Richard Ayoade – Wife and Children, Parents and Family Life

Quick Facts

Net Worth	Not Known
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Date of Birth	Not Known
Profession	Actors

Richard Ayoade is a multi-talented British entertainer. He is not only an actor but a comedian, film and music video director, as well as a television presenter. He earned his big break with the role of Maurice Moss in the Channel 4 sitcom, The IT Crowd for which he won the 2014 British Academy Television Award for Best Male Comedy Performance.

Ayoade has equally excelled in directing and writing. His best-known work is the 2010 film, Submarine, for which he earned a BAFTA nod for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer and won a handful of other awards including British Independent Film Award for Best Screenplay. Ayoade’s other successful film as a director and writer is the black comedy thriller film, The Double. Some of the shows that Richard Ayoade have presented include Gadget Man, Travel Man, and The Crystal Maze.

Age, Early Life, and Rise to Fame

Richard Ellef Ayoade was born on the 23rd of May 1977. His interest in show business was sparked by the science fiction films, Beyond Star Wars and Back to the Future. He attended the independent school, St Joseph’s College, Ipswich and later proceeded to study law at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge.

While he studied law, Ayoade held on tight to his theatric side and won the Martin Steele Prize for play production in school. In his final year at the school, he became the president of the amateur theatrical club, Footlights. He graduated in 1998.

Following his graduation, Richard Ayoade continued to write, direct, and act in stage shows and television series, birthing what has become a successful show business career.

His Parents

Richard Ayoade is of a mixed race. His parents are Layide Ade Laditi Ayoade and Dagny Amalie (Baassuik). Ayoade’s father Layide is a Nigerian while his mother hails from Norway. His father once worked as an electrical engineer. Though Ayoade’s parents had him in Hammersmith, west London, they would later raise him in Ipswich, Suffolk where they had relocated while Richard was still a kid.

His parents never fancied the idea of him studying theater in school. However, while he went ahead to study law, his theatric side ultimately won him over.

Richard Ayoade Wife, Children, and Family Life

Richard Ayoade is a happily married man. He tied the knot with English actress and producer Lydia Fox on the 8th of September 2007 and the two have since remained married. Ayoade’s wife is a member of the famous Robin Fox family which has several of her members in the show business across a number of generations.

Her grandfather, Robin Fox was an actor and theatrical agent; he was married to actress Angela Worthington who was herself the daughter of English playwright Frederick Lonsdale. Robin Fox had three sons – James and Edward Fox, and Robert. James Fox is Lydia’s father.

Lydia’s father acted in a number of notable films throughout the 60s and early 70s including The Servant, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Performance. He took a break from acting in the 1970s to focus on his spiritual life after he became an evangelical Christian. He returned to acting in the 1980s and went on to appear in a string of films and TV shows.

Lydia’s parents, James Fox and Mary Elizabeth Piper had 5 children, thus leaving Lydia with four siblings – Laurence Fox, Jack Fox, Robin Fox, and Thomas Fox. Two of them; Laurence Fox, and Jack Fox are actors.

Born in 1979, Ayoade’s wife attended Newnham College, a women’s constituent college in the University of Cambridge. Lydia Fox began acting at the school and once played opposite the now renowned in a Marlowe Society production of Romeo and Juliet.

Lydia has been less active in acting compared to her husband. She made her screen debut in a 2004 episode of Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace. Lydia has made appearances in other TV shows like Holby City and Lilies. She had a small role as an estate agent in Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Ayoade has worked with his wife in a handful of projects. She appeared in his The IT Crowd, in a 2007 episode titled “The Work Outing”. She also scored parts in his two major films – Submarine and The Double.

Ayoade and his wife Lydia share at least three children together.