David Oyelowo’s family includes his wife, Jessica Oyelowo, whom he has been married to since 1998. He has a total of four children: three sons named Asher, Penuel and Caleb, and a daughter named Zoe. David Oyelowo’s family hails from the Awe Kingdom in the Nigerian state of Oyo, where he holds the royal title, Omoba, which means prince.
While interracial marriages are still being largely frowned upon in the entertainment industry, the union between David Oyelowo and his wife Jessica has proven that there could be many like David Oyelowo’s Family living happily out there.
David is a classically trained British stage actor and screenwriter. He is of Nigerian origin but was born in the United Kingdom. David has been an expert in his field and has been growing, but his recent role in Selma as Martin Luther King Jr. has succeeded in making him a worldwide figure as it earned him a Golden Globe nomination.
David Oyelowo’s Family
| Relationship | Name | More Information |
|---|---|---|
| Spouse | Jessica Oyelowo | An actress and producer, married to David Oyelowo. |
| Son | Asher Oyelowo | One of David and Jessica’s children. |
| Son | Caleb Oyelowo | One of David and Jessica’s children. |
| Daughter | Zoe Oyelowo | One of David and Jessica’s children. |
| Son | Penuel | One of David and Jessica’s sons. |
David Oyelowo Met His Wife, Jessica, at a Drama School
At the age of 19, the award-winning actor David Oyelowo met Jessica, who was 17. David first saw her at the National Youth Theatre, and he liked her. They became friends, and before they knew it–they had fallen in love with each other.
Finding love or meeting someone special is one of the most beautiful experiences on the face of the earth but what is considered more interesting is where you meet the one. When David was 19 and busy with his theatre studies, unknown to him, he would find love much earlier than his father had. David had always thought of marriage as a decision one should take much later in their life as his “heroic father” did in his 40s.
Once the British-American actor realized he was deeply in love with his future wife and that she was his forever person, he had to decide to either run or dive in. As expected, the revelation and feelings gave him the courage he needed to drive their relationship to another level. At the age of 20, David was already engaged to Jessica, and as a born-again Christian raised in a Baptist church, the actor and his fiancee decided to abstain from sexual relationships until they were married.
Although they were mocked by a close friend, the couple was strong and believed in themselves. The two were virgins when they got married, and regardless of all the ridicule, David said their decision was tied to their faith and hence a big part of who they were. Today, after many decades of living together as a couple, he never regrets his decision to marry Jessica.
In an exclusive interview in July 2020, David claimed that no one knew him better than his wife and that he relied on her during most of his career decisions, including during his directorial debut in The Water Man. Even as they grow older together, they both try to stay clear of any form of scandal that would be detrimental to their image and that of their family.
Jessica Has Been David Oyelowo’s Wife for Over Two Decades
David Oyelowo got married to his wife, Jessica Oyelowo, in September 1998 and they’ve lived together as a couple for over a decade. In 2019, the filmmaker, who has quickly become one of Hollywood’s most sought-after talents, took to his Instagram page on Thursday to appreciate his wife for the years of “blissful” marriage. As expected, Jessica also replied to her husband with more romantic words while she wished him a happy 21st anniversary.
There’s a common stereotype that is often linked with famous couples. Essentially, it’s that their relationships rarely last very long. It is common to have celebrity marriages end after a mere 72 days. However, some have survived. Couples who have made it last – where your relationship is open for all to see and air their opinions on, where punishing tour and film production schedules can see you living apart on different continents for months on end and where you have to watch what you say about each other in public before they’re turned into news snippets. David Oyelowo’s marriage with his wife is one of such rare unions you would find.
Ami all celebrity breakups consistently happening between two well-known people, David and Jessica’s long-lasting union is somewhat very surprising to many who cannot but ask questions on the secret of their union. Well, David, in his reply, says one of their biggest rules is that they are never apart from each other for two weeks. The “two-week rule” has is a family rule each of them has kept for many years despite their very busy schedule. This helps them find time for each other and the family and the kids as well.
