Entertainment
On a show packed with fan-favorite breakouts, the British-Nigerian actor has become the leader of the team.
Toheeb Jimoh suddenly peers out from behind the wooden door of a Spanish-style home in West Hollywood.
Football, I answer.
I also would have accepted soccer, he says.
(He was nominated alongside co-stars Brett Goldstein, who ultimately won, and Nick Mohammed.)
Then I called my mom who was in Nigeria at a party.
And shes like, I cant hear you, and she hung up on me.
Toheeb has grown to be the leader of the team.
Toheeb never tries to win a scene.
Hes not one of those actors.
A monster, he deadpans.
Sometimes its a lot of pressure [to play] one of the nicest people ever.
His castmates are as enamored with Jimoh as viewers are.
on the phone after his Emmy nomination.
Im not changing it until he changes his, Jimoh says.
You shouldve been there onTed Lasso but you werent.
He still loves the stage: This summer, hell star in aLondon production ofRomeo and Juliet.
At times, Sams journey onTed Lassohas felt familiar to his own.
Im glad that he chose to stay.
Its a really fulfilling arc for me, because a Nigerian accent is how I grew up speaking.
Its a bit naive, Jimoh says.
He does believe that [the world will] be a much better place.
But he starts to learn that power corrupts, regardless of gender or class, race, whatever.
Im in a place now where it can be more fluid.
Masculinity can look like whatever I want it to look like its mine to define.
That can show itself in how I dress or how I speak, how I carry myself.
It feels like there are a lot more options.
I can also be euphoric and ecstatic and sad and flamboyant and colorful, he adds.
Masculinity back in the day has been strong and rigid and stiff.
Thats really counterproductive to art.
I want to doeverything.
A publicist soon appears to whisk him away hes got more promo obligations ahead of theTed Lassopremiere that night.
Before long, though, hes turned back in search of his missing hotel keycard.
I initiate the door a crack and poke my head out.
Photographs by Max Hemphil
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