Joivan Wade

His father was a social worker and a member of the 1980s gospel music group The Wades, who founded The Polishing Project, a scheme to help disadvantaged youth identify and achieve their goals.

His mother is an ordained minister and corporate life coach.

Joivan has three brothers.

Joivan Wade (born 23 July 1993) is an English actor known for playing Manyou in the BBC comedy television series Big School, Jordan Johnson on the BBC soap opera EastEnders, and Victor Stone / Cyborg in the Max series Doom Patrol and Titans.

Wade was born 23 July 1993 to Derek and Andrea Wade.

In 2010, Glen Murphy of Twist and Pulse asked Wade and Ascott to perform a comedy sketch at one of the dance-and-comedy duo's live shows.

They wrote their sketch the night before the show, and were a hit with the audience.

Dee Kaate, who had performed a stand-up comedy act in the show, met with them afterward.

The three immediately began discussing ways to create their own content to boost their careers.

Eight days after the Twist and Pulse live show, the trio filmed their first episode of Mandem on the Wall, a web series about three young South London men sitting on a wall, flirting with passing girls, and "talking bullshit".

Mandem premiered on December 24, 2011.

Within a month, the episode had 1.1 million views on YouTube and the trio was famous among teens and young adults in Britain.

Based on the success of Mandem, Wade was cast in the first series of the BBC comedy Big School, which aired in 2013.

Big Talk Productions became interested in the trio based on their success with Mandem as well, and cast Wade, Ascott, and Kaate in the teen drama Youngers on E4.

Youngers lasted for two series.

Big Talk Productions encouraged Wade, Ascott, and Kaate to pitch their own show.

That pitch never happened: There were delays in securing the green-light for a second series of Youngers, and the trio did not want to leave the show in the lurch.

Derek Wade died in 2014, and his mother remarried.

Wade read comic books heavily while younger.

A high-energy child, Wade enrolled at the age of 13 at the D&B Academy of Performing Arts in his home town of Bromley.

He also played football, and he was good enough to try out for both Charlton Athletic F.C. Under-23s and Academy and Crystal Palace F.C. Under-23s and Academy.

Wade credits his parents for supporting him in both endeavors, and instilling in him the confidence to achieve whatever he wished to pursue.

He decided when he was 15 years that he loved acting more than football.

Friends told him to enroll at the BRIT School.

He decided to apply only three days before the deadline.

His father drove him to the school so that he could turn in his application the day it was due.

The BRIT School taught primarily dramatic acting, and Wade performed in a number of plays by William Shakespeare.

Wade's biggest inspiration is Will Smith, an actor who also directs, produces, and writes.

He has tried to model his career on Smith's by creating content, performing in it, and forming his own production company.

Wade also cites Michael Fassbender, Daniel Day-Lewis, Tom Hardy, Kevin Hart, and Dwayne Johnson as role models in terms of acting and career path.

While at the BRIT School, Wade met Percelle Ascott, and the two became close friends.

Wade graduated from the BRIT School and then successfully auditioned for the National Youth Theatre.

Deciding to accelerate his career, Wade decided to initially pursue comedy, as a comedy was the most likely to go viral on social media.

In 2014 and 2015, Wade appeared in two episodes of Doctor Who as Rigsy, a young graffiti artist who helps save the world.

Wade's father helped manage the Mandem project, which eventually had a live presentation at the Hackney Empire theatre in 2015.

The three worked on Mandem on the Wall in order to get on television.

Wade joined the cast of BBC soap opera EastEnders in February 2016 as Jordan Johnson, taking over the role from Michael-Joel David Stuart.

Filming four episodes a week for four months proved time-consuming, and Wade says his businesses suffered from it.

Wade, Ascott, and Kaate filmed The JPD Show for BBC Three in mid-2016, but the pilot was not picked up.

The trio also starred in the 2016 film The Weekend, a comedy about three youths who find a gangster's sack of money and spend it all before the mobster demands it back.