Ato Blankson-Wood

Ato Blankson-Wood (he/him) is a multidisciplinary performance artist and theater maker. As a writer/composer, Blankson-Wood is developing original works with the support of The Vineyard Theater (Colman Domingo Award), The Team’s Petri Projects, and Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor Residency. 

As an actor, he most recently starred in Measure for Measure at The Old Globe. Other appearances include the world premiere of Jeremy O. Harris’ Spirit of the People and Camino Real at The Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the off-Broadway premiere of Wole Soyinka’s The Swamp Dwellers at TFANA. 

He played Clifford Bradshaw in Cabaret on Broadway and is best known for his starring role as Gary in Harris’ critically acclaimed Slave Play, for which he received a 2021 Tony Award nomination.

Blankson-Wood played the titular role of Hamlet in Shakespeare in the Park’s production directed by Kenny Leon. He also starred opposite Bill Camp and Elizabeth Marvel in Long Day’s Journey into Night for Audible, which reunited him with Slave Play director Robert O’Hara. Ato Blankson-Wood had his breakout performance in the Public Theatre musical The Total Bent, for which he received Drama League and Lortel award nominations. Blankson-Wood has also been seen on Broadway in Hair and Lysistrata Jones. Films credits include Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit; Spike Lee’s BlacKKKlansman; Worth, opposite Michael Keaton; and Peter Hedge’s The Same Storm. He is graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the Yale School of Drama