---
name: "Omari Douglas"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/omari-douglas"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "24 March 1994"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 81
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-20T21:13:51.631694+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Omari Douglas

Actor. Born 24 March 1994 in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, UK.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 24 March 1994, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, UK
- **Active:** 2021–present
- **Average Fi1m score:** 81, as actor, over 2 titles
- **Elsewhere:** https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q105070522, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4560103/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/2600225

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*It's a Sin*](https://film.one/tv/its-a-sin.md) (84)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Omari Douglas

> Omari Douglas plays defiance as something a character has to keep up rather than something he has. In *It's a Sin* every joke Roscoe made was a defence, and Douglas let us see both the joke and the reason for it at once.

Roscoe Babatunde arrives in *It's a Sin* with the best lines in the flat, and Omari Douglas says every one of them as if it were a wall he is putting up. That is the trick of the performance and the reason it stays with you. The jokes are funny; they are also what Roscoe has instead of protection, and Douglas lets us see both at once without ever pointing at the second. The clothes do the same work. Roscoe dresses for the eighties like a man daring the street to say something, and Douglas wears it as if it had been his own idea.

We laughed at Roscoe more than at anyone else in that flat, and more than once we caught ourselves working out what the laughter was for, which is the difference between a comic turn and a performance. Douglas has described the character as "fiercely proud and fiercely out", and the pride is the interesting part. He plays it as a decision, renewed daily, not a settled fact. When the series asks the flat to grieve, he is spared none of it, and he does not flinch.

It was a first television part, which is worth remembering. Douglas trained in musical theatre and spent his early career on stage, in *High Society*, *Wise Children*, *Jesus Christ Superstar* and *Tristan & Yseult*, and has worked three times with the director Emma Rice. You can see the training in how he moves, which is more expressive than most screen actors allow themselves and never looks like showing off. Since Russell T Davies's series he has kept a foot in each world: *Constellations* (2021) opposite Russell Tovey, Clifford Bradshaw in the *Cabaret* revival (2021–22) and *A Little Life* (2023) on stage; *I Hate Suzie Too* (2022), *Rye Lane* (2023), *Nolly* (2023) for Davies again, and *Black Doves* (2024), a spy thriller, on screen. We have not reviewed those and will not judge them here.

The reservation is a small one and it is about casting rather than acting. The parts that have come his way so far tend to be bold, defiant, queer and set in a period, and he is plainly good at them. What we would like to see, and what the more recent screen work may be starting to offer, is a part that does not ask him to be the loudest person in any scene, so we can find out what he does with quiet. Colin was the surprise of *It's a Sin*; we suspect Douglas could play a Colin if anyone asked him to, and we would like someone to ask.

For now, start with Roscoe. Watch him land a line, and then ask yourself who the line was really for.

## Biography

Omari Douglas is an English actor. Born on 24 March 1994 in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, he trained at the Arts Educational Schools in London, graduating in 2015. He began his career in theatre with roles in productions including *High Society*, *Wise Children* and *Jesus Christ Superstar*.

Douglas is known for playing Roscoe Babatunde in the Channel 4 series *It's a Sin* (2021). Subsequent screen credits include the film *Rye Lane* (2023) and the Netflix series *Black Doves* (2024). He has received nominations for a British Academy Television Award for *It's a Sin* and a Laurence Olivier Award for his performance in *Constellations*.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

- *Rye Lane* (2023), Fi1m 78, as Mona — [page](https://film.one/film/rye-lane.md)
- *It's a Sin* (2021), Fi1m 84, as Roscoe Babatunde — [page](https://film.one/tv/its-a-sin.md)

## Also known for

- *Black Doves* (2024), Michael

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/omari-douglas
