During her time at RADA, she appeared in a number of stage productions such as King Henry V as Princess Katherine and Wuthering Heights as Catherine Earnshaw.

In 2005, shortly after graduating from Royal Academy of Dramatic Art she played 'Jade' in Shan Khan's Prayer Room at Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

Madekwe landed her first motion picture in the 2007 Woody Allen film Cassandra's Dream, opposite Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor.

Following that success, she played Elisha in the one-off BBC Three drama pilot West 10 LDN, and appeared in six episodes of Trexx and Flipside as Ollie.

[8] Madekwe made her official US debut in the 2009 drama series The Beautiful Life, which only aired two episodes on The CW before being cancelled.