfaithful to him. As per nimh.nih.gov, schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that affects how a person feels, behaves, and thinks.
Jimmy’s mother struggled to cope with her mental health and decided to raise her child as a single mother. However, with Jimmy’s illness, caring for him was difficult for her. Also, with no other family members to take care of her toddler son, she was forced to send him to foster care in 1979.
His Foster Parents are British
Jimmy was raised by his foster parents, Gloria and Dennis, spending the rest of his formative years with them in the London neighborhood of Plaistow.
The actor, who is very close to his foster family, the Crows, mainly his foster mother Gloria, describes them as “amazing,” as they introduced him to the arts and motivated him to choose an acting career.
Following the encouragement of his supportive family, he joined the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, where he learned three years of craft and later gained his degree in acting.
After that, Jimmy started portraying characters in plays at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. After learning to hone his craft, the actor became comfortable performing in front of a live audience.
