Honorary graduates 2024

Cush Jumbo OBE (DLitt)

Tuesday 16 July 2024 3:00pm

Cush Jumbo OBE, born in South London, graduated from the Central School of Speech and Drama in 2006 before embarking on an acting, writing and producing career. In 2013, Jumbo performed in her self-penned play Josephine and I, a one-woman play about jazz singer Josephine Baker, which premiered at the Bush Theatre, London and transferred to The Public Theater in New York. She won an Emerging Talent Award at the London Evening Standard Theatre Awards in November 2013 for this performance. She made her Broadway debut in the autumn of 2014 when she appeared in the transfer of the Royal Court Theatre production of The River by Jez Butterworth opposite Hugh Jackman.

Cush can currently be seen opposite Peter Capaldi in her Apple TV series Criminal Record in which she stars and Executive Produces. Cush has just played Lady Macbeth opposite David Tennant at the Donmar Warehouse. She is well known for starring in US series The Good Wife and The Good Fight, and can be seen as the lead in Britbox drama The Beast Must Die, and Netflix series Stay Close. Cush is three-time Olivier Nominated, most recently in 2022 for playing Hamlet at The Young Vic Theatre. Jumbo was appointed an OBE in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to drama.