Michaela Ewuraba Boakye-Collinson FRSL (born October 1, 1987), known professionally as Michaela Coel, is a British actress, filmmaker, and poet. She is best known for creating and starring in the E4 sitcom Chewing Gum (2015–2017), for which she won the BAFTA Award for Best Female Comedy Performance, and the BBC One/HBO comedy-drama series I May Destroy You (2020), for which she won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actress in 2021. For her work on I May Destroy You, Coel was the first Black woman to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special at the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards. Coel is also known for her work in other Netflix productions, including guest-starring in the series Black Mirror (2016–2017), starring as Kate Ashby in the series Black Earth Rising (2018), and as Simone in the film Been So Long (2018). Description above from the Wikipedia article Michaela Coel, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Read moreShow less
Biography from TMDB.
- October 1, 1988 (38)
- Tower Hamlets, London, England, UK
- Actor, producer, writer and director, also composer
- 14 on MovieCove · 22 credits in all
What are Michaela Coel's films like?
Across their 8 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Survival and Morality.
Themes
What they feel like to watch
Ironic 0 · Wry 1 · Earnest 3
Light 1 · Serious 2 · Dark 1
A split, not a type: Grounded 2 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 1
Gentle 0 · Charged 3 · Intense 1
Steady 1 · Shifting 3 · Whiplash 0
Straight-faced 2 · Some laughs 2 · Funny 0
Slow burn 1 · Even-paced 3 · Relentless 0
Casual 1 · Engaged 2 · Full focus 1
A split, not a type: Easy watch 2 · Affecting 0 · Heavy 2
A split, not a type: Resolved 2 · Open-ended 1 · Ambiguous 1
Roles they play
Usually the Hero: 5 of 5 analyzed roles.
- Heroas Tracey in Chewing Gum (2015)
- Heroas Lilyhot in The Aliens (2016)
- Heroas Simone in Been So Long (2018)
- Heroas Kate Ashby in Black Earth Rising (2018)
- Heroas Arabella in I May Destroy You (2020)
Moods and endings
- Bittersweet5
- Ambiguous3
AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.
Where can I watch Michaela Coel's films?
As of October 24, 2026, all 14 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.
- BritBox
Subscription and free streaming for Michaela Coel's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.
Filmography
22 credits, 14 with a MovieCove page; 4 appearances as themselves are hidden until asked for.
Mother Mary(2026)
Midcredits score: 26th percentile of all films
Proper Ladies (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2026)
The Christophers(2025)
Midcredits score: 78th percentile of all films
Babygirl(2024)
Midcredits score: 32nd percentile of all films
Mr. & Mrs. Smith(2024)
Midcredits score: 46th percentile of all shows
Midcredits score: 69th percentile of all films
I May Destroy You(2020)
Midcredits score: 84th percentile of all shows
Been So Long(2018)
Midcredits score: 35th percentile of all films
Black Earth Rising(2018)
Midcredits score: 65th percentile of all shows
Midcredits score: 61st percentile of all films
The Aliens(2016)
Midcredits score: 19th percentile of all shows
London Spy (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2015)
Chewing Gum(2015)
Midcredits score: 77th percentile of all shows
Monsters: Dark Continent(2014)
Midcredits score: 5th percentile of all films
National Theatre Live: Medea (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2014)
National Theatre Live: Chewing Gum Dreams (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2014)
National Theatre Live: Home (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2013)
Black Mirror(2011)
Midcredits score: 98th percentile of all showsComedy Blaps (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2011)
Top Boy(2011)
Midcredits score: 96th percentile of all shows
Bloodsport (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
First Day on Earth (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)
Career shape
Star power in the 96th percentile of 239,109 people with a billed film role, over a full career of 22 titles, 20 of them dated from 2011 to 2026; peak year 2022.
Biggest box office
The Christophers (2025)
Highest rated
I May Destroy You (2020)
Most popular right now
Mother Mary (2026)
Film career
Peak 2022 · at the high point of their film career. Top draw in 7 MovieCove titles. Film roles by billing, audience size and rating; 25+ votes. A show carries a single first-air date, so shows are not on the curve.
- 2014Screen debut· Monsters: Dark Continent
- 2018First top-billed film· Been So Long
Billing
Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored. Billing is TMDB cast order for roles with 25+ votes, billed in the top 30.
How do Michaela Coel's films land?
Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 35th percentile, the median of all 7; across a limited sample of 4 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 34th percentile for acclaim.
- 75th and up5
- 50th to 74th3
- 25th to 49th4
- Below 25th2
Shape of the crowd
5 of their 14 titles are Crowd Pleasers.
- Universally Loved2
- Universally Panned1
- Cult Classic1
- Crowd Pleaser5
- Mixed5
Reviewers score the acting 77/100 in their films, across 4 reviewed titles; fans 85, detractors 60. The element that speaks to their work as an actor.
Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.
Is Michaela Coel's work okay for kids?
Across a limited sample of up to 4 MovieCove titles with content scores.
Severity 0–100 from the Content Guide. Categories with under 10 votes on a title are not counted.
Who does Michaela Coel work with?
People who share at least 2 of Michaela Coel's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Joe Dempsie shares the most, 2.
Actors
- Joe DempsieShared titles: Been So Long (2018), Monsters: Dark Continent (2014)See all 2 shared titles with Joe Dempsie
Producers
- Philip ClarkeShared titles: I May Destroy You (2020), Chewing Gum (2015)See all 2 shared titles with Philip Clarke
Mixed roles
- Ronke AdekoluejoShared titles: I May Destroy You (2020), Been So Long (2018)See all 2 shared titles with Ronke Adekoluejo
