Broadcaster #Actress #Producer #Director

Taiwo Ajai-Lycett (TAL) is a veteran actress, journalist, educationist, social commentator, motivational speaker and dancer.

Born in Lagos on February 3, 1941, she attended Carmel Convent School, Lagos and Methodist Girls High School, Yaba. She later went on to study Business Administration and Cosmetology in the U.K. While in London she worked as a Personal Assistant and in the Personnel department of a major Advertising firm.

She later studied Acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Her acting debut was in Wole Soyinka’s ‘The Lion and the Jewel’. She was a regular on the highly successful children’s programme of the BBC, ‘Play Away’.

She was also a broadcaster and presenter with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) magazine programme, ‘Calling Nigeria’. She has appeared in several memorable Soaps and plays/drama both in the UK and in Nigeria such as J P Clark’s Song of a Goat; Wale Ogunyemi’s The Divorce; Fred Agbeyegbe’s The King Must Dance Naked; Wole Oguntokun’s The Inheritors; Arnold Weskers’ Shylock; Laolu Ogunniyi’s TV Series, Winds Against My Soul; Jab Adu’s The Young Ones; and Nigerian Television Authority’s The Honourable; For Better for Worse, Eyo Fancy and Rasheed Gbadamosi’s The Mansion.Her UK appearances in many leading Theatre and TV productions include, the Traverse Theatre at the Edinburgh International Festival; the Gaiety Theatre at the Dublin International Theatre Festival; The Bristol Old Vic; The Hampstead Theatre; the Almeida Theatre in the Almeida Opera’s & Streetwise production, Critical Mass, directed by Emma Bernard and Composer Orlando Gough; the Sir John Mills’ Theatre Ipswich, in Janice Okoh’s Egusi Soup; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in Richard Wagner’s Tannhauser; The Royal Court Theatre; The Palace Theatre, Westcliffe; and The Mercury Theatre, Colchester; the BBC (TV & Radio Drama), ATV, Granada TV, COI, ILEA and Thames Television. She had a film appearance, A WARM DECEMBER starring and directed by iconic Oscar winner, Sidney Poitier. She has also acted in numerous Nollywood films

In 1975, she became pioneer Editor of the African Woman magazine, published by Raph Uwechue. She is the recipient of numerous awards. She was honoured with an Officer of the Order of the Niger award in 2006. She is a Fellow of the Society of Nigerian Theatre Artists (SONTA).