Teenage British actor, dancer, rapper, and singer Akai Osei is most known for being the victor of the inaugural season of the British dance competition “Got to Dance.” He began dancing professionally when he was a young child, and he is said to be influenced by artists like Michael Jackson, Chris Brown, Diversity, and Flawless. Following the release of “Got to Dance” in 2010, Osei began appearing in movies and television. Before getting the major role of Jaden in the movie “All Stars,” he had small appearances in British movies including the 3D dance comedy-drama “StreetDance 3D” and its sequel “StreetDance 2” and the 3D kids’ adventure comedy “Horrid Henry: The Movie.” In series 3 of the British comic drama and musical children’s TV show “4 O’Clock Club,” he played Nero Johnson, and since series 4, his character has developed into an important one. Friday Download, a well-liked British children’s entertainment TV show, was hosted by him. Also, he has made appearances as a regular cast member of the “4 O’Clock Files,” a spin-off of “4 O’Clock Club,” and as a participant in “Horrible Histories: Gory Games,” a children’s game program. Osei has participated in other projects, such as the tracks “Unorthodox” by Wretch 32 and “We Dance On” by “N-Dubz.”
Early Childhood & Life
On April 12, 1999, in Lambeth, London, UK, he was given the name Akai Milan Osei-Mansfield by his parents, Rico Mansfield, and Jennifer Osei. Ashanti Osei-Mansfield is the name of his sister.
There isn’t much information available about his early years or education other than the fact that he was interested in dance from a young age and began dancing professionally when he was just a toddler.
Akai Osei’s Career
Around the age of 10, Osei participated in the inaugural season of the British dancing competition “Got to Dance,” which was then known as “Just Dance.” In the UK and Ireland, Sky 1 broadcast the program. In October 2009, the first season auditions were held in London, Manchester, and Edinburgh.
The contest was held in January and February 2010 with Ashley Banjo, Adam Garcia, and Kimberly Wyatt serving as judges and Davina McCall serving as the presenter. Osei beat off competitors like Matthew Koon, The Box, Emily, MJ Latin, and Jukebox Juniors on February 14, 2010, to take home the £100,000 grand prize for the inaugural season of “Got to Dance.”
He entered the performing industry after this success and early success. He appeared as Dancing Kid in “Shopping Mall” in the British 3D dance comedy-drama film “StreetDance 3D,” commonly known as “StreetDance,” alongside George Sampson and dancers from the groups “Diversity” and “Flawless.”
Osei appeared in the music video for the British hip hop group “N- Dubz’s” eleventh song overall, “We Dance On,” which was released on May 20, 2010. The song served as both the second single on the soundtrack for the movie “StreetDance 3D” and the lead single for the group’s third studio album, “Love.Live.Life.”
On May 21st, 2010, “StreetDance 3D” was made available in the UK. At a budget of £3.5 million, it ended up becoming the highest-grossing UK production that year, collecting $11 million at the box office.
He had an appearance on the British children’s TV show “Blue Peter” in the middle of 2010. He appeared in a Ministry of Sound Street Dancing CD commercial that year as well as the annual Streets Ahead dance exhibition in London in 2010, which featured various dance gangs and schools.
Osei, singer Yasmin, and rappers Chipmunk and Scorcher made cameo appearances in the music video for the song “Unorthodox” by English hip-hop artist “Wretch 32,” which featured vocals by British recording artist “Example.” The music video, which was directed by Ben Newman and debuted on YouTube on March 1, 2011, features Osei performing on a rooftop.
He played a contestant in a talent show in the Nick Moore-directed 3D children’s comedy-adventure movie “Horrid Henry: The Movie,” which was released on December 22, 2012, in the US and Canada and on July 29, 2011, in the UK. The movie, which made $10.1 million globally, was hailed as the first 3D children’s picture to be produced in Britain.
In July 2011, he made an appearance as a judge on the Disney Channel talent competition “Shake It Up Dancing Dance.” At the BEFFTA Awards that year, he was given the “Young Achiever Award.” He played Junior in the 3D British dance drama film “StreetDance 2,” the follow-up to “StreetDance 3D,” which debuted on March 30, 2012, in the UK.
He made an appearance on episode 61 of the first season of “What’s Cooking?” in 2013. He was given the starring part of Jaden in the British movie “All Stars,” also known as “StreetDance: All Stars,” which was directed by Ben Gregor. Theo Stevenson and Ashley Jensen also had leading parts in the movie.
In the British comedic drama and musical children’s television series “4 O’Clock Club,” which debuted on December 20, 2013, he began portraying the role of Nero Johnson as a series regular. He was nominated for a BAFTA in 2014 for Best Children’s Performance for his outstanding performance. He reprised his role as Nero Johnson in the regular cast of “4 O’Clock Files,” a spinoff of “4 O’Clock Club.” In 2014, the program was broadcast on CBBC from December 14 to December 19.
In the fourth season of “4 O’Clock Club,” which premiered on January 28, 2015, his character Nero developed into a major one. The final appearance of the character was in episode 4 of the show’s seventh season, “Farewell,” which aired on February 14, 2018.
In the meantime, he served as a stand-in presenter (in the studio) for Series 8 of the BAFTA-winning British entertainment TV show for kids called “Friday Download,” which aired from October 4, 2014, to December 13, 2014, and as the primary presenter for Series 9, which ran from April 25, 2015, to July 31, 2015.
In 2016, he participated as a contestant in the children’s game show “Horrible Histories: Gory Games” in its celebrity special edition, which was the 15th episode of series 4 of the program. He was joined by Isabel Clifton from Hetty Feather, Karim Zeroual, and Hacker T Dog from CBBC Headquarters.
In 2017’s episode 8 of Season 3 of the British comedy series “Drunk History,” he played King Charles II.
He appeared in Pied Piper: A Hip-Hop Dance Revolution, a street dance hip-hop production by the prestigious Boy Blue Entertainment hip-hop dance group. He has also joined ZooNation, a hip-hop dance group headquartered in London, in their musical/hip-hop production called “Into the Hoods.”
Akai’s Individual Life
About romantic relationships and the current dating situation of this gifted musician, who currently resides in London, not much is known about them.
Estimated Net Worth
One of the wealthiest dancers and one of the most well-liked dancers is Akai Osei. According to our research, Forbes, Business Insider, and Wikipedia, Akai Osei has a net worth of $5 million.