Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE (born 16 February 1964) is a Sweden-based English theatre actress and director of African descent, who was born in London and has been living and working in Sweden for many years. In February 2021, the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama announced she had been appointed as the incoming Principal of the School. She is the first person of African descent, the first woman since 1942, and the third woman overall to hold this role. Previously, she served as artistic director for The National Touring Swedish Deaf Theatre ensemble TystTeater for 13 years before accepting a position as the Head of the theatre department at the Stockholm University of the Arts in 2019. Background Josette Bushell-Mingo was born in 1964 in the Lewisham area of London to Guyanese parents – her father was a bus driver, her mother a nurse – and grew up in Plaistow. She has three sisters. At 17, she auditioned for and was admitted to Barking College, where she did her A levels in Drama, Theatre Design, and Performing Arts. During her last two weeks at Barking, she received two offers: one from Breton University to pursue a BA in theatre and the other from Kaboodle Theatre Company. She chose Kaboodle because "a black girl [was] in it as well". After Kaboodle, she acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre. Career In 1999, she appeared as Solveig in the Royal Exchange Manchester production of Peer Gynt and she returned in 2005 to play Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra. Both productions were directed by Braham Murray. She was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award in 1999 for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Rafiki in the London production of The Lion King. She has also worked with Doppleganger Theatre Company, Kiss Theatre Company (Holland), Black Mime, Half Moon Young People's Theatre, Lumiere & Son Theatre Company, and Rainmaker Theatre for the Deaf. In 2001, she founded the Push Arts Festival with the Young Vic Theatre, an event that aims both to empower Black creators as well as to normalize their presence and leadership within major institutions within the theatre community and beyond. She also served as its artistic director. It was because of her efforts with Push that she was awarded an OBE in 2006. In 2010, she was one of several Afro-Swede actors to found