Wendy Oluniké Adeliyi (born January 5, 1977) is a Canadian actress of Jamaican-Nigerian descent, best known for her roles as Aretha in French Immersion and Leah Kerns in Flashpoint
Career
Oluniké Adeliyi was born in Toronto, Canada and raised in both St. Anne's, Jamaica and Brampton, Ontario in Canada. After being cast as the Artful Dodger in her middle school play Oliver Twist, she started to pursue acting. She studied her craft at The Canadian Academy of Method Acting and continued her studies at the Professional Actors Lab working with Canada's well-known artistic director, David Rotenberg. Adeliyi also studied at the Lonsdale Smith Studio in Toronto and Los Angeles. A graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, she has performed in theaters throughout Canada and the U.S, playing leading roles in Blue Window, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Children's Hour, Jitney and Michael Cristofer's play The Shadow Box. Adeliyi is also an accomplished dancer, who has toured for major international recording artists including Shaggy, George Clinton and other renowned musicians.
Her other stage performances include Anansewa in The Marriage of Anansewa by Efua Sutherland, Julia Augustine in Wedding Band by award winning playwright Alice Childress and Fatumata in How To Stay Sane in Paris by award winning director Omonike Akinyemi. In 2008, Adeliyi returned to Toronto from New York to pursue her film and television career. Within a few months, she landed the series regular role of Leah Kerns in the critically acclaimed television series Flashpoint.
Other film and television appearances include Saw 3D, the highly anticipated comedy French Immersion, Who is Simon Miller, which aired on NBC, The Listener on CTV/NBC, Combat Hospital on Global, the Syfy original series Being Human, Cracked on CBC, Remedy on Global, Republic of Doyle on CBC, the Lifetime television film Her Husband's Betrayal, Saving Hope on CTV, Lost Girl on HBO Canada, Three Days in Havana, The Returned and the romantic comedy A Wish Come True.
Adeliyi was nominated for "Best Performance by a Female - Film" at the 2012 Canadian Comedy Awards for her performance in French Immersion. She won the 2014 Canadian Black Awards for best actress and was nominated again for 2015.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | John Q | Insurance Rep |
| Undercover Brother | Bank Patron | |
| 2003 | DoUlike2watch.com | Charisma |
| 2004 | New York Minute | Big Shirl's Beautician |
| 2010 | Saw 3D | Sidney |
| Book Club | Pattie | |
| Two Cities | Mpumi | |
| 2011 | Who Is Simon Miller? | Jasmine |
| French Immersion | Aretha | |
| 2013 | Her Husband's Betrayal | Officer Bobby Lee |
| Three Days in Havana | Night | |
| The Returned | Return Unit Nurse | |
| Half Way Home | ||
| 2014 | Agape | Veronica |
| 2015 | A Wish Come True | Abby |
| A Christmas Horror Story | Kim | |
| 2016 | Boost | Amina Nour |
| Group Home | Mrs. Rice | |
| 2017 | Taken Too Far | Officer Daniels |
| The Parting Glass | Sue | |
| The Emissary | Ren | |
| The Drop In | Grace | |
| Darken | Kali |
Television
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Blue Murder | Hooker #2 |
| 2008 | The Border | Aide |
| 2009-2012 | Flashpoint | Leah Kerns |
| 2011 | Combat Hospital | Yolanda Cullerne |
| 2012 | Being Human | Cecilia |
| The Listener | Rebecca Kalb | |
| 2013 | Cracked | Solange Oowuszhu |
| 2014 | Republic of Doyle | Harley Denief |
| Remedy | Gabby | |
| Odd Squad | DJ K-Berg | |
| 2015 | Saving Hope | Tammy 'Armageddon' Jenkins |
| Lost Girl | Suri Middleton | |
| 2016 | Killjoys | Artura Senbek |
| 2017-2018 | Workin' Moms | Giselle Bois |
| 2017 | The Girlfriend Experience |
Video Games
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Watch Dogs | Donna 'Poppy' Dean |
Gallery
