City Pages named him Best Actor in 2007, writing that “Ansa Akyea brings a combination of dramatic heft and humane lightness to every role he touches. While he isn’t particularly tall, he has such a physical presence that he could pass for a six-plus-footer. And he’s blessed with a big, expressive, handsome mug that enables him to run the gamut from heartthrob to nurturing protector.”
Ansa is a Swiss born Ghanaian-American actor and proud graduate of the University of Iowa's distinguished Masters of Fine Arts Acting program. Ansa has worked as an actor and director at some of the best local and regional theaters throughout the Twin Cities, such as the Guthrie Theater, Mixed Blood, Ten Thousand Things and many others. He has also starred in numerous movies such as Into Temptation, Memorial Day and Rosie. Ansa is the recipient of the 2011 Minnesota Playwright Center's McKnight Award for Acting, Citypages Best Actor award, and the 2013 Minnesota Playwright Center's Many Voices Fellowship, and an Ivey award for he Guthrie Theater's production of Clybourne Park.
He can be seen and heard on radio and television for Gillette Hospital, Goodwill Industries, Great Clips, Qwest, and on the big screen in movies such as Repetition and Zora Neale Hurston’s The Gilded Six Bits.
