Johnny Sekka was born Lamine Secka in Dakar, Senegal to a Wolof family, the youngest of five siblings; his Gambian father died shortly after his birth.
15 Facts About Johnny Sekka
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Johnny Sekka arrived in London, England in 1952, and served for two years in the Royal Air Force, where he first received the nickname "Johnny", but then Bermudian actor Earl Cameron persuaded him to become an actor, and he attended RADA.
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Johnny Sekka became a stagehand at the Royal Court Theatre, and appeared on stage in various plays from 1958.
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Johnny Sekka had a small part in the 1958 film version of Look Back in Anger, directed by Tony Richardson, who had seen him on stage.
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Johnny Sekka took a leading role in the 1961 film Flame in the Streets, playing the Jamaican boyfriend of the daughter of a liberal working-class trades unionist.
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Johnny Sekka had a leading role in the 1961 film for ITV, The Big Pride, by Guyanese writer Jan Carew and Jamaican writer Sylvia Wynter.
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Johnny Sekka lived for a period in Paris, where he met his future wife, Cecilia Enger.
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Johnny Sekka continued in British films during the 1960s, portraying stereotypical roles, such as a manservant in the film Woman of Straw, and in other films, such as East of Sudan, Khartoum and The Last Safari.
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Johnny Sekka appeared on television, in programmes such as The Human Jungle, Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green, Gideon's Way, Danger Man, and a 1968 episode of The Avengers.
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Johnny Sekka eventually moved to the United States with the aim of getting better roles.
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Johnny Sekka appeared in the 1982 film Hanky Panky, and played Banda in the 1984 miniseries Master of the Game.
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Johnny Sekka was not cast in Roots, being considered insufficiently American, but secured a role in the sequel, Roots: The Next Generations, playing an African interpreter.
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Johnny Sekka is widely known among science fiction fans for his role as Dr Benjamin Kyle in the television series Babylon 5's pilot movie, The Gathering.
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On 14 September 2006, Johnny Sekka died of lung cancer at his ranch in Agua Dulce, California, aged 72, survived by his wife Cecilia and son.
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Johnny Sekka is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City.