To further spice up their union, the couple takes turns planning family trips at least once every year. Valentine’s Day is another special moment for the pair, especially as it falls almost six months after their wedding anniversary. To make it a memorable one, they try to do something very special for each other and sometimes, including their children.
David Oyelowo’s Children
David and his wife Jessica are blessed with four children -three boys, two of whom are Asher and Caleb. Their daughter, who apparently is the youngest of the four children, goes by the name Zoe. Unfortunately, there isn’t much to know about the Oyelowo kids as their parents try to keep them away from the limelight.
Despite the fame already garnered through their professions, David and his wife always try to instill core values in their children. One of the teachings they give the kids is for them to think of others above themselves. Oyelowo also ensures that the responsibilities of fatherhood always play out in his career choices. He is keen to create a body of work that makes his children proud.
It is not clear what career path David Oyelowo’s children have taken for themselves, but in a recent Instagram post, the actor revealed that one of his sons wants to be an actor, and to help him start well, he was taken to the school where his father trained. David Oyelowo’s family currently lives in Tarzana, the San Fernando Valley in Southern California. The actor and his wife became naturalized US citizens on July 20, 2016, which, starring in the film, Selma, inspired him to do.
Oyelowo’s Wife is British and an A-List Actress
David may be very popular in the movie industry, having received so many awards and accolades for his long years of commitment to the world’s biggest film industry, but he is not alone in this journey – his wife Jessica has been in the business too, and she shares almost the same number of years with him in the industry
Jessica Oyelowo (née Watson) is a British actress and singer. She was born in Ipswich, and she spent her childhood in Suffolk, both in England. Jessica was born in 1977, which means that she is two years younger than her husband, who was born in 1976.
Unlike David, who is an ethnic Yoruba man with a family hailing from the Awe Kingdom in Oyo State, Nigeria, where he has the royal title of Omoba, which means Prince, Jessica is English. While growing up, she loves taking a path in her school drama presentations. Driven by her passion for singing, she became a member of the National Youth Music Theatre.
Jessica is said to have been active in the entertainment industry since 1999, with her first movie appearance being as ‘Sarah’ in the movie Sleepy Hollow. In 2006 she starred in Mayo as DS Alex Jones and appeared in Murphy’s Law alongside James Nesbitt in 2007. Her other films include Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004).
David, on the other hand, started his acting career in 1999. Although he is not one of those whose passion for acting started at a young age, but as a golden fish with no hiding place, he was a Theatre Studies student at City and Islington College, where his teacher persuaded him to go into acting. Heeding the suggestions, he enrolled in an acting course at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), where he was trained for three years. By 1999, Oyelowo was ready to take over.
David bagged stage roles in Royal Shakespeare Company, where he played different Shakespearean characters. He broke records in the year 2000 as the first black to act as ‘The King’ in a Royal Shakespeare Company production. In 2001, his award-winning lead role in Henry VI was the first time a king was portrayed by a black actor in a Royal Shakespeare Company production.
Oyelowo made it to the big screens in 1998 when he starred in the series Brothers and Sisters and Maisie Raine. He became a big shot in the industry when he starred in the drama series Spooks, where he played the role of an MI5 officer. For his portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr. in the 2014 movie Selma, he says that the years he spent in Nigeria helped him to perfectly portray his character role, for which he received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture.
FAQs
Who Are The Members Of David Oyelowo’s Family?
The members of David Oyelowo’s family include Jessica Oyelowo, Stephen Oyelowo, Asher, Caleb, Penuel, and Zoe Oyelowo
Is David Oyelowo A Prince?
Yes, David Oyelowo is an omoba (or prince) of the Yoruba people in the Nigerian chieftaincy system, his grandfather having been the king of “a part of Oyo State called Awe”.
Who Is David Oyelowo’a Wife?
David Oyelowo’s Wife is Jessica Oyelowo, whom he met at LAMDA and with whom he has four children
Who Are David Oyelowo’s Parents?
David Oyelowo’s father is Stephen Oyelowo from Oyo State, Western Nigeria, and his mother is Igbo, also from Southern Nigeria
Where is David Oyelowo From?
Davi Oyelowo is from Oyo State, Western Nigeria, but he was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England