| Ashley Banjo | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ashley Banjo 4 October 1988 Leytonstone, London, England |
| Occupation | Dancer, television presenter, actor |
| Known for | Diversity |
Ashley Banjo (born 4 October 1988) is an English street dancer and actor. He is leader of dance troupe Diversity, who won the third series of Britain's Got Talent. Banjo is also currently a judge on the Sky 1 show Got to Dance.
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He was born to a Nigerian father, Funso Banjo, who was a professional boxer and English mother Danielle, a former dancer with The Royal Ballet, who now helps with Diversity's management and also runs Danceworks Studios.[1] At the time of Diversity's Britain's Got Talent win, Banjo was studying physics and biology at Queen Mary, University of London having previously attended SEEVIC College.[1] Banjo has been in a four year relationship with Francesca Abbott, who is a member of another dance troupe called Out of the Shadows. He says that education comes first for him and he wants to be a scientist.[1]
In 2007, Ashley and his younger brother Jordan formed Swift Moves with nine of their friends, before later changing their name to Diversity. He was given the nickname 'Chosen' by his fellow Diversity members. In their first year together, they won the Street Dance Weekend 2007 competition before deciding to enter Britain's Got Talent.
In 2009, Diversity won the third series of Britain's Got Talent. All the judges heavily praised their performances throughout the competition, with Ashley's choreography being described by Amanda Holden as "genius". In the final, judge Simon Cowell said "If I was going to give marks on that, that is the only performance tonight I would give a 10 to." about their winning performance.
After receiving "yes" votes from all three judges in their audition, Diversity went on to compete in the first semi-final on 24 May, losing the public vote-decided first place to Susan Boyle but winning the judges' vote against Natalie Okri. In the final six days later, Diversity were announced as the winners, beating Boyle and Julian Smith (who came second and third respectively).[2][3]
As winners of the competition, Diversity received £100,000 (around £9,900 per member) went on to perform before Queen Elizabeth at the Royal Variety Show on 7 December 2009.[4] Subsequently, Diversity was nominated in the Dance section of the final South Bank Show awards and won an award at the Pride of Britain Awards[5] On the latest tour he pulled a ligament in his leg which made him unable to perform on the last two shows of Diversity's Christmas tour.
| Year | Programme | Role | Role Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Britain's Got Talent | Himself | Part of Winners' Diversity's Crew |
| 2010 | StreetDance 3D | Aaron | Leader of Aaron's Crew |
| 2010- | Got To Dance | Judge | |
| 2011 | The Real Hustle | Himself | Guest Appearence in an Art Scam |
| 2011 | The Apprentice | Himself | Guest Appearence |
| 2011 | Text Santa | Himself | Appeared in Diversity on Ice with Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean |
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