Jovan Adepo is a British-American actor. He was born on September 6, 1988 in Upper Heyford, Oxfordshire, England. His mother is a British Nigerian from London, while his father is an African American from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Raised in Waldorf, Maryland, Adepo acted in school and church plays. He attended college at Bowie State University in Maryland, receiving his B.A. in political science and philosophy. While studying political science, he began taking creative writing classes. Adepo moved to Los Angeles, California in 2011 after receiving his bachelor's degree. He intended to become a writer, but he started conducting commercial workshops to supplement his income. He took acting classes in order to book commercials for extra income. His interest in acting grew. Adepo studied acting under the tutelage of a variety of notable instructors, including Ben Guillory of The Robey Theatre Company and Dianne Hull of the Actors Studio.
Adepo is known for his role as Cory Maxson in the 2016 film adaptation of Fences. He also appeared in the 2017 horror film Mother! by Darren Aronofsky. Adepo had starring roles in the 2018 film Overlord, and as Lionel Jefferson in CBS's All in the Family/The Jeffersons special. He was featured in the Netflix crime drama miniseries When They See Us, the second season of Prime Video's Jack Ryan, and the Facebook Watch series Sorry for Your Loss. Adepo starred as Michael Murphy in the HBO series The Leftovers, and in 2019 he appeared in HBO's superhero limited series Watchmen as the world's first superhero, Hooded Justice. For the latter, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. He also starred as Larry Underwood in the Paramount+ miniseries of Stephen King's The Stand. Adepo was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for his performance as Sidney Palmer in the 2022 film Babylon.
