Profile Text
Birth Name: Hugh Anthony Kobna Amo Quarshie
Place of Birth: Accra, Gold Coast (now Ghana)
Date of Birth: 22 December, 1954
Ethnicity: Akan Ghanaian, Dutch, English
Hugh Quarshie is a Ghanaian-born British actor. His roles include the films Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend , Highlander , The Church (1989), Nightbreed , Wing Commander , Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace , Red Sparrow , Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald , Book Club: The Next Chapter , and The Return (2024), and television’s Medics , Holby City , and Doctor Who .
He is the son of Emma and Richard Abusua-Yedom Quarshie, who was a diplomat and politician, and served as Minister for Trade and Industries, from 1969 to 1972. Hugh moved with his family to England when he was three, settling in Dorset. He is married to Annika Sundström, with whom he has three children.
His mother was of chiefly ancestry, and his relatives serve as chiefs of Abii, a Ghanaian village.
Hugh’s maternal grandfather was William Reginald Phillips (the son of Louis Waistell Phillips and Anna Johanna Kamerling). William was born in Elmina, Ghana. Louis was born in Rotherhithe, Southwark, England, and was the son of William Phillips and Mary Ann/Anne Blizard. Anna was born in Sekondi-Takoradi, Shama, Western, Ghana, the daughter of Pieter Martinus Johannes Kamerling, who was Dutch, from Rotterdam, and was an official on the Gold Coast; and of Ellen van der Spek, who was Ghanaian. Through Pieter, he was related to Dutch actor and singer Antonie Kamerling.
Hugh’s maternal grandmother was named Beatrice ter Meulen (the daughter of Jan ter Meulen, and of a Ghanaian mother). Beatrice was born in Elmina, Ghana. Jan was born in Zwolle, Overijssel, Netherlands, the son of Pieter Bello ter Meulen and Aleida Slomp.
Source: Genealogy of Hugh Quarshie (focusing on his mother’s side) – https://www.geni.com