Gbenga Akinnagbe was born on December 12, 1978 in Washington, D.C. to Nigerian parents and raised in Montgomery County. He is the second oldest of six children, one older sister and four younger brothers. Akinnagbe was in and out of trouble as a youth, until he joined the wrestling team in his junior year of high school that he gained focus in life.
He attended Colonel Zadok A. Magruder High School in Rockville, Maryland. Gbenga attended Bucknell University on a wrestling scholarship and majored in Political Science and English. He was a star wrestler in college and a champion all-state and all-conference competitor in high school.
After graduating, his next move was working with Corporation for National Service, the federal agency in Washington D.C. that administers Americorps and other volunteer programs. A year later, while sitting in his cubicle at work, Gbenga decided to break from the monotony of a standard 9 to 5 job and learn about acting.
As an American actor, he became a successful star in the fifth season of 'The Wire' as Chris Partlow. He initially portrayed the character as a recurring guest star beginning with the show's third season. Akinnagbe also had an unaccredited background role as a court bailiff in the series pilot.
He bought books and deeply researched his future profession. After attending many auditions, Gbenga earned a role at the Shakespeare Theater in D.C. and later worked his way into various productions in the area, performing for crowds at the prestigious Kennedy Theater and Shakespeare in the Park.
While taking acting classes in New Jersey, Gbenga was invited to audition for a recurring role on The Wire. He earned the part of Chris Partlow for the series. He also played “Yinka” in BarberShop: The Series. In the summer of 2006, Gbenga performed the role of “Zim” in the NYC Fringe Festival's “Outstanding Play” award-winning production of “Modern Missionary”. In 2007, Gbenga appeared in the film The Savages with Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Laura Linney, and Philip Bosco.
He was once asked the following questions by TMS magazine: 'which part of the government did you work and were you part of the Bush administration? Also many Nigerian-American parents want their kids to pursue medicine, law or engineering and you being the son of Nigerian parents, how did they feel about you being an actor?'
He said, I started working under the federal government during the Clinton Administration. I was there when the transition into the Bush administration came in and then, I left shortly after that. I worked for the Corporation for National Service which is the headquarters for Americorps, Vista, NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps), and City Year.
Those are volunteer programs that help kids in certain neighborhoods, rehabilitate schools and libraries. I worked in the Congressional Affairs department of that agency, getting reallocations from congress, monitoring hearings on the Hill on behalf of the agency—things like that.
And on the issue of Nigerian parents, he said “I totally understand. Nigerians are only really allowed to be doctors, lawyers and engineers. I remember when I went to college and I told my mom I wanted to study philosophy, she wailed”. She had to beg me not to. She said “we have suffered enough.” Since college I always had to do really practical things—things that I enjoyed too, like working for the government.
However, when I told my mother I was going to act, I had already been offered a role. I had to work as an actor at the Shakespeare Theater, for which I had to resign from the Federal government. She saw that it was a practical thing.
I was able to pay my bills; so she was actually more open to it than I would have guessed. If it was anything else, like if I said I wanted to be a singer or I had wanted to be a philosopher, she would have definitely had a fit.”