Actor Oyin Oladejo returns to Soulpepper in lead role as Medusa after Star Trek breakthrough

Oyin Oladejo nearly walked away from acting more than once. But after landing the role of Lieutenant Commander Joann Owosekun in Star Trek: Discovery in 2017, the Humber College graduate's career trajectory shifted dramatically. Now she's returning to Soulpepper Theatre—the production house where she once trained—to play Medusa in a new play dedicated to the rage of the misunderstood.

The production features an auditory twist: audience members will wear headphones transmitting Medusa's inner monologue, vocalized by others while Oladejo acts out the serpent-headed gorgon of Greek myth. It's a far cry from her early career, when she questioned whether performing was worth the emotional toll.

"I can't count the number of times I've finished a show or a film and said, 'I'm quitting,'" Oladejo said. "But I keep getting pulled back in. Only after a decade of doing this am I now surrendering to the fact that this is what I'm supposed to do."

Oladejo credits her childhood in Nigeria with shaping her sense of purpose. After moving to Canada at 16 and being involved in a criminal case as a complainant, she pursued law to serve others. But a spontaneous visit to a live show while working at the Canadian Opera Company sparked her interest in acting. She applied to Humber, quit after a few months, moved to Calgary—and the pull of theatre kept bringing her back.

At Soulpepper, where she trained under mentor Daniel Brooks, she learned that authentic performance requires vulnerability and letting go of the desire to please audiences. "If I wanted to change the audiences' lives, I'd have to let go of any desire to please them," she reflected. That philosophy has sustained her through a career she once wanted to abandon.