[2] Akinnagbe was born in Washington, D.C.,[3] the son of Yoruba Nigerian parents,[4][3] and was raised in Silver Spring, Maryland.

In the summer of 2006, Akinnagbe performed the role of "Zim" in the NYC Fringe Festival's "Outstanding Play" award-winning production of Modern Missionary.

Akinnagbe made a guest appearance on a season 10 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode entitled "Hell" as Elijah Okello, a former Ugandan child soldier living in New York, facing deportation.

In 2010 in Seattle, Washington Akinnagbe starred in the world premiere play The Thin Place at The Intiman Theatre.

[11] Gbenga has had two articles published in The New York Times, one detailing a trip to Nepal to climb the Himalayas, and the other outlining the medical procedures he underwent to correct his severely flat feet.

[12] Akinnagbe filed a criminal complaint alleging that journalist Lola Adesioye grabbed his buttocks on two occasions in 2020